Is a communication within the grievance procedure necessary to define the scope of the dispute?

Finally for purposes of this case, there appears to be a number of awards in which an exception has been made where a communication within the grievance procedure is necessary to define the scope of the dispute that is before the arbitrator or to otherwise ensure a fair hearing. In these cases, the communication sought to be introduced into evidence generally seems to be a discrete part of the grievance discussions that may without undue difficulty be isolated from the rest of the parties’ communications. As such, they may be said to be cases in which the fourth principle articulated in Slavutych v. Baker is not satisfied: that is, they are cases in which admitting the communication into evidence is important to the correct disposal of the litigation and the disclosure of the communication is unlikely, in its context, to injure the parties’ confidential relationship during administration of the grievance procedure.