Opinion ID: 3023066
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Statute of Limitations for a Duty of Fair

Text: Representation Claim at Law Farber alleged that the Union breached its duty under the New Jersey Employer-Employee Relations Act (“EERA”), N.J. Stat. Ann. § 34:13A-1 et seq., to fairly represent her “by refusing to pursue [her] grievance and by abandoning all efforts to support her.” (Comp. ¶¶ 44-45.) The Union moved to dismiss this duty of fair representation (“DFR”) claim, alleging that it 21 was time-barred. The District Court disagreed, and denied the motion. The District Court was correct to do so. Under the EERA, a union has the exclusive right to represent the interests of public employees. N.J. Stat. Ann. § 34:13A-5.3. Along with this exclusive right, however, a union has a “corresponding duty” of fair representation, which means that it must process meritorious employee grievances in “complete good faith, with honesty of purpose and without unfair discrimination against a dissident employee or group of employees.” D’Arrigo v. N.J. State Bd. of Mediation, 574 A.2d 44, 47 (N.J. 1990). Failure to do so exposes a union to an “unfair practice” claim under N.J. Stat. Ann. § 34:13A-5.4(b) before the Public Employment Relations Commission (“PERC”), which has the “exclusive power” to hear such claims under N.J. Stat. Ann. § 34:13A-5.4(c).13 “Unfair practice” claims brought 13 Section 34:13A-5.4(c) reads: [t]he commission shall have exclusive power as hereinafter provided to prevent anyone from engaging in any unfair practice listed in subsections a. and b. above. Whenever it is charged that anyone has engaged or is engaging in any such unfair practice, the commission, or any designated agent thereof, shall have authority to issue and cause to be served upon such party a complaint stating the specific unfair practice charged and including a notice of hearing containing the date and place of hearing before the commission or any designated agent thereof; provided that no complaint shall issue based upon any unfair practice occurring more than 6 months prior to the filing of the charge unless the person aggrieved thereby was prevented from filing such charge in which the event the 6-month period shall be computed from the day he was no longer so prevented. (emphasis added). 22 before the PERC are subject to a six-month statute of limitations. Id. The District Court concluded, and we agree, that PERC’s “exclusive power” to hear unfair practice claims would not preempt a DFR claim at law. Analogizing to Vaca v. Sipes, 386 U.S. 171, 187-88 (1967), the Court held that if confronted with the issue, the Supreme Court of New Jersey “would recognize a cause of action at law under the EERA for a union’s breach of its DFR.” See Farber, 327 F. Supp. 2d at 420. In Vaca, the Supreme Court held that an employee could sue her union for breach of the duty of fair representation implied in § 9(a) of the National Labor Relations Act, even though “unfair labor practice” claims, such as breach of the duty of fair representation, usually can be heard only by the National Labor Relations Board. 386 U.S. at 176-88. The District Court also concluded that New Jersey’s sixyear statute of limitations for “any tortious injury to the rights of another,” N.J. Stat. Ann. § 2A:14-1, would apply to an EERADFR claim at law. Farber, 327 F. Supp. 2d at 421-22. Again, we agree. In Gomez v. Government of the Virgin Islands, we held that the Virgin Islands’ general two-year statute of limitations, V.I. Code Ann. tit. 5, § 31(5)(A), applied to a DFR claim brought in court under the Virgin Islands Public Employee Labor Relations Act (“PERLA”). 882 F.2d 733, 737-38 (3d Cir. 1989). PERLA is the Virgin Islands’ counterpart to New Jersey’s EERA, and just as New Jersey courts use NLRA case law to interpret the EERA, see Lullo v. Int’l Ass’n of Fire Fighters, 262 A.2d 681, 689 (1970), we use NLRA case law to interpret PERLA. Gomez, 882 F.2d 737 n.8. Unlike the EERA, however, PERLA expressly provides a cause of action in the Virgin Islands courts and in federal court for breach of a duty of fair representation, see V.I. Code Ann. tit. 24, § 383, in addition to providing for the filing of a complaint for unfair labor practices before the Public Employee Relations Board (“PERB”), see V.I. Code Ann. tit. 24, § 379, the Virgin Islands’ equivalent of New Jersey’s PERC. Section 383 does not contain a statute of limitations for DFR claims brought in court, and, in Gomez, we rejected the argument that we should, therefore, 23 borrow § 379’s six-month statute of limitations for claims before PERB. 882 F.2d at 738. We reasoned that we were not permitted to borrow § 379’s statute of limitations because V.I. Code Ann. tit. 5, § 31(5)(A) already provides a general catch-all two-year statute of limitations for tort actions, and a DFR claim is a form of tort action. Gomez, 882 F.2d at 738. The Union argues that Gomez is distinguishable because, unlike the EERA, PERLA explicitly provides for DFR claims to be brought in court. This may be true, but the difference is immaterial. Each Act has a section that permits unfair labor practice claims to be brought before an administrative body subject to a six-month statute of limitations. See N.J. Code. Ann. § 34:13A-5.4 (PERC); V.I. Code Ann. tit. 24, § 379 (PERB). Each Act also permits (either expressly or impliedly) DFR claims to be brought before a court from a source other than the section that provides for unfair labor practice claims before the administrative body. See N.J. Code. Ann. § 34:13A- 5.3 (implied by District Court here); V.I. Code Ann. tit 24, § 383 (express). Thus, under both Acts, the six-month statute of limitations must be “borrowed” from some external source in order to apply to a DFR claim brought in court. In Gomez, we explained that we cannot circumvent a state legislature’s decision to provide a general catch-all statute of limitations for tort claims, and thus may not borrow the six-month limitations period. Our reasoning in Gomez is applicable here. The Union also argues that because of the policy considerations underlying the EERA, a six-year statute of limitations should not apply to DFR claims because “it undermines the [PERC’s] authority,” and “undermines the balance crafted by the New Jersey Legislature which allows for such claims so long as they are promptly presented to the agency which has special expertise and responsibility for public sector labor law.” (Appellee’s Br. 18 (citing Kaczmarek v. N.J. Turnpike Authority, 390 A.2d 597, 601-05 (N.J. 1989)). As a matter of policy, the Union is most likely correct. In Kaczmarek, the Supreme Court of New Jersey explained that the six-month statute of limitations for “unfair practices” promotes the “prompt filing and expeditious processing of charges,” which is 24 “especially important in the volatile field of employer-employee relations. In addition to preserving the immediacy of the record, administrative celerity stabilizes existing bargaining relationships, and inhibits the festering or aggravation of labor disputes.” 390 A.2d at 602. In Gomez, however, we acknowledged these same policy considerations, and explained that they were of legislative, not judicial, concern: Our decision today is based on the language of Virgin Islands statutory law. Any lack of uniformity in the filing of PERLA actions as a result of our decision today must be resolved by the Virgin Islands legislature. The policy considerations which the Supreme Court in DelCostello noted favor a short statute are even more appropriate subjects for legislative concern. Gomez, 882 F.2d at 739 n.9. In sum, we will follow Gomez and will affirm the conclusion of the District Court that New Jersey’s six-year statute of limitations “for any tortious injury to the rights of another,” N.J. Stat. Ann. § 2A:14-1, applies to a DFR claim brought in court. We leave it to the New Jersey legislature to shorten the limitations period for such a claim if it deems it appropriate to do so.