Opinion ID: 519533
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: NLRA/LMRA Claims.

Text: 20 The district court categorized this suit as a hybrid section 301/fair representation suit subject to a six-month statute of limitations per DelCostello, 462 U.S. at 166, 103 S.Ct. at 2291. However, this characterization of Degan's claims cannot have been correct, for the simple reason that Degan never complained of the breach of a collectively bargained contract, the sole province of section 301 actions. See 29 U.S.C. Sec. 185. Degan's contractual claims assert only that the employer's oral promises to himself and several others similarly situated at the close of the New Orleans part facility are enforceable. He does not allege that these separate oral agreements were collectively bargained. Thus, since Degan's contractual claim was not one arising under section 301, his suit cannot be hybrid in nature. 21 Degan may, however, have adequately framed a fair representation claim against his union for having irresponsibly informed him that he would receive early retirement benefits if he took separation pay. See Acri v. International Ass'n of Machinists & Aerospace Workers, 781 F.2d 1393, 1397 (9th Cir.), cert. denied, 479 U.S. 816, 107 S.Ct. 73, 93 L.Ed.2d 29 (1986). Yet, such claims are subject to the six-month statute of limitations period set forth in section 10(b) of the NLRA. See Richardson v. United Steelworkers of Am., 864 F.2d 1162, 1167 (5th Cir.1989). 22 Degan's suit, filed in March 1986, could not have come within that limitations period; his cause of action against the union most likely arose in January 1980, when he received a letter from a union representative informing him that the union had made inquiries with respect to his eligibility for early retirement benefits and had received a negative answer which the union implicitly was willing to accept. Even assuming that Degan's cause of action against the union did not arise until February 1982, when Ford unequivocally rejected Degan's lawyer's demand letter, his complaint against the union falls well outside the section 10(b) limitations period. Hence, summary judgment remains appropriate with regard to this aspect of Degan's complaint. 23