Court Opinion

ID: 9657730
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-23 20:36:07.265385+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:13:47.827223
License: Public Domain

FINE, J.
(dissenting). This is a state-law claim brought under section 102.35(3), Stats. Section 102.35(3) imposes liability on an employer who, "without reasonable cause[,] refuses to rehire an employe [sic] who is injured in the course of employment," provided it is determined that "suitable employment is available" for that employee. Section 102.35(3) also requires that "[i]n determining the availability of suitable employment . . . the provisions of any collective bargaining agreement with respect to seniority shall govern." Pursuant to this command, the Labor and Industry Review Commission applied the collective bargaining agreement between Universal Foods Corporation and the union *10representing Barbara Damato in order to ascertain her rights under that agreement and thus whether Universal Foods unlawfully refused to rehire her. The Commission determined from the collective bargaining agreement her accumulated seniority at the time of her injury and concluded that she had a one-year recall period. State-law claims between employees and employers that require the application of collective bargaining agreements are pre-empted by section 301(a) of the Labor Management Relations Act of 1947, 29 U.S.C. sec. 185(a). I respectfully dissent from the majority's conclusion to the contrary.1
Section 301(a) provides:
Suits for violation of contracts between an employer and a labor organization representing employees in an industry affecting commerce as defined in this Act . . . may be brought in any district court of the United States having jurisdiction of the parties, without respect to the amount in controversy or without regard to the citizenship of the parties.
Although suits within the ambit of section 301(a) may also be brought in state court, Charles Dowd Box Co. v. Courtney, 368 U.S. 502 (1962), section 301(a) pre-empts the application of state law "if such application requires the interpretation of a collective-bargaining agreement," Lingle v. Norge Division of Magic Chef, Inc., 486 U.S. 399, 413 (1986). The majority recognizes this, as it must. See majority op. at 5. Nevertheless, the majority holds Damato's state-law claim is not pre-empted by section *11301(a) because, in the majority's view, "[n]o interpretation of the collective bargaining agreement was necessary" for the Commission to determine "that a job [for Damato] was available within the one-year recall period." Majority op. at 6. In essence, the majority holds that no interpretation was necessary because the collective bargaining provisions with respect to seniority are, in its view, unambiguous.
Putting aside the very real problem of when a contractual provision passes from the daylight of clarity to the dusk of ambiguity, the rule that the majority applies is not the test of pre-emption under section 301(a). The question is not whether a collective bargaining contract is ambiguous and thus requires "interpretation" but, rather, whether enforcement of the state remedy requires application of that contract. Lingle, 486 U.S. at 403-413. Thus, a state-law tort action brought by an employee for the alleged "bad faith" handling of a disability-insurance claim was pre-empted by section 301(a) because the insurance coverage was required by a collective bargaining agreement between the employer and the employee's union. Allis-Chalmers Corp. v. Lueck, 471 U.S. 202, 216-218 (1985), reversing Lueck v. Aetna Life Ins. Co., 116 Wis. 2d 559, 342 N.W.2d 699 (1984). Lingle, which specifically approved Allis-Chalmers, Lingle, 486 U.S. at 405-406, reaffirms that section 301(a) prevents the states from applying their "individualized local rules when called upon to enforce" collective bargaining agreements, id., 486 U.S. at 404 n.3, and that " 'the preemptive force of sec. 301 is so powerful as to displace entirely any state cause of action 'for violation of contracts between an employer and a labor organization,'' " id., 486 U.S. at 406 n.5 (quoting Franchise Tax Bd. of California v. Construction Laborers Vacation Trust for Southern California, 463 U.S. 1, 23 (1983) (quoting sec*12tion 301(a))). Thus, and with specific relevance here, a state-law claim is pre-empted by section 301(a) when resolution of that claim "is substantially dependent upon analysis of the terms of an agreement made between the parties." Allis-Chalmers, 471 U.S. at 220. Stated another way, a state-law claim with respect to rights within the ambit of a collective bargaining agreement is pre-empted by section 301(a) unless the state-law claim has a "method of measuring" or assessing the work-related facts at issue that is independent of the agreement. Johnson v. Beatrice Foods Co., 921 F.2d 1015, 1020-1021 (10th Cir. 1990) (interpreting Lingle). Justice Donald W. Steinmetz's dissent in Lueck is instructive:
Because any duty allegedly violated by Allis-Chal-mers in the present case was specifically created by the labor contract, and would not exist absent such contract, it must fall within the ambit of sec. 301 of the Labor Management Relations Act (LMRA), which governs labor agreements. Without the existence of the labor contract conferring disability benefits upon union members, there can be no action in this case on a failure to pay such benefits. A finding of bad faith will necessarily be premised on a finding that a labor agreement, governed by federal law, has been violated. To do as the majority holds fragments federal labor law.
116 Wis. 2d at 578, 342 N.W.2d at 708 (emphasis in original). Similarly, here, the determination of whether "suitable employment," as that term is defined by section 102.35(3), was available for Damato requires an analysis and application of the seniority rules in the collective bargaining agreement; there can be no finding that Universal Foods has violated section 102.35(3) without reference to that agreement. Since Damato's claim under section 102.35(3) in effect seeks to enforce *13the seniority provisions of the collective bargaining agreement, and since the claim's resolution is dependent upon the terms of that agreement, the claim is preempted by federal law. I would reverse.

 We must reverse if Damato's state-law claim against Universal Foods is pre-empted by section 301(a) of the Labor Management Relations Act. Accordingly, I do not discuss the other issues raised by Universal Foods on this appeal.