Court Opinion

ID: 9482648
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 08:56:27.046694+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:49:07.104092
License: Public Domain

MANION, Circuit Judge,
concurring.
The collective bargaining agreement between the Board of Governors of State *432Colleges and Universities (“Board”) and the University Professionals of Illinois (“Union”) offered a grievance procedure for Union members. A grievance could involve issues related to the claimant’s age, race, religion, color, national origin, or sex, all in a class of claims protected by federal law. Or the claims could have involved constitutional issues (e.g. protected speech) or state issues (e.g. contract disputes). Of course, the advantage of the grievance procedure, which could result in binding arbitration, was that a just result could be achieved without literally making every employment dispute a federal case. This procedure would be a much less expensive and probably more efficient method to resolve disputes. As the majority points out, however, the problem is with the CBA’s Article 17.2, which precludes or terminates the grievance procedure in the event “an employee seeks resolution of the matter in any other forum.” This choice makes sense to the Union and the Board because it adds a less expensive alternative to resolving the dispute that would otherwise end up in a state or federal court. Nevertheless, the EEOC considers this choice to be discriminatory under § 4(d) of the ADEA because it results in the loss of a contractual benefit (the right to grieve) as a result of the employee’s decision to file a charge, complaint, or lawsuit because of age. This, in turn, is deemed “discrimination” based on the act of pursuing the ADEA remedy (or for that matter, any other allegedly discriminatory act based on race, color, national origin, religion, or sex).
Article 17.2 does not discriminate because of age; it does not single out ADEA claimants from those filing other types of claims. However, § 4(d) makes the act of pursuing ADEA remedies, not age, the forbidden factor. Since under Article 17.2 an employee is treated less favorably because he filed a claim than he would have been treated otherwise, I agree that Article 17.2 technically violates Section 623(d) of the ADEA, and I concur, albeit reluctantly, with the result of the majority’s opinion. But while the EEOC has advanced a technically correct reading of § 4(d), my concern is that the EEOC’s approach will eliminate the contractual grievance procedure as a viable option for a Union member to use as an alternative means to resolve a dispute. Without Article 17.2, the Board has little incentive to offer a grievance procedure in lieu of seeking a resolution in some other forum. As it is, the collective bargaining agreement would offer an incentive for both sides to resolve the issue quickly, before statutes of limitations or other time limits expire. If the grievance procedure wasn't working, the Union member could turn to the courts (or some other form of arbitration), thus overriding the grievance procedure. Now the Union member will be permitted to operate in two forums, and presumably take the best deal. But the Board may see no benefit in doubling its exposure and adding to the costs of its administrative and legal defense. Thus, it could conclude that if court action must be an alternative, it will be the only alternative. It seems to me that this rigid result was not really the goal of our federal laws against discrimination. Nevertheless, any adjustment will have to be statutory, not with the courts.