Arbitration

The next Orioles deadline of note is Tuesday at noon, when the club officially exchanges figures with its arbitration eligible players. They had seven arbitration-eligible players for whom they offered contracts - and five remain unsigned. The Orioles agreed to a $1.35 million deal with reliever Darren O'Day, whom the Orioles claimed off waivers from the Texas Rangers this offseason. O'Day received a $100,000 bump. The club also settled with lefty Dana Eveland, acquired in December from the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Beginning in January, Baltimore County will grant health care benefits to spouses of employees in same-sex marriages if they are legally married in other states, County Executive Kevin Kamenetz announced Thursday. The decision comes a month after an arbitrator ruled in favor of two county police officers whose same-sex spouses had been denied benefits by the county in August 2010. County officials had 30 days to decide whether to appeal the arbitrator's ruling, which said the county had violated the women's union contract.

The Orioles had nine players on their 40-man roster who were eligible for arbitration and had to be tendered a contract by midnight Monday (I'm not counting reliever Willie Eyre, who was designated for assignment last week and taken off the roster. But, for the record, he did not receive a 2012 contract). Of those nine, the Orioles tendered contracts to seven: outfielder Adam Jones, infielder Robert Andino and pitchers Jim Johnson, Jeremy Guthrie, Brad Bergesen, Darren O'Day and Dana Eveland.

Baltimore County Executive Kevin Kamenetz shouldn't require more than a nanosecond to dismiss any notion of appealing an independent arbitrator's ruling that two Baltimore County police officers should not be denied health benefits for their same-sex spouses. That the county chose to deny that coverage in the first place is a mistake of the previous administration that need not be repeated. County residents may recall that it was nearly two years ago that Maryland Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler issued a letter stating that Maryland should recognize same-sex marriages performed in other states.

Marvin C. "Mike" Wahl, a retired labor lawyer and labor arbitrator, died Oct. 29 at Sinai Hospital of complications from a stroke. He was 97. The son of Austria-Hungary immigrants, Mr. Wahl was born and raised in Jersey City, N.J., where he graduated in 1932 from Lincoln High School. After earning a bachelor's degree in 1936 from Syracuse University, he entered Cornell University Law School, where he earned his law degree in 1938. Mr. Wahl, who was known as "Mike," began his legal career at Nordlinger, Reigelman and Cooper in New York City, where he met and fell in love with another lawyer, Blanche Genauer.

Public employees in Baltimore County will have a new avenue for resolving labor disputes under legislation the County Council approved Monday. The measure will grant binding arbitration — a practice in which an independent, third-party arbiter makes decisions in a labor impasse — to more than 2,500 general county workers, including corrections officers, public health nurses and 911 dispatchers. The county's police and firefighters have been able to use binding arbitration for nearly a decade.

An Anne Arundel County Circuit Court judge has dealt a serious blow to the county's use of binding arbitration to solve collective bargaining disputes with employees, ruling that the entire system is unconstitutional. The ruling came in a lawsuit filed by public safety employee unions after the County Council passed legislation this year giving the council final say in labor disputes between the county and public safety employees. Circuit Court Judge Paul Goetzske went beyond the scope of the lawsuit, which sought to reverse that legislation.

Rosecroft Raceway and members of the state's thoroughbred industry, including the Maryland Jockey Club, are expected to enter into binding arbitration to resolve a dispute over simulcasting fees. The parties failed to reach an agreement by the Oct. 1 deadline during a mediation led by Maryland Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation Secretary Alexander M. Sanchez. Sanchez said in a statement Monday that he was disappointed no agreement could be reached among the parties that would allow Rosecroft to broadcast thoroughbred races.