Opinion ID: 594704
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: facts

Text: In 1980, Flying Tiger merged with plaintiffs' former employer, Seaboard World Airlines, Inc. (Seaboard), another commercial cargo airline. Both carriers used Boeing 747 and DC-8 aircraft employing three-member cockpit crews consisting of a captain, a co-pilot (first officer), and a flight engineer (second officer). The captain is the pilot and controls the aircraft; the first officer/co-pilot assists the captain in flying the plane; the second officer/flight engineer is responsible for monitoring an instrument panel. Plaintiffs Bovers and McGrail had been Seaboard captains. At pre-merger Seaboard, the cockpit crews were divided into two separate bargaining units, with separate seniority lists: captains and co-pilots (collectively pilots) were represented by ALPA; flight engineers were represented by the Teamsters. Seaboard pilots had no rights to bid into flight engineers positions, and vice versa. At pre-merger Flying Tiger, by contrast, ALPA represented both pilots and flight engineers and had an integrated seniority list for all three cockpit positions. Flying Tiger pilots had certain rights to bid and hold flight engineer positions, and Flying Tiger flight engineers could, if qualified, fill pilot vacancies. ALPA represented all three pre-merger groups in the collective bargaining negotiations with Flying Tiger. The merger necessitated integration of the three pre-merger seniority lists. When the pre-merger groups were unable to agree on an integrated seniority list, they selected an impartial arbitrator, Lawrence E. Seebel, to devise an integrated seniority list, which together with any conditions and restrictions the arbitrator imposed, would be final and binding on the members of the three post-merger groups. The three pre-merger groups agreed that ALPA would use the integrated list in subsequent collective bargaining with Flying Tiger. In a decision issued March 16, 1981 (Seibel I ), the arbitrator issued an integrated seniority list. In making the seniority rankings for the purpose of bidding the flight engineer seat--the issue in the instant litigation--the arbitrator gave Flying Tiger pilots rights superior to those of Seaboard pilots. Seibel granted Seaboard pilots the right to bid for the flight engineer seat (a right they did not enjoy pre-merger), but made their position for such bidding subordinate in priority to the Flying Tiger pilots hired before the date of constructive notice of the merger (third priority vs. second priority bids). Flying Tiger pilot seniority rights for the flight engineer's seat were, in turn, subordinate to Flying Tiger flight engineers and certain Seaboard flight engineers (second priority vs. first priority bids). 1 Seibel I, however, contained a proviso that gave Seaboard pilots preference over pre-merger Flying Tiger pilots, if an involuntary furlough other than for medical reasons, would result in their removal from the airline's active work force (the Seibel proviso). The Seibel proviso arose out of a concession by pre-merger Flying Tiger pilots who offered to yield to Seaboard pilots on bids for flight engineer seats, if the Seaboard pilots would otherwise be laid off as a result of a lack of work. Seibel I justified the different treatment of pre-merger Seaboard and Flying Tiger pilots by a number of reasons arising from the very different pre-merger conditions at Flying Tiger and Seaboard. These included: (1) Flying Tiger pilots had held bidding rights to the flight engineer position, while Seaboard pilots had not; (2) Seaboard's pre-merger viability was questionable; (3) gross earnings of Flying Tiger cockpit crew members had been higher and more stable; (4) Seaboard had been cutting back, while Flying Tiger was increasing employment in the cockpit; (5) Seaboard's operating fleet had become inadequate and depleted due to Seaboard's financial deterioration; and (6) Flying Tiger was expanding its operations, while Seaboard was not. All of these factors were found to justify giving pre-merger Flying Tiger pilots priority over pre-merger Seaboard pilots in bidding for flight engineer positions. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) does not permit pilots to operate commercial aircraft after age sixty. See 14 C.F.R. § 121.383(c). This rule does not apply to flight engineers. At the time of Seebel I, Flying Tiger required captains and first officers to retire upon reaching age sixty. Bovers and McGrail were then 57. Because of Flying Tiger's mandatory age-sixty retirement for pilots, the arbitrator in Seibel I did not reach the moot question of the relative rights of Flying Tiger and Seaboard pilots to bid the flight engineer seat. Neither had such a right upon reaching sixty. On July 6, 1981, ALPA and Flying Tiger entered into an agreement providing that if Flying Tiger were to change its mandatory retirement policy, Flying Tiger and ALPA would negotiate the relative seniority rights of the over-sixty pilots of the two pre-merger carriers to bid for the flight engineer seat. This agreement and the Seibel I integrated seniority list were integrated into the collective bargaining agreement entered into on May 26, 1982. In 1983, in response to litigation in the airline industry, Flying Tiger changed its mandatory retirement policy. Flying Tiger decided to permit employees who were disqualified by FAA regulations from serving as pilots after age sixty to continue as active cockpit crew members in the flight engineer position. Before Flying Tiger negotiated post-age-sixty bidding rights with ALPA, Bovers and McGrail turned sixty, in April and June 1983, respectively, and expressed a desire to continue working. Flying Tiger initially awarded Bovers and McGrail the most favorable seniority that ALPA could propose in future negotiations, and hence gave Bovers and McGrail the same relative priority to the flight engineer positions as was enjoyed by pre-merger Flying Tiger pilots under Seebel I, i.e., second priority bids. 2 Consequently, Bovers and McGrail had a more favorable priority to bid for the flight engineer positions after age sixty than they had enjoyed before turning sixty. Flying Tiger's action generated opposition among pre-merger Flying Tiger pilots. ALPA and the three pre-merger groups agreed to submit the question of post-age-sixty seniority integration to arbitrator Seibel for final and binding arbitration. ALPA and the three pre-merger groups also agreed to take all necessary steps to implement the resulting arbitral award. Flying Tiger was not a party to the arbitration. Seibel issued a decision on September 10, 1984, (Seibel II ), ruling that a pilot's relative priority to bid for a flight engineer position would not change after age sixty. Consequently, pre-merger Seaboard pilots would continue to be subordinate to pre-merger Flying Tiger pilots in bidding for the flight engineer seat after age sixty. Seibel's decision was based, in part, on the fact that cross-bidding between pilot and flight engineer seats existed only at pre-merger Flying Tiger, as well as on the brighter pre-merger prospects of Flying Tiger pilots. Seibel also determined that disqualification by FAA regulation from piloting at age sixty did not constitute an involuntary furlough, other than for medical reasons, within the meaning of the Seibel proviso. Seibel stated that the term furlough in Seibel I meant removal from the work force by reason of lack of work. He reasoned that mandatory retirement at age sixty would not be due to lack of work, but rather due to the operational limitation imposed upon the Company ... by the FAA.On December 24, 1984, ALPA and Flying Tiger entered into a Letter of Agreement (LOA) in which they agreed to adopt the Seibel II 's ruling with regard to the seniority numbers of the post-age-sixty Seaboard pilots. The LOA provided, in part, that implementation of Seibel II would require the removal of certain pilots from active employment, not because of a reduction in force but, because their relative bidding rights in relationship to other pilots on the seniority list do not permit them to occupy their present positions as Second Officer [flight engineer]. By application of these rules the following named pilots will be removed from active employment as pilots: William Bovers ... John McGrail[.] On January 7, 1985, Flying Tiger advised plaintiffs that it had put them on involuntary leave without pay (until a flight engineer position became available) and removed them from active duty. On April 19, 1985, Bovers filed a grievance with Flying Tiger. A hearing was scheduled for April 29, 1985, but was postponed because Bovers could not attend. Bovers declined to reschedule a hearing. As he acknowledged at his deposition, he lost interest in pursuing an administrative hearing. Rather he brought this suit in June 1985 alleging (1) defendants had violated the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA), (2) ALPA had breached its duty of fair representation, (3) defendants had breached the 1982 collective bargaining agreement, and (4) defendants were estopped from implementing Seibel II by Flying Tiger's assignment of flight officer positions to plaintiffs in 1983. After completing discovery, the parties cross-moved for summary judgment. The District Court Action Plaintiffs argued that the LOA, which adopted the Seibel II holding regarding seniority rights of post-age-sixty Seaboard pilots to bid for flight engineer positions, facially discriminated against plaintiffs on the basis of their age in violation of ADEA, 29 U.S.C. §§ 623(a)(1)-(2), (c)(1)-(3). Defendants argued that summary judgment should be granted in their favor because the assignment of seniority numbers to plaintiffs was based on reasonable factors other than age, 29 U.S.C. § 623(f)(1), and was a bona fide seniority system that is not a subterfuge to evade the purposes of ADEA. 29 U.S.C. § 623(f)(2). Judge Korman agreed with defendants, stating that: The dispute over post-age sixty seniority rights arose because, at the time of Seibel I, pilots employed by pre-merger Seaboard and Flying Tiger were not permitted to bid down to the flight engineer seat at age sixty. A question existed as to whether the seniority rights of Seaboard pilots should be integrated with those of pre-merger Flying Tiger pilots on a strict date of hire method after age sixty because, prior to the merger, neither airline's[ ] pilots could bid for the flight engineer seat at that age. Arbitrator Seibel determined that the greater pre-merger expectations of Flying Tiger pilots to bid down to the flight engineer seat justified continued differential treatment based on pre-merger airline of origin after employees reached age sixty. Pilots were not classified on the basis of age in the integration of seniority rights, but rather, seniority rights were determined based on the pilots' pre-merger airline of origin. In essence, pre-merger Seaboard pilots who reached the age of sixty were in the same disadvantaged position they were in before they reached the age of sixty. This does not constitute age discrimination. Judge Korman also stated that his conclusion was not affected by the proviso which gave Seaboard pilots a second bid priority in the event of an involuntary furlough, other than for medical reasons, since he concluded that the proviso was not applicable to plaintiffs' situation. Judge Korman rejected plaintiffs' contention that, after Flying Tiger agreed to permit post-age-sixty pilots to bid down to the flight engineer seat, the Seibel I proviso, preferring Seaboard pilots in cases of involuntary furlough, should have been construed or altered to afford preferential benefits to pre-merger Seaboard pilots who would otherwise be terminated because of the FAA mandatory retirement rule for pilots: Such a blanket preference would have afforded pre-merger Seaboard pilots, who reached age sixty, benefits they were denied before reaching that age and would have undermined the basis underlying the arbitrator's decision in Seibel II, i.e., that pre-merger Seaboard pilots did not deserve such a preference because of the greater pre-merger expectations of Flying Tiger pilots. The same reasons that compel the rejection of plaintiffs' principal challenge to Seibel II also compel the rejection of this attack on the proviso as construed by the Arbitrator. The district judge went on to find that plaintiffs had offered no evidence that defendants' age-neutral bases for integration of seniority rights and application of the proviso were a pretext for discrimination. Accordingly, he granted summary judgment for defendants on the ADEA claim. Because plaintiffs' claims of breach of duty of fair representation by ALPA was predicated on ALPA's assent to the purportedly illegal discriminatory LOA, Judge Korman found that the claim based on duty of fair representation failed. Finally, Judge Korman dismissed plaintiffs' claims of breach of the collective bargaining agreement and estoppel on the ground that plaintiffs had failed to exhaust their administrative remedies under the Railway Labor Act (RLA), 45 U.S.C. § 151 et seq.