The present invention relates to a link control automatic repeat request (ARQ) operation in a wireless communication environment. When a terminal sends an original request for communication resources, the request includes not only payload size, but preferably quality of service parameters associated with the data to be transmitted. During uplink communications, the base station performs the link control based ARQ for lost or corrupt packets. When lost or corrupt packets are identified, a link control entity at the base station determines the appropriate retransmission parameters and contacts the uplink scheduler, if necessary, to obtain the corresponding communication resources for retransmission. The additional communication resources for retransmission are provided in a message, such as a negative acknowledgement message, which is sent to the mobile terminal to trigger retransmission of the lost or corrupted data.