Opinion ID: 419809
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Deference Due the System Board

Text: 9 Western first contends that the bona fide seniority system set up by the collective bargaining agreement between itself and the Air Line Pilots Association will not permit downbids of the type submitted by Criswell and Starley. It insists that this matter was not open for de novo investigation by the district court because the System Board of Adjustment had already made that determination in 1978. The airline urges that the System Board has exclusive jurisdiction to interpret the agreement and that its decision may not be reconsidered or collaterally attacked in court. Reliance on this argument is misplaced. The right of the plaintiffs to go before the System Board is contractual, arising out of their collective bargaining agreement. Their right to come before this court is statutory, arising out of the ADEA. As the Supreme Court has said in similar circumstances: 10 The distinctly separate nature of these contractual and statutory rights is not vitiated merely because both were violated as a result of the same factual occurrence. And certainly no inconsistency results from permitting both rights to be enforced in their respectively appropriate forums. 11 Barrentine v. Arkansas-Best Freight System, 450 U.S. 728, 745-46, 101 S.Ct. 1437, 1447, 67 L.Ed.2d 641 (1981), quoting with approval Alexander v. Gardner-Denver, 415 U.S. 36, 49-50, 94 S.Ct. 1011, 1020, 39 L.Ed.2d 147 (1974). 12 Both Alexander and Barrentine are immediately relevant to the issue in this case. While Alexander dealt with Title VII, substantive rights arising under the ADEA are to be similarly construed. Oscar Mayer & Co. v. Evans, 441 U.S. 750, 755-56, 99 S.Ct. 2066, 2071, 60 L.Ed.2d 609 (1979); Sutton v. Atlantic Richfield Co., 646 F.2d 407, 411 (9th Cir.1981). Barrentine extended Alexander into the related Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) context; the remedial and procedural structure of the FLSA has been incorporated into the ADEA. Lorillard v. Pons, 434 U.S. 575, 578, 98 S.Ct. 866, 868, 55 L.Ed.2d 40 (1978). 13 The factors which initially prompted the Supreme Court to reject deference to arbitral decisions in these instances apply squarely to the facts of this situation. In refusing to defer, the Court first noted its special responsibilities and plenary power to enforce the statute. Alexander, 415 U.S. at 44-45, 94 S.Ct. at 1017-18. That same responsibility exists with regard to the ADEA. It turned next to the dangers of allowing an arbitrator to make legal and factual rulings dispositive of statutory rights when such a person, first, is often not trained as a lawyer, id. at 57 n. 18, 94 S.Ct. at 1024 n. 18; Barrentine, 450 U.S. at 743 n. 21, 101 S.Ct. at 1446 n. 21; second, is under an obligation to apply the law of the shop rather than the law of the land; and third, is required to interpret the agreement in accordance with the intent of the parties rather than the intent of Congress. Alexander, 415 U.S. at 53, 57, 94 S.Ct. at 1022, 1024; Barrentine, 450 U.S. at 743-44, 101 S.Ct. at 1446. In the instant case, the System Board concerned itself solely with the law of the shop and the intent of the parties; ADEA rights did not enter into its consideration at all. Last, the Supreme Court noted the lesser powers of arbitral boards to gather reliable evidence and do thorough fact-finding and adduced those as reasons not to be bound by the factual record below when a party comes into federal court asserting a statutory right. Alexander, 415 U.S. at 57-58, 94 S.Ct. at 1024. Our case illustrates the wisdom of that policy. The evidence before the System Board on the question of how and whether Western pilots practiced downbidding was miniscule when compared to that presented to the district court after the plaintiffs had exercised their federal discovery rights. 14 Barrentine and Alexander do not, however, signify the end of the long-standing policy that federal courts defer to the decisions of labor arbitrators. The Supreme Court also determined that arbitral decisions might come into evidence and be accorded such weight as the trial court deemed appropriate. It further said: 15 We adopt no standards as to the weight to be accorded an arbitral decision since this must be determined in the court's discretion with regard to the facts and circumstances of each case. Relevant factors include the existence of provisions in the collective bargaining agreement that conform substantially with [the statute], the degree of procedural fairness in the arbitral forum, adequacy of the record with respect to the issue of discrimination, and the special competence of particular arbitrators. 16 Barrentine, 450 U.S. at 743 n. 22, 101 S.Ct. at 1446 n. 22, quoting with approval Alexander, 415 U.S. at 60 n. 21, 94 S.Ct. at 1025 n. 21. Here the district court allowed into evidence the board's determination that downbidding was not permitted under the collective bargaining agreement and instructed the jury that it was a reasonable factor other than age. This conforms fully with Alexander and Barrentine. In these circumstances the decision of the board should not have been accorded greater weight. 17 In fact, the instruction was more favorable to Western than the evidence warranted. The plaintiffs adduced a great deal of evidence tending to show that Western did not administer its downbidding system in an age-neutral fashion, but rather that it routinely granted exceptions for younger pilots. In such a situation, the determination of the board that the downbids requested were not generally available under the agreement is merely evidence offered to rebut plaintiffs' contentions of disparate treatment of older pilots in Western's administration of the downbidding system. 3