Opinion ID: 3203369
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: introduction

Text: A former airline employee sued her former employer for wrongful termination without first attempting to arbitrate her claims under the provisions of a collective bargaining agreement subject to the federal Railway Labor Act. The superior court denied the employee leave to amend her complaint, concluding that her claims and proposed claims were precluded by failure to exhaust contractual remedies and were preempted by the Railway Labor Act. But the collective bargaining agreement does not clearly and unmistakably waive the employee’s right to litigate her claims, a prerequisite to finding her claims precluded. And a number of her proposed claims may have an independent state law basis that does not depend on an interpretation of the collective bargaining agreement; such claims would not be preempted by the Railway Labor Act. Accordingly we reverse the superior court order denying leave to amend.