Opinion ID: 472586
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Sec. 301 BREACH OF CONTRACT AND FAIR REPRESENTATION CLAIMS

Text: 7 We must characterize the appellant's breach of contract and duty of fair representation claims to determine the applicable statute of limitations. GSU and IBEW argue that appellant's suit is a classic hybrid Sec. 301 claim of employer breach of contract and union breach of the duty of fair representation. As such, they urge, it is barred by the well-established National Labor Relations Act's six-month statute of limitations. Appellant argues that his claim is a straightforward breach of contract claim governed by the Texas statute of limitations of four years for contract actions. Auto Workers v. Hoosier Cardinal Corp., 383 U.S. 696, 86 S.Ct. 1107, 16 L.Ed.2d 192 (1966). 8 A Sec. 301 breach of contract and fair representation suit comprises two distinct causes of action, one against the employer, and the other against the union. Section 301 of the LMRA, 29 U.S.C. Sec. 185, provides an employee with a federal cause of action against his employer for breach of the collective bargaining agreement. The suit against the union for breach of the duty of fair representation is implied under the scheme of the National Labor Relations Act. DelCostello, 462 U.S. at 165, 103 S.Ct. at 2290. The two causes of action are inextricably interdependent, and have come to be known as a hybrid Sec. 301/duty of fair representation suit. United Parcel Service, Inc. v. Mitchell, 451 U.S. 56, 101 S.Ct. 1559, 67 L.Ed.2d 732 (1981). The interdependency arises from the nature of the collective bargaining agreement. If the arbitration and grievance procedure is the exclusive and final remedy for breach of the collective bargaining agreement, the employee may not sue his employer under Sec. 301 until he has exhausted the procedure, Republic Steel Corp. v. Maddox, 379 U.S. 650, 85 S.Ct. 614, 13 L.Ed.2d 580 (1965). Further, he is bound by the procedure's result unless he proves the union breached its duty of fair representation. Hines v. Anchor Motor Freight, Inc., 424 U.S. 554, 96 S.Ct. 1048, 47 L.Ed.2d 231 (1976). Thus, the indispensable predicate for a Sec. 301 action in this situation is a fair representation claim against the union. Mitchell, 451 U.S. at 62, 101 S.Ct. at 1564. As the Supreme Court stated in DelCostello: 9 To prevail against either the company or the Union, ... [employee-plaintiffs] must not only show that their discharge was contrary to the contract but must also carry the burden of demonstrating breach of duty by the Union. The employee may, if he chooses, sue one defendant and not the other; but the case he must prove is the same whether he sues one, the other, or both. 10 462 U.S. at 166, 103 S.Ct. at 2291 (citations omitted). In essence the hybrid Sec. 301/fair representation suit is brought in order to set aside a final and binding determination of a grievance, arrived at through the collectively bargained method of resolving the grievance. It is, therefore, a direct challenge to the private settlement of disputes under the collective bargaining agreement. Mitchell, 451 U.S. at 67, 101 S.Ct. at 1566 (Stewart, J., concurring); DelCostello, 462 U.S. at 166, 103 S.Ct. at 2291. 11 On the other hand, if the collective bargaining agreement does not provide that the grievance and arbitration procedure is the exclusive and final remedy for breach of contract claims, the employee may sue his employer in federal court under Sec. 301, Vaca v. Sipes, 386 U.S. 171, 183, 87 S.Ct. 903, 913, 17 L.Ed.2d 842 (1967), and the state statute of limitations applicable to contract breaches applies. Auto Workers v. Hoosier Cardinal Corp., 383 U.S. at 704, 86 S.Ct. at 1113; Smith v. Kerrville Bus Co., 748 F.2d 1049 (5th Cir.1984). In such an instance, a fair representation suit against the union would still be governed by the DelCostello six-month statute of limitations. See DelCostello, 462 U.S. at 169, 103 S.Ct. at 2292 (rejecting state limitations period for legal malpractice for fair representation claim against the union because application of a longer malpractice statute would preclude the relatively rapid solution of labor disputes favored by federal law.); accord Mitchell, 451 U.S. at 64, 101 S.Ct. at 1564. 12 Consequently, appellant's claim against the union is barred in any event by the six month statute of limitations since he filed suit more than six months after the union notified him of its decision not to file a grievance, the date the limitations period began to run. Hersh v. Allen Products Co., Inc., 789 F.2d 230, 232 (3d Cir.1986); see, Metz v. Tootsie Roll Industries, 715 F.2d 299, 304 (7th Cir.1983), cert. denied, 464 U.S. 1070, 104 S.Ct. 976, 79 L.Ed.2d 214 (1984), citing, Hungerford v. United States, 307 F.2d 99, 102 (9th Cir.1962). We are unable to dispose of appellant's Sec. 301 claim, however, because the record before us does not include the collective bargaining agreement and nothing in the record tells us if it requires an aggrieved employee first to seek remedy through the grievance and arbitration procedure. We must therefore remand for the trial court to apply the parties' collective bargaining agreement. If the contract contains the typical provision that aggrieved parties must go through the grievance and arbitration procedures and the procedures' resolution is final and binding on the parties, appellant's suit against both employer and union is barred. For as we pointed out above, appellant's Sec. 301 suit would then hinge on the claim that the union breached its duty of fair representation, a claim the appellant is barred from bringing. Thus, he cannot bring a separate breach of contract suit with a separate statute of limitations applicable. DelCostello, 462 U.S. at 159 n. 12, 103 S.Ct. 2287 n. 12. Only if the arbitration and grievance procedures in the contract are alternative procedures, leaving the aggrieved employee and the exclusive bargaining representative free to use or not use them as they wish does the state statute of limitations for breach of contract apply to appellant's Sec. 301 suit.