Opinion ID: 526766
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Hybrid Sec. 301/Fair Representation Claim4

Text: 19 Federal jurisdiction over Landry's claims arises from two different sources. Section 301 of the Labor Management Relations Act, 29 U.S.C. Sec. 185, provides an employee with a federal cause of action against his employer for breach of a collective bargaining agreement. See Smith v. Evening News Assoc., 371 U.S. 195, 83 S.Ct. 267, 9 L.Ed.2d 246 (1962). An employee's cause of action against his union for breach of the duty of fair representation is implied by the courts from the statutory scheme of federal labor law. See Vaca v. Sipes, 386 U.S. 171, 87 S.Ct. 903, 17 L.Ed.2d 842 (1967). 20 These two separate causes of action, however, are inextricably interdependent. Del Costello v. Int'l Brotherhood of Teamsters, 462 U.S. 151, 164-65, 103 S.Ct. 2281, 2290-91, 76 L.Ed.2d 476 (1983). 21 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. Further, he is bound by the procedure's result unless he proves the union breached its duty of fair representation. 22 Daigle v. Gulf State Utility Co., 794 F.2d 974, 977 (5th Cir.), cert. denied, 479 U.S. 1008, 107 S.Ct. 648, 93 L.Ed.2d 704 (1986) (citations omitted) (emphasis added). 23 A breach by a union of its duty of fair representation, then, provides an exception to the general rule that courts will not entertain challenges to an arbitral decision or a grievance settlement when the collective bargaining agreement specifies that such a resolution is final. Hines v. Anchor Motor Freight, Inc., 424 U.S. 554, 567, 96 S.Ct. 1048, 1058, 47 L.Ed.2d 231 (1976); Bache v. American Telephone and Telegraph, 840 F.2d 283, 289 (5th Cir.), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 109 S.Ct. 219, 102 L.Ed.2d 210 (1988). The hybrid Sec. 301/fair representation suit amount[s] to a direct challenge to the private settlement of disputes under the collective bargaining agreement. DelCostello, 462 U.S. at 165, 103 S.Ct. at 2291 (quoting United Parcel Service, Inc. v. Mitchell, 451 U.S. 56, 66, 101 S.Ct. 1559, 1566, 67 L.Ed.2d 732 (1981) (Stewart, J., concurring in judgment)). To overcome the bar of finality, however, an employee must establish that his union's breach of its duty of fair representation seriously undermine[d] the integrity of the [grievance] process. Hines, 424 U.S. at 567, 96 S.Ct. at 1058. See also United Parcel Service, 451 U.S. at 61, 101 S.Ct. at 1563. 24