Barnes v. Air Line Pilots Ass'n, International

141 F. Supp. 3d 836, 204 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 3431, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 133179, 2015 WL 5821577
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. Illinois
DecidedSeptember 30, 2015
Docket13 C 6243
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 141 F. Supp. 3d 836 (Barnes v. Air Line Pilots Ass'n, International) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. Illinois primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Barnes v. Air Line Pilots Ass'n, International, 141 F. Supp. 3d 836, 204 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 3431, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 133179, 2015 WL 5821577 (N.D. Ill. 2015).

Opinion

Memorandum Opinion and Order

Gary Scott Feinerman, United States District Judge

United Airlines pilots James Barnes, Phillip Whitehead, Walter Clark, David Bishop, and Eric Lish, on behalf of themselves and two putative subclasses of United pilots, the first consisting of management pilots and the second of pilot instructors, allege in this suit that Air Line Pilots Association, International (“ALPA”) unlawfully discriminated against them in allocating $225 million of retroactive pay (“retro pay”) that United provided to its pilots after ALPA and United entered into a collective bargaining agreement in late 2012. Doc. 29. The amended complaint claims that ALPA breached its duty of fair representation to both subclasses under the Railway Labor Act (“RLA”), 45 U.S.C. § 151 et seq., and, in the alternative as to the management pilots only, that ALPA unjustly enriched itself in violation of Illinois law by accepting the management pilots’ payment of dues and contract maintenance fees. Ibid. Earlier in the litigation, the court denied ALPA’s motion to dismiss and/or for summary judgment, ruling that Plaintiffs were entitled to limited discovery on the question whether ALPA discharged its duty of fair representation by providing a process for arbitrating disputes over how the retro pay was allocated among United phots. Docs. 88-84 (reported at 2014 WL 4057419 (N.D.Ill. Aug. 14, 2014)); see Air Wis. Pilots Protection Comm. v. Sanderson, 909 F.2d 213, 215-16 (7th Cir.1990). ALPA now moves for judgment on the pleadings under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(c), arguing under Cunningham v. Air Line Pilots Association, International, 769 F.3d 539 (7th Cir.2014), that it satisfied its duty of fair representation on the merits, even putting aside the fairness or unfairness of its arbitration process. Doc. 132. The motion is granted as to the pilot instructors and denied as to the management pilots.

Background

The general background of this case is set forth in the court’s prior opinion, familiarity with which is assumed. As on a Rule 12(b)(6) motion, a court assessing a Rule 12(c) motion assumes the truth of the complaint’s well-pleaded factual allegations, but not its legal conclusions. See Lodholtz v. York Risk Servs. Grp., Inc., 778 F.3d 635, 639 (7th Cir.2015) (“A Rule 12(c) motion is governed by the same standards as a motion to, dismiss for failure to state a claim under Rule 12(b)(6).”). The court also must consider “documents attached to the complaint, documents that are critical to the complaint and referred to in it, and information that is subject to proper judicial notice,” along with additional facts set forth in Plaintiffs’ brief opposing dismissal, so long as those addi[839]*839tional facts “are consistent with the pleadings.” Phillips v. Prudential Ins. Co. of Am., 714 F.3d 1017, 1020 (7th Cir.2013) (internal quotation marks omitted). The facts are set forth as favorably to Plaintiffs as those materials allow. See Meade v. Moraine Valley Cmty. Coll., 770 F.3d 680, 682 (7th Cir.2014).

ALPA is a labor organization that represents United pilots. In 2003, when United was in bankruptcy, ALPA and United negotiated a collective bargaining agreement (“2003 agreement”). Doc. 29 at ¶ 12. The 2003 agreement expired in 2010, at which point ALPA and United began,negotiating a new agreement. Id. at ¶¶ 12-13. The RLA required United pilots to continue working as though the 2003 agreement were still in effect until a new agreement was negotiated and executed. Ibid. During the negotiations, which took nearly three years, United merged with Continental Airlines, and the new collective bargaining agreement applied to both United and Continental pilots. Id. at ¶ 13.

The new agreement, the 2012 United Pilot Agreement (“2012 UPA”), resulted in pay increases for all pilots. Of all the pilot groups, pilot instructors “receiv[ed] the biggest pay increase under the 2012 UPA.” Id. at ¶ 52; see also Doc. 149 at 10-11, The 2012 UPA also provided $400 million in retro pay to compensate pilots for working at the depressed 2003 rates during the negotiations. Doc. 29 at ¶¶14, 16. An intra-union arbitration divided the retro pay between the two pre-merger airlines, with the legacy United pilots receiving $225 million and the legacy Continental pilots $175 million. Id. at ¶,16. The retro pay did not fully compensate United pilots for what they would have earned between 2010 and 2013 had the 2012 UPA pay rates taken effect in 2010. Id, at ,¶ 17.

Most United pilots work most of the time as line pilots, flying customers from one location to another. ■ Id.' at ¶ 19. A small minority, of pilots spend some or all of their time, functioning as pilot instructors or in various managerial roles as management pilots. Ibid. During the relevant time-period, Bishop and Lish worked as pilot instructors, and Barnes, Whitehead, and Clark worked as management pilots. Id. at ¶ 53. ■

Pilot pay is principally based on an hourly rate determined by fleet (the type of aircraft the pilot flies), seat (cabin position, either First Officer or Captain), and longevity (time since hiring); the combination of fleet, seat, and longevity comprises a “bid category,” and each bid category has an hourly pay rate. Id. at ¶ 25. A line pilot’s monthly pay is the product of that pay rate and the number of hours she works per month. Ibid. Under the 2003 agreement, a management pilot’s monthly pay was based on her individual bid category, but that cátegory’s pay rate was multiplied by a predetermined number of hours per month (at least 95) rather than the number of hours she actually worked. Id. at ¶ 26. A pilot instructor’s compensation under the 2003 agreement was the product of a pre-determined bid category (equivalent to a First Officer with six years’ longevity flying 767/757 aircraft) and hours worked, capped at 89 hours per month. Id. at ¶44. As noted, pilot instructors received the largest pay increase under the 2012 UPA; the increase resulted primarily from changing the cap to the equivalent of 90 hours for a First Officer with nine years’ éxperienee at the second highest aircraft (A350, 747; 777, 787) rate. Id.' a^46._

Responsibility for allocating the $225 million among the United legacy pilots fell to ALPA. As set forth in Letter of Agreement 24 (“LOA 24”), the Master Executive Council for the United pilots (“MEC”)- devised an allocation formula. The first step of the formula was to determine the pilot’s [840]*840“Delta Differential,” which was calculated by subtracting her actual hourly rate under the 2003 agreement from the Delta Airlines 2008 rate for the same bid category. Id. at ¶¶ 20, 32 n.4; Doc. 149-1 at 1-23. The MEC then multiplied the pilot’s retro pay hours by her Delta Differential to arrive at her “Individual Delta Differential.” Doc. 149-1 at 6-7, 11. The MEC then divided each pilot’s Individual Delta Differential by the sum of all United pilots’ Delta Differentials, and multiplied that figure by $225 million to arrive át an individual retro pay amount. Id. at 11-12.

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141 F. Supp. 3d 836, 204 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 3431, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 133179, 2015 WL 5821577, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/barnes-v-air-line-pilots-assn-international-ilnd-2015.