Opinion ID: 732517
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Stop Pay

Text: 22 The district court held that Albertsons was not required to make pension contributions on stop pay for long haul mileage drivers. The district court based its ruling on the bargaining history of the parties and a letter of understanding (LOU) signed by the parties after they negotiated the CBA. However, because the district court failed to consider evidence of industry practice, we reverse its ruling on this issue. 23 It is undisputed that neither the CBA nor the LOU mentions pension contributions for long haul mileage drivers on stop pay. Albertsons did submit declarations from its negotiators stating that Albertsons never intended to make pension contributions on stop pay, and that the number of miles equaling one compensable hour was lowered specifically to take into account the long haul mileage drivers' stop pay. However, Albertsons' negotiators never communicated their intentions to the union's negotiators, nor did they state their intentions in writing. 24 The district court nevertheless concluded that, because there was no LOU for stop pay, Albertsons was only required to make pension contributions for mileage traveled and not for stop pay. We believe the district court erred in resolving the stop pay claim on summary judgment. 25 As the district court found, [t]he plain language of the CBA requires pension contributions on 'compensable hours.'  Stop pay is compensation for hours worked. Therefore, we see no reason why stop pay should be excluded in calculating pension contributions under Article 13.1. In fact, evidence from the administrator suggests that industry practice requires employers to make pension contributions on all compensation for long haul mileage drivers, including stop pay. Donald Ditter, the Trust's manager, testified in his deposition about the industry practice formula adopted by the Trust's auditors to compute the number of compensable hours worked by long haul mileage drivers. At his deposition, Ditter also produced a document describing the industry practice for computing compensable hours for long haul mileage drivers. 26 The district court should have looked to industry practice to determine the amount of pension contributions required in this case. A collective bargaining agreement is not governed by the same principles of interpretation applicable to private contracts. Operating Eng'rs Pension Trusts v. B & E Backhoe, Inc., 911 F.2d 1347, 1352 (9th Cir.1990). Unlike private contracts, a collective bargaining agreement is 27 a generalized code to govern a myriad of cases and parties, [that] calls into being a new common law of a particular industry or plant, and cannot be interpreted without considering the scope of other related collective bargaining agreements as well as the practice, usage and custom pertaining to all such agreements. 28 Id. (citing Transportation-Communication Employees Union v. Union Pac. R.R., 385 U.S. 157, 160-61, 87 S.Ct. 369, 371-72, 17 L.Ed.2d 264 (1966)). See also United Steelworkers of Am. v. Warrior & Gulf Navigation Co., 363 U.S. 574, 580-81, 80 S.Ct. 1347, 1352, 4 L.Ed.2d 1409 (1960) (Gaps [in collective bargaining agreements] may be left to be filled in by reference to the practices of the particular industry and of the various shops covered by the agreement.). 29 The evidence submitted by the administrator has created a genuine issue of material fact concerning the amount of pension contributions for stop pay. Therefore, we reverse the district court's grant of summary judgment on the stop pay claim.