Opinion ID: 776479
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Failure To Exhaust Grievance Procedures

Text: 7 Section 301 of the LMRA allows Sidhu to sue Flecto, his employer, in federal district court to enforce the terms of their CBA. Hardline Electric Inc. v. Int'l Bhd. of Elec. Workers, Local 1547, 680 F.2d 622, 624-25 (9th Cir.1982). Before bringing suit, however, an employee must first exhaust the grievance procedures established by the CBA. Herman v. United Bhd. of Carpenters & Joiners of America, Local Union No. 971, 60 F.3d 1375, 1379 (9th Cir.1995). Sidhu can pursue a § 301 claim without exhausting the grievance procedures if Flecto repudiated those procedures. Vaca v. Sipes, 386 U.S. 171, 185, 87 S.Ct. 903, 17 L.Ed.2d 842 (1967). Where an employer repudiates the contract procedures designed to resolve the grievance, he is estopped by his own conduct to rely on the unexhausted grievance and arbitration procedures as a defense to the employee's cause of action. Id. We will not find repudiation simply because the employer refused to follow one or more of the substantive terms of the CBA; rather, we will excuse the requirement for exhaustion based on repudiation only if the employer repudiates the specific grievance procedures provided for in the CBA. See Kaylor v. Crown Zellerbach, Inc., 643 F.2d 1362, 1366 (9th Cir.1981). 8 The Union attempted to use the grievance procedures on Sidhu's behalf. In a letter dated June 25, 1998, the Union urged Flecto to reconsider its denial of the grievance and specifically requested that the parties schedule an adjustment board as required by the CBA. The letter went on to state, Even if you disagree with our view on the merits of the grievance, you are obligated to follow the grievance procedure of the contract. 9 The Union wrote another letter dated November 9, 1998, and demand[ed] an arbitration under the terms of the contract. On January 19, 1999, Flecto's attorneys sent the final piece of correspondence which said, 10 On Friday, I received a telephone message from Barbara Gorin of your office requesting that the Company select arbitrators in the above captioned matter. The Company will not do so. On June 19, 1998, the Company advised the Union, in writing, that it would not process Mr. Sidhu's grievance in this matter. It is not willing to do so now. 11 The CBA specifically provided that grievances between the Union and Flecto would be resolved through its grievance procedures. Those procedures culminate in final, binding arbitration. Based on the position that the CBA did not govern this dispute, Flecto refused to arbitrate. Sidhu could not exhaust the grievance procedures because Flecto took the repeated position that the grievance procedures did not govern this dispute. It is disingenuous for Flecto to now assert that Sidhu's claim is barred because he failed to exhaust the grievance procedures. We find that Sidhu is excused from the exhaustion requirement based on Flecto's repudiation of the grievance procedures as to Sidhu's claim. 12 Flecto argues that its actions were insufficient to amount to repudiation. However, the cases cited in support of its position are distinguishable. In Bailey v. Bicknell Minerals, Inc. 819 F.2d 690, 691 (7th Cir. 1987), the aggrieved employees never even filed a grievance, let alone a request for arbitration. Rather, the plaintiffs immediately filed suit under § 301 of the LMRA. The remaining cases cited by Flecto are similarly distinguishable. 2 13 Flecto also contends that Sidhu is not excused from the exhaustion requirement because the Union did not file a suit to compel arbitration. However, according to the terms of the CBA, a request for arbitration is the final step in the grievance procedure. The decision of the Arbitrator is final and binding on the employer, the Union, and employees. Sidhu, through the Union, requested and even demanded arbitration proceedings, which were refused. Sidhu exhausted all of the procedures contained in the CBA, which did not include legal action to compel arbitration. 14 Flecto also asserts that in order to make a showing of repudiation, Sidhu must establish that the entire agreement was repudiated. However, the exceptions to the exhaustion requirement in Vaca were intended to bar an employer from making a claim of failure to exhaust when exhaustion was prevented by the employer's conduct. 386 U.S. at 185, 87 S.Ct. 903. No court, in any circuit, has ever imposed the total repudiation requirement upon an aggrieved employee. We will not be the first to do so. Instead, we adopt a grievance-specific repudiation approach. If the employer repudiates the procedures established in a CBA to govern a particular grievance, the aggrieved employee is relieved of the usual requirement to exhaust administrative remedies as to that grievance.