Court Opinion

ID: 9429128
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-02 23:25:45.53441+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:23:17.358227
License: Public Domain

Justice Rehnquist,
with whom Justice Powell and Justice O’Connor join, dissenting.
I disagree with the Court’s conclusion that the National Labor Relations Act pre-empts the state-law claims in this case. On balance I think the result reached by the Court is wrong, though the question is a close one; more importantly, I cannot accept the Court’s analysis of our recent decision in Sears, Roebuck & Co. v. Carpenters, 436 U. S. 180 (1978).
*685Jones filed suit in the Georgia courts alleging that an agent of Local 926 (Union) had “maliciously and with full intent intimidated and coerced Georgia Power , or caused Georgia Power ... to be intimidated and coerced, into breaching its employment contract with plaintiff.” In addition, Jones alleged, in an amendment to his complaint, App. to Juris. Statement 18a-19a, 2a, that the Union and Georgia Power Co. (Company) jointly conspired to interfere with his contractual relations. The Court apparently acknowledges, ante, at 682, and I agree, that Jones’ complaint fairly may be read as stating two claims under Georgia tort law — a claim that the Union coerced the Company into firing Jones and a claim that the Union noncoercively caused his discharge.1 The trial court dismissed Jones’ complaint, reasoning that the tort doctrines on which it rested were pre-empted. The Georgia Court of Appeals reversed, ordering reinstatement of Jones’ complaint. 159 Ga. App. 693, 285 S. E. 2d 30 (1981).
The Court recognizes that, if the conduct of the Union on which Jones’ complaint was predicated was “arguably prohibited” by the Act, then the proper standard for pre-emption analysis is found in Sears, Roebuck & Co. v. Carpenters, supra: is “the controversy presented to the state court . . . identical to ... or different from” the federal labor law claim. Id., at 197 (emphasis added).2 Other passages in *686our Sears opinion elaborate upon this rule, requiring, for example, that a federal claim must be “the same as the controversy presented to the state court.” Id., at 198; see also id., at 196-197.
The Court offers two basic arguments as to why Jones’ claim of noncoercive interference with contractual relations and the federal labor law claims in this case were identical.3 In doing so, it interprets the “identical controversies” standard of Sears in a new and unjustified manner. The Court first reasons that “permitting state causes of action for non-coercive interference with contractual relationships to go forward in the state courts would continually require the state court to decide in the first instance whether the Union’s conduct was coercive, and hence beyond its power to sanction, or *687noncoercive, and thus the proper subject of a state suit. Decisions on such questions of federal labor law should be resolved by the Board.” Ante, at 682.
This argument rests on a basic misunderstanding of our prior decisions. In stating the “identical controversies” standard in Sears, we said that a claim brought in state court is unpre-empted unless “the controversy presented to the state court is identical to . . . that which could have been, but was not, presented to the Labor Board” 436 U. S., at 197 (emphasis added). Plainly, Sears envisioned that state courts would decide in the first instance whether a particular claim is pre-empted under the “identical” controversy standard. Likewise, Farmer v. Carpenters, 430 U. S. 290 (1977)— relied upon in Sears’ formulation of the “identical” standard, 436 U. S., at 197 — indicated that state courts may, and in fact must, sort out pre-empted from nonpre-empted portions of a complaint, even when no action before the Board has been taken. See 430 U. S., at 304-305. The Farmer and Sears models are analogous to the situation presented in this case. Just as state courts may distinguish the abusive manner of discrimination from discrimination itself, in cases modeled on Farmer, supra, at 305, and the pure trespass aspects of picketing from the objectives of the same picketing in Sears cases, they could distinguish claims of coercive interference from those of noncoercive interference in cases like this one. As Farmer and Sears hold, state courts are competent to make such judgments without interfering with federal labor law policy. In short, while it is correct that the Board, and not state courts, is charged with deciding national labor policy, it is equally clear that no such exclusive jurisdiction is conferred on the Board with respect to questions of pre-emption.4
*688The second argument relied on by the Court is that “a fundamental part of ... a [noncoercive interference with contractual relations] claim is that the Union actually caused the discharge .... [T]his same crucial element must be proved to make out a § 8(b)(1)(B) case: the discharge must be shown to be the result of Union influence. . . . [T]he federal and state claims are thus the same in a fundamental respect. . . .” Ante, at 682.
This view amounts to a substantial reformulation of the Sears requirement that state and federal controversies be identical before a claim based on arguably prohibited conduct is pre-empted. On its face the Court’s definition of identical is dubious: two items or concepts are not ordinarily thought to be identical merely because they share a common element, or, in the Court’s words, because they are “the same in a fundamental respect,” ante, at 682 (emphasis added). Moreover, Sears supports no such definition of identical. Sears illustrated the standard by reference to our decisions in Farmer v. Carpenters, supra, which was given as an example of “nonidentical” controversies, and Garner v. Teamsters, 346 U. S. 485 (1953), representing controversies that are “identical.” See Sears, Roebuck & Co. v. Carpenters, 436 U. S., at 197. Given the reference, it is worth examining Farmer and Gamer in somewhat greater detail.
In Farmer, one Richard Hill belonged to the local of a national union, which operated a hiring hall. Hill was apparently subjected to discrimination in job referrals from the hall and to a campaign of personal harassment. He filed suit in *689state court claiming, first, that the local had discriminated against him, and, second, that it had intentionally engaged in conduct causing him emotional distress. We observed that “these allegations of tortious conduct might form the basis for unfair labor practice charges before the Board,” Farmer v. Carpenters, 430 U. S., at 302, and that Hill’s tort claims were intertwined with “federally prohibited discrimination,” hence creating “a potential for interference with the federal scheme of regulation.” Id., at 304.
Despite this inevitable overlap between state and federal claims, we held that Hill’s claim of intentional infliction of emotional distress was not pre-empted. We relied on the fact that the state and federal claims — despite sharing related factual bases — would have had different “focus[es].” Ibid. Resolution of the state claim would turn on the abusiveness of the defendant’s conduct, while the federal claim turned on whether “Union officials discriminated . . . against [Hill].” Ibid. Because the state claim required “something more” than the federal claim, id., at 305, we concluded in Sears that the two claims were not identical.5
The Court’s reformulation of the “identical” controversies standard of Sears — claims are identical if they share an im*690portant factual element — is inconsistent with both Sears and Farmer. In Sears the federal and state claims involved several common, fundamental factual questions — whether any-picketing had occurred; if so, where; and whether the property owner consented to it or not. These basic factual determinations, which the state courts and Board might resolve differently, would be critical to deciding both unfair labor practice claims and state trespass claims. Likewise, in cases following the Farmer model, state courts may make credibility determinations regarding whether any discrimination occurred, and if so, whether it did so in a manner supporting a claim for intentional infliction of emotional distress. The same factual issues would be involved in deciding an unfair labor practice charge under §8 of the Act. Our decisions in Farmer and Sears thus make clear that the mere risk of differing factual determinations by the Board and state courts is insufficient to require pre-emption. Accordingly, the Court’s reliance on the fact that the state and federal controversies at issue here are the same in one respect is misplaced. Instead, Sears and Farmer demand a more searching inquiry into the relationship between state and federal controversies.
While recognizing that the question is not free from doubt, I would conclude that the state and federal controversies at issue here are not identical, and, therefore, that Jones’ claims are not pre-empted. The evident purpose of § 8(b)(1)(A) is to safeguard employees in their right, secured by § 7 of the Act, to join or refrain from joining concerted actions, see NLRB v. Boeing Co., 412 U. S. 67, 71 (1973). The Board’s most recent discussion of the ability of a supervisor to assert a claim under § 8(a)(1) states:
“The discharge of supervisors is unlawful when it interferes with the right of employees to exercise their rights under Section 7 of the Act, as when they give testimony adverse to their employers’ interest or when they refuse to commit unfair labor practices. The discharge of su*691pervisors as a result of their participation in union or concerted activity — either by themselves or when allied with rank-and-file employees — is not unlawful for the simple reason that employees, but not supervisors, have rights protected by the Act.” Parker-Robb Chevrolet, Inc., 262 N. L. R. B. 402, 404 (1982).
In order for a supervisor, such as Jones, to make a claim under § 8(b)(1)(A), therefore, he must show not only that his contractual relations were interfered with, but that because of this, the various rights guaranteed by §7 of the Act to other persons — actual employees — were interfered with. This “entail[s] relatively complex factual and legal determinations” — such as what the rights of those employees are, how they were interfered with by action directed at Jones, and so forth — “completely unrelated to the simple question” whether Jones can show that the Union caused him to lose his job, see Sears, Roebuck & Co. v. Carpenters, 436 U. S., at 198. Because of these different factual issues, which reveal basically different focuses of policy, I do not think that Jones’ state-law claims are pre-empted by § 8(b)(1)(A).6
In order to state a claim under § 8(b)(1)(B), a supervisor must show coercion of his employer in the choice of bargaining representatives. The provision “reflect[s] a clearly focused congressional concern with the protection of employers *692in the selection of representatives to engage in two particular and explicitly stated activities.” Florida Power & Light Co. v. Electrical Workers, 417 U. S. 790, 803 (1974) (emphasis added). “Congress was exclusively concerned with union attempts to dictate to employers who would represent- them in collective bargaining and grievance adjustment.” Ibid, (emphasis added). In contrast, in order to make out a claim of intentional interference with contractual relations, the question whether the plaintiff was to act as a bargaining representative, or any other particular kind of employee, is entirely irrelevant. Likewise, the question whether the employer — with whose interests § 8(b)(1)(B) of the Act is “exclusively concerned” — is harmed by interference with an employee’s contractual relationship is irrelevant to the state cause of action. As in Sears, the state-court action will focus on a far simpler and neater set of facts than would an action before the Board.7 Because of these differences between the controversies that the Board would decide and those that state courts would decide, I am persuaded that Jones’ state claims were not pre-empted.8

 The Georgia Court of Appeals also took this view of Jones’ state-law complaint: “A ruling that the union was found not to have ‘coerced’ an employer in the selection of the employer’s representative under the Act does not preclude this suit based on malicious interference with an employment contract.” 159 Ga. App. 693, 697, 285 S. E. 2d 30, 33 (1981).

 The Court, while observing that the decision in Iron Workers v. Perko, 373 U. S. 701 (1963), involved a factual situation very similar to that in this case, also recognizes that Perko’s pre-emption analysis is no longer dis-positive. In Perko, the mere fact that a state claim was based upon arguably prohibited conduct dictated the conclusion that the state claim was pre-empted. Id,., at 708 (“It is enough to hold, as we do, that it is plain on a number of scores that the subject matter of this lawsuit ‘arguably’ comes within the Board’s jurisdiction to deal with unfair labor prac*686tices”). This type of rigid interpretation of San Diego Building Trades Council v. Garmon, 359 U. S. 236 (1959), does not survive our more recent decisions in Sears, Roebuck & Co. v. Carpenters, 436 U. S. 180 (1978); Farmer v. Carpenters, 430 U. S. 290 (1977); Linn v. Plant Guard Workers, 383 U. S. 53 (1966). As one commentator has remarked, “the Garmon test can now be described only by reference to its exceptions.” Bryson, A Matter of Wooden Logic: Labor Law Preemption and Individual Rights, 51 Texas L. Rev. 1037, 1041 (1973).

 The Court also reasons that Jones “concedes that [his] state cause of action is pre-empted to the extent that it covers coercive influence on the employer; and we note that Jones’ complaint in the state court alleged that the Union agent had ‘intimidated and coerced’ Georgia Power into breaching its contract with Jones. Jones thus sought to prove a coerced discharge and breach of contract, the very claim that is concededly preempted.” Ante, at 682. This argument, of course, applies only to that portion of Jones’ complaint that is based on coercive conduct, not on nonco-ercive conduct, see n. 1, supra, and accompanying text. Even as to coercive conduct, see infra, at 688-692, the argument is unpersuasive: it rests on the assumption that Jones’ argument implicitly concedes that his coercive interference claim is identical to the controversy that the Board would resolve under §§ 8(b)(1)(A) and (B). I do not find any indication in respondent’s brief of such a concession, and for the reasons given infra, at 688-692,1 believe that Jones’ coercive interference claim, like his noncoer-eive interference claim, was sufficiently distinguishable from the unfair labor practice charges at issue to avoid pre-emption.

 A state-law claim for intentional interference with contractual relations is as deeply rooted in and important to local concerns as the claims involved in Farmer and Sears. In Farmer v. Carpenters, supra, at 302-303, we noted that while the tort of intentional infliction of emotional *688distress was of comparatively recent origins, a State nonetheless “has a substantial interest” in protecting “the health and well-being of its citizens.” Georgia has long sought to protect the right of its citizens “to earn a livelihood, and to seek redress against anyone who wrongfully causes him to be discharged from employment.” Wiley v. Georgia Power Co., 134 Ga. App. 187, 190, 213 S. E. 2d 550, 553 (1975); Southern R. Co. v. Chambers, 126 Ga. 404, 55 S. E. 37 (1906). There can be no doubt that safeguarding the integrity of contractual relations is an interest of paramount importance in an economy such as ours.

 In contrast, Garner v. Teamsters involved truly indistinguishable state and federal claims. The state statute at issue, titled the “Pennsylvania Labor Relations Act,” prohibited certain types of union coercion in “language almost identical to” the NLRA. 346 U. S., at 488 (emphasis added). (In Sears, we noted that laws expressly governing labor relations are “more likely to involve the accommodation [of employee and employer interests] which Congress reserved to the Board.” 436 U. S., at 198, n. 27.) Likewise, the subject of the state and federal suits in Gamer was labeled by the Court as “the same controversy,” 346 U. S., at 489 (emphasis added), and the Pennsylvania Supreme Court believed that the two suits involved “ ‘correction of the identical grievance.’ ” Id., at 486, quoting Garner v. Teamsters, 373 Pa. 19, 28, 94 A. 2d 893, 898 (1953) (emphasis added). Gamer, then, offers no support for the notion that claims may be “identical” for the purposes of Sears merely because they share the requirement of proof of certain facts; instead, our reliance upon the case in Sears stands only for the principle that identical really means identical.

 The policies effectuated by § 8(b)(1)(A) and the state tort sanction against intentional interference with contractual relations are entirely different. The former seeks to protect employees’ right to “self-organization, to form, join, or assist labor organizations, to bargain collectively through representatives of their own choosing, and to engage in other concerted activities for the purpose of collective bargaining or other mutual aid or protection, ... to refrain from any or all of such activities. ...” 29 U. S. C. § 157. The latter, however, is entirely unconcerned with these employee rights to concerted action; the state law instead seeks to protect a form of property — one’s contractual relations with another. Cf. Nottingham v. Wrigley, 221 Ga. 386, 388, 144 S. E. 2d 749, 751 (1965). This concern with property rights is not unlike the state claim in Sears, which involved a state-law trespass action.

 Insofar as Jones’ claim for noncoercive interference with contractual relations is concerned, the differences between the state and federal controversies would be even more marked. The controversy before the Board would involve difficult issues of coercion, while that in the state courts would focus merely on causation.

 1 do not address the question, not faced by the Court, whether the proper disposition of the case is dismissal for want of a final judgment.