Int'l Bhd. of Teamsters v. Amerijet Int'l Inc.

755 F.Supp.2d 1243

INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF TEAMSTERS, Plaintiff,

v.AMERIJET INTERNATIONAL, INC., Defendant.

Case No. 10–60272–CIV.

United States District Court, S.D. Florida,Miami Division.

Nov. 16, 2010.

Howard S. Susskind, Noah Scott Warman, Sugarman & Susskind PA, Coral Gables, FL, Joshua D. McInerney, Barkan Neff Handelman Meizlish, LLP, Columbus, OH, for Plaintiff.James Clark Polkinghorn, Fisher & Phillips, Fort Lauderdale, FL, Brian M. Herman, E. Scott Smith, James M. Walters, Fisher & Phillips LLP, Atlanta, GA, for Defendant.

ORDER GRANTING SUMMARY JUDGMENT

FEDERICO A. MORENO, Chief Judge.

THIS CAUSE came before this Court upon Defendant's Motion for Summary Judgment (D.E. No. 23) and Plaintiff's Motion for Partial Summary Judgment (D.E. No. 24).

Defendant Amerijet International, Inc. (“Amerijet”) filed a motion for summary judgment as to Counts I through V of the Complaint. In response, Plaintiff International Brotherhood of Teamsters (“IBT”) denies that summary judgment is proper as to Counts I through IV and filed a cross-motion for partial summary judgment seeking to enforce the arbitration awards at issue in Count V.

This Court finds that it lacks subject matter jurisdiction over Counts I and III and that Counts II and IV are preempted by the Railroad Labor Act (“RLA”), 45 U.S.C. § 151, et seq. (1986). It also finds that the arbitrator's awards in Count V are unenforceable. Therefore, this Court grants Amerijet's motion for summary judgment and denies the IBT's motion for partial summary judgment.

I. FACTUAL BACKGROUND

The IBT is a labor organization that represents separate bargaining units of Amerijet's pilots and flight engineers (together “employees”). Amerijet is a common air carrier that is subject to the duties of the RLA.

On August 27, 2009, after four years of bargaining without reaching an agreement, the IBT initiated a strike against Amerijet. On September 8, 2009, the IBT and Amerijet reached two collective bargaining agreements (“CBA(s)”) covering pilots and flight engineers, respectively. On September 8, 2009, the parties also signed a Letter of Agreement that prevents Amerijet from retaliating against the employees for their involvement in the strike. The strike ended on September 13, 2009 when pilots and flight engineers ratified their corresponding CBAs. The CBAs became effective on October 1, 2009.

In accordance with Section 204 of the RLA, 45 U.S.C. § 184, the CBAs established the “Amerijet Pilot's System Board of Adjustment” and the “Amerijet PFE's System Board of Adjustment” (together “System Boards of Adjustment”) to arbitrate claims arising under the terms of the agreements. Each board consists of two members, one selected by the IBT and one selected by Amerijet. According to Amerijet, many of the terms of the CBAs were taken verbatim from its Crewmember Handbook (“Handbook”), which controlled the terms and conditions of employment until the CBAs were in place.

Prior to entering into the CBAs, the parties established “Interim Grievance and Arbitration Procedures” that were effective from November 3, 2004 through the CBAs' September 13, 2009 ratification date. These procedures provided a dispute resolution mechanism for pilots and flight engineers who were discharged or suspended for more than five days.

A. Count I: Termination of Mr. Fallon's Employment—Violation of Section 2, Fourth of the RLA

The IBT claims that Amerijet violated Section 2, Fourth of the RLA, 45 U.S.C. § 152, Fourth, by terminating Derek Fallon's employment because of strike related activities.

Amerijet hired Mr. Fallon on August 31, 2007 and furloughed him between July 6, 2008 and August 7, 2009. Chief Pilot Ed Cook terminated Mr. Fallon's employment on September 30, 2009 without providing a reason, in accordance with the company's policy as to probationary pilots. The IBT asserts that Amerijet terminated the employment of Mr. Fallon because he actively participated in the strike by walking the picket lines and providing a statement to a reporter. Amerijet explains that Mr. Fallon was fired after Mr. Cook observed behavioral problems including calling other employees “stupid” during training sessions, stating that he would refuse to fly legally-permissible long duty periods, and insulting another Amerijet employee over a bullhorn by calling her a “bubble butt.”

The IBT filed a grievance on October 1, 2009 for Mr. Fallon. The IBT claims that Mr. Cook refused to process the grievance because the termination occurred on September 30, 2009, after the Interim Grievance and Arbitration Procedures had expired. The IBT also claims that when it offered to file the grievance under the CBA, Mr. Cook rejected its offer. Amerijet argues that while the grievance was rejected on procedural grounds, the IBT failed to appeal it further by presenting questions of procedural arbitrability to a neutral arbitrator.

B. Count II: Termination of Mr. Fallon's Employment—Breach of Contract Claim

The IBT alleges that Amerijet breached the terms of the September 8, 2009 Letter of Agreement by terminating Fallon's employment because of his strike-related activities.

C. Count III: Treatment of IBT Strikers—Violation of Section 2, Fourth of the RLA

The IBT claims that Amerijet violated Section 2, Fourth of the RLA by refusing to pay IBT supporters their guarantee for each day that they made themselves available to fly between September 15, 2009 and October 5, 2009, by denying or generally limiting striking pilots' flying opportunities, and by docking five hours of pay for each day of IBT supporters' participation in the strike.

Amerijet's Handbook required that pilots and flight engineers work twenty-eight day bid periods, during which they had to be available for duty, and receive eight days off, known as rostered days off (“RDOs”). The Handbook also guaranteed sixty hours of work per bid periods. Prior to the strike, employees submitted bids for their RDOs during the September 7, 2009 to October 4, 2009 bid period. The IBT claims that, contrary to the Handbook, Amerijet never contacted employees who were known to be union supporters during the strike to determine availability for work and failed to inform these employees of what RDOs they had been awarded. The IBT also claims that Amerijet acted contrary to the Handbook by denying employees their sixty-hour guarantee and docking five hours of pay for any days missed during the strike. Lastly, the IBT alleges that after the strike, some of the employees who notified Amerijet of their availability to fly were not permitted to work until the next bid period.

In response, Amerijet argues that it did not retaliate against striking employees, but that employees' refusal to fly and voluntary unavailability for large portions of the bid period disqualified them from receiving guaranteed pay under the terms of the Handbook and the CBAs. Amerijet claims that because some pilots chose to strike, their training lapsed so that Amerijet was unable to immediately start scheduling these pilots for work. Amerijet also claims that some pilots, including Luis Roca, Michael Roca, Jon Guy, Francisco Palacios, Humberto Montes, and Dawn Leschinski, were held out of service after the strike so that it could investigate allegations of serious misconduct, such as the dissemination of private information, aircraft sabotage, aircraft abandonment, and verbally and physically threatening activities.

D. Count IV: Treatment of IBT Strikers—Breach of Contract

The IBT alleges that Amerijet breached the terms of the Letter of Agreement by refusing to pay IBT supporters their guarantee, denying or severely limiting flying opportunities, and docking five hours for each day of participation in the strike.

E. Count V: Mr. Renshaw's Awards

The IBT alleges that the five decisions by the Amerijet Pilot's System Board of Adjustment and the Amerijet PFE's System Board of Adjustment were issued in accordance with the applicable CBAs and should be enforced by this Court.

On or about October 5, 2009, the IBT, through its representative, Daisy Gonzalez, began to pursue filing grievances with Chief Pilot Cook, in accordance with the CBAs, for Amerijet's treatment of IBT supporters. These grievances concerned: (1) Amerijet's violation of the CBAs by flying revenue flights with non-Amerijet employees; (2) Amerijet's failure to adhere to scheduling/bidding procedures in the CBAs; (3) Amerijet's failure to post a standing/permanent bid for special qualifications training in violation of the CBAs; (4) Amerijet's deduction of five hours of pay for each day of an employee honored the IBT's strike in violation of the CBAs; and (5) Amerijet's removal of employees' access to the web-based scheduling system known as “Geneva–Crewnet–Ticker.” Instead of filing separate grievances, each one covering pilots and flight engineers, respectively, in accordance with the two CBAs in effect, Ms. Gonzalez filed five grievances that covered both pilots and flight engineers concerning foregoing issues.

On October 9, 2009, Mr. Cook sent five separate email responses to Ms. Gonzalez to inform her that she had improperly filed the grievances. Thereafter, on October 19, 2009, Ms. Gonzalez filed two new sets of grievances. She also notified Mr. Cook that if she did not receive a response from him by October 23 for each of the grievances, she would assume that he had denied them. Because the CBAs require that the Chief Pilot render a decision within fourteen calendar days, Ms. Gonzalez chose October 23 after calculating fourteen days from October 5, the date she initially improperly filed the grievances, and including a few extra days. When Mr. Cook did not respond by October 23, Ms. Gonzalez informed him that she had processed the grievances to the applicable System Board of Adjustment and that the IBT was appointing David Renshaw as the union member of both boards.

On October 31, 2009, Mr. Cook affirmatively denied the grievances. Soon...