Opinion ID: 601561
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Deprivation of Livadas's NLRA right

Text: 44 We do not believe that the Commissioner's denial of enforcement on the basis that Livadas's claim would concern the interpretation or application of a collective bargaining agreement deprived Livadas of her right to bargain collectively; indeed, we do not believe it implicated her federal rights at all. Livadas does not object to the rule stated in § 229 and Howard because she recognizes that it reflects principles of federal preemption. She further recognizes that she could not have a right to the Commissioner's enforcement if that enforcement were preempted because, of course, she does not have the right to compel the Commissioner to do that which federal law does not permit him to do. Livadas's objection is rather that the Commissioner misinterpreted the rule because she claims that in fact her § 203 claim would not be preempted by federal labor law. We need not reach the question of whether the Commissioner incorrectly determined that her § 203 claim was preempted because, even if he did, Livadas has not established a deprivation of her right to bargain collectively. 45 Livadas relies on Golden State I and II to support her argument that the Commissioner may not condition his enforcement on her not having worked under a collective bargaining agreement. Golden State makes clear that the denial of a benefit in some cases can be sufficient to constitute an infringement. There, the city had conditioned a franchise renewal on the employer's settlement of a strike. Even though the franchise renewal was a privilege, not a right, the Court held that conditioning its conferral on relinquishment of the employer's federally protected right to withstand the strike impermissibly infringed that right. See also Bullfrog Films, Inc. v. Wick, 847 F.2d 502, 511 (9th Cir.1988) (government may not condition the conferral of a benefit on the relinquishment of a constitutional right). Thus, Livadas correctly states the law when she states that conditioning a benefit on the relinquishment of a federal right can infringe that right. 46 But Livadas's general statement of the law does not dispose of this case. There is a fundamental difference between this case and Golden State. In Golden State, the city's condition itself was impermissible. The city demanded that the taxicab company settle its strike as a condition for renewing its franchise. The city's condition on the conferral of its benefit was that the employer not exercise its federally protected right to withstand a strike. 47 Here, the Commissioner's condition is not that Livadas not exercise her right to bargain collectively. It is that enforcement not require the interpretation or application of a collective bargaining agreement. That condition is perfectly permissible under federal law. In fact, it is required under federal law, for if adjudicating the dispute would require interpreting a collective bargaining agreement, federal law would preempt the adjudication. Livadas does not contest this point, and she therefore does not challenge the condition itself. 48 Rather, she challenges the application of the rule to her case. She claims that the Commissioner erred in deciding that her claim was preempted. This argument would be equivalent to the employer in Golden State arguing that the city deprived it of its federal rights because the employer had in fact settled the strike. The argument clearly would have failed because the determination of whether or not the employer had complied with the city's condition is simply a question of interpreting the city's condition and does not implicate federal rights. 49 Similarly here, because Livadas does not challenge the condition the Commissioner places on his enforcement but only his interpretation that the condition has not been satisfied, she has not demonstrated any deprivation of her federal rights. Simply because the Commissioner (arguably) erroneously determined that her claim would be preempted does not invalidate the condition he placed on his enforcement. It does not change the fact the he has conditioned his enforcement on his determining that the claim would not be preempted by federal labor law. And it does not change the fact that his condition is perfectly permissible, indeed required, under federal law. 50 Livadas is left, then, with the simple claim that the Commissioner erroneously interpreted his own policy. That amounts only to a state law claim that she is in fact eligible for the Commissioner's enforcement under California Labor Code § 229. The appropriate relief would be a writ of mandate from the California courts, see Baker v. Aubry, 216 Cal.App.3d 1259, 265 Cal.Rptr. 381 (1989), review denied, Mar. 15, 1990, cert. denied, 498 U.S. 820, 111 S.Ct. 66, 112 L.Ed.2d 40 (1990), and she could seek such relief on the ground that the Commissioner misinterpreted § 229. A misinterpretation of a perfectly valid state statute, however, does not provide grounds for federal relief. 51 To hold that Livadas is entitled to federal relief in this case would require us to hold that she is entitled under the NLRA to a correct interpretation of California law regarding enforcement of § 203 claims. We cannot so hold. Livadas's in the same position as every other employee in the state when it comes to seeking the Commissioner's enforcement. Every employee who seeks enforcement is subject to an eligibility determination, and every employee who seeks enforcement is subject to the risk that the Commissioner will get it wrong. If the Commissioner gets it wrong, the employee (whether or not she worked under a collective bargaining agreement) can seek a writ of mandate to correct the error. Thus, we do not see how the Commissioner, simply by making an erroneous eligibility determination, has penalized Livadas for the exercise of her right to bargain collectively because he has treated her exactly the same as every other employee in the state. 52 Of course, by virtue of the fact that Livadas is covered by a collective bargaining agreement, she may be more likely to get an erroneous eligibility determination than employees who do not work under collective bargaining agreements because the Commissioner is more likely to hold that her claim is preempted by federal labor law. 1 But that is a function of the condition placed on enforcement that the claim not be preempted--a condition to which she does not object and could not object. It is also perhaps a function of the complexity of preemption law and of the inherent tension between federal and state systems for adjudicating labor disputes. It is not a function of the Commissioner's placing any kind of impermissible condition on the benefit of his enforcement. 53 We cannot believe that Congress intended in granting a right to bargain collectively to give employees who choose to do so the right to have a state official correctly interpret the state's own law. That would place employees who bargain collectively in a better position than those who do not because it gives them an extra avenue of redress for the erroneous determination of state law. Because § 7 of the NLRA gives employees the right to refrain from bargaining collectively as well as the right to do so, 29 U.S.C. § 157, we do not believe that Congress could have intended to confer extra rights on employees who choose to bargain collectively. At least without an express direction from Congress that it so intended, we will not read the right to bargain collectively to include such an extraordinary right. 54 Finally, we are also persuaded by the more general policies of federal labor law that Congress did not intend to protect workers from an erroneous determination that their state law claims are preempted by federal labor law. Congress intended to create a uniform body of federal law for labor disputes arising under collective bargaining agreements. To that end, it created a comprehensive scheme for adjudicating such disputes. See generally 29 U.S.C. § 185 (Labor Management Relations Act § 301); Local 174, Teamsters v. Lucas Flour Co., 369 U.S. 95, 101-05, 82 S.Ct. 571, 575-77, 7 L.Ed.2d 593 (1962). Congress also intended that arbitration would be central to the resolution of disputes arising under collective bargaining agreements. See United Steelworkers v. Warrior & Gulf Navigation Co., 363 U.S. 574, 578-81, 80 S.Ct. 1347, 1350-52, 4 L.Ed.2d 1409 (1960). 55 Given the primacy of the federal scheme for handling labor disputes, we believe that Congress would not want state officials erring on the side of adjudicating state law disputes whenever it is a close call as to whether a claim is preempted. If anything, Congress would presumably want state officials to defer to arbitration and adjudication under the federal scheme if a claim even arguably is intertwined with consideration of a collective bargaining agreement containing an arbitration clause. 56 In essence, we think Livadas is claiming that the Commissioner wrongly decided that she was not eligible for enforcement. Because she does not challenge the criterion he used for determining her eligibility (that her claim not be preempted), her claim boils down to a claim that he interpreted his own rule incorrectly. We believe this claim would only establish an error under California law (that she was in fact entitled to enforcement) and not a deprivation of her federal right. We see no way in which an erroneous determination of eligibility for the Commissioner's enforcement under California law can be transformed into a deprivation of a federal right. Therefore, we conclude that Livadas has failed to show that the Commissioner deprived her of her right to bargain collectively under the NLRA, and the district court improperly granted summary judgment in her favor. 2 57 REVERSED and REMANDED, with instructions to enter judgment in favor of the defendant-appellant, Lloyd Aubry. 58