Opinion ID: 3002027
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Labor Management Relations Act Claim

Text: In the district court and here on appeal, Vail has argued that Raybestos terminated her in violation of the collective bargaining agreement covering her and her union. Specifically, she claims that she did not “accept[ or] perform[ ] other gainful employment or provide[ ] physical labor” while on leave. Her theory is that her “leave” ended when her shift did on the morning of October 7, 2005, which is 6:45 AM. As a result, the 6 No. 07-3621 mowing that Sergeant Largent witnessed a few hours later did not occur when she was on “leave.” The suspicion that her lawn work had violated the collective bargaining agreement was, in her opinion, unfounded. It is unnecessary to pass over Vail’s interpretation of the collective bargaining agreement because the claim is not properly before us. This Court reviews the substantive provisions of a union’s collective bargaining agreement by virtue of Section 301(a) of the Labor Management Relations Act. 29 U.S.C. § 185(a). That statute gives the federal courts jurisdiction over “[s]uits for violation of contracts between an employer and a labor organization representing employees . . . without respect to the amount in controversy or without regard to the citizenship of the parties.” Id. As a general matter, however, exercising this power should be the last step in resolving a dispute over the terms of a collective bargaining agreement. Republic Steel Corp. v. Maddox, 379 U.S. 650, 652 (1965). Collective bargaining agreements frequently provide private mechanisms for handling disputes. And “individual employees wishing to assert contract grievances must attempt use of the contract grievance procedure agreed upon by employer and union as the mode of redress” before courts will get involved. Id.; Clayton v. Intl. Union, United Auto., Aerospace, and Agricultural Implement Workers of America, 451 U.S. 679, 685-86 (1981). Otherwise, the judiciary may marshal its scarce resources to resolve disputes that the parties could have resolved privately. Here, the collective bargaining agreement in dispute had a grievance procedure that applied when Raybestos terminated someone covered by the agreement. The relevant provision states: No. 07-3621 7 When the Company determines to discharge an em- ployee for cause, [s]he shall be suspended immediately and given a written notice of discharge, and the aggrieved employee, if [s]he feels [s]he has a grievance, shall file a written grievance with a member of the Union [and so on up to and including a hearing.] Upon receiving her notice of termination, Vail chose not to avail herself of this grievance procedure, instead filing this lawsuit. Nor did she press her claim with the union following her discharge, meaning she has not “attempt[ed] use of the contract grievance procedure agreed upon by employer and union as the mode of redress.” Republic Steel Corp., 379 U.S. at 652. The general rule stated above has exceptions, and unless one of these exceptions applies, Vail’s failure to resolve her grievance privately means that we cannot do so now. This Court has the discretion to hear disputes concerning the terms of a collective bargaining agreement notwithstanding the failure to exhaust when: (1) the union has exhibited sufficient hostility to the employee’s claim to preclude a fair hearing; (2) the internal procedures are inadequate “either to reactivate the employee’s grievance or to award h[er] the full relief [s]he seeks under § 301”; or (3) the “exhaustion of internal procedures would unreasonably delay the employee’s opportunity to obtain a judicial hearing on the merits of his claim.” Clayton, 451 U.S. at 689. Vail does not argue here that any of these applies; so, for the reasons stated above, her claim based on the collective bargaining agreement necessarily fails. 8 No. 07-3621