Calabrese v. TENDERCARE OF MICH. INC.

685 N.W.2d 313
CourtMichigan Court of Appeals
DecidedAugust 5, 2004
Docket243697
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 685 N.W.2d 313 (Calabrese v. TENDERCARE OF MICH. INC.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Michigan Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Calabrese v. TENDERCARE OF MICH. INC., 685 N.W.2d 313 (Mich. Ct. App. 2004).

Opinion

685 N.W.2d 313 (2004)
262 Mich.App. 256

Kimberly CALABRESE, Plaintiff-Appellee,
v.
TENDERCARE OF MICHIGAN INC., d/b/a Wayne Total Living Center, and Craig Schuler, Defendants-Appellants.

Docket No. 243697.

Court of Appeals of Michigan.

Submitted April 6, 2004, at Detroit.
Decided June 3, 2004, at 9:05 a.m.
Release for Publication August 5, 2004.

*314 Scott E. Combs and Katrina A. Murrel, Novi, for the plaintiff.

*315 Keller Thoma, A Professional Corporation (by Terrence J. Miglio and Mark C. Knoth), Detroit, for the defendants.

Before: WILDER, P.J., and HOEKSTRA and KELLY, JJ.

PER CURIAM.

Plaintiff alleged that defendants wrongfully terminated her employment because she refused to fire employees for engaging in unionizing activities. Defendants appeal by leave granted the trial court's partial denial of their motion for summary disposition, arguing that the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA)[1] preempts plaintiff's claims and, therefore, the trial court lacks subject-matter jurisdiction. We reverse.

1. Basic Facts and Procedural History

Plaintiff was hired as an administrator at Wayne Total Living Center (WTLC), a nursing home facility operated by defendant Tendercare of Michigan, Inc. Defendant Craig Schuler was plaintiff's supervisor. Approximately four months into plaintiff's employment, Schuler met with plaintiff, showed her a list of nineteen employees, and advised her to fire them. According to plaintiff:

[Schuler] wanted to meet to discuss this list that he had of the nineteen employees that were involved in the union activity and because the next day they were doing [informational] picketing in front of the buildings, he wanted these people terminated. He said it had to come in sections to take out so many per each segment basically, because you didn't want to do them all at one time. The first person that had to go was Ethel Kitchen.

Plaintiff immediately protested, stating that to terminate the employment of these employees for their participation in union organization efforts was unethical and illegal. Schuler responded that "it needed to be done."

One month later, because plaintiff had not fired anyone on the list, Schuler met with plaintiff and again stated that he wanted Kitchen fired. Plaintiff in turn reiterated that this could not be done. After a heated discussion, in which Schuler stated that plaintiff was no longer needed if she could not fire Kitchen, plaintiff pushed her keys across the desk, gathered her belongings, and left WTLC. Afterward, she sent a certified letter to Schuler, which read: "[Y]ou stated `you did not need me anymore.' I am under the impression that you fired me with no documentation for reasons of performance." Plaintiff received no response.

Plaintiff subsequently filed a complaint against defendants alleging wrongful discharge, tortious interference with business relations, and intentional infliction of emotional distress. She specifically alleged that defendants terminated her employment because she refused to fire employees for legal unionizing activities. Defendants succeeded in having the case removed to the federal district court on the basis that the claims were predicated on federal law. Plaintiff then brought a motion in the federal district court seeking to have her claims remanded to state court on the basis that the claims arose solely under state law. The federal district court remanded the case to the Wayne Circuit Court on the basis of plaintiff's representation that the claims were based on Michigan law only and the court's own determination that plaintiff claimed "that her termination was in violation of Michigan public policy." After the remand, defendants moved for dismissal on the basis that the trial court *316 lacked subject-matter jurisdiction because the NLRA preempted plaintiff's claims that defendants engaged in unfair labor practices. With regard to plaintiff's claims of wrongful discharge and tortious interference,[2] the trial court denied defendants' motion, ruling that the claims were not preempted by the NLRA. Defendants appeal this ruling by leave granted.

II. Standard of Review

Whether a court has subject-matter jurisdiction is a question of law that we review de novo. Travelers Ins. Co. v. Detroit Edison Co., 465 Mich. 185, 205, 631 N.W.2d 733 (2001).

III. Analysis

A. Plaintiff's Claims are Preempted by the NLRA

The trial court erred in denying defendants' motion for summary disposition under MCR 2.116(C)(4) because plaintiff's claims of wrongful discharge and tortious interference are preempted by the NLRA under the preemption doctrine set forth in San Diego Building Trades Council v. Garmon, 359 U.S. 236, 245, 79 S.Ct. 773, 3 L.Ed.2d 775 (1959). Justice Levin explained the Garmon doctrine in his opinion in Bullock v. Automobile Club of Michigan, 432 Mich. 472, 492-493, 444 N.W.2d 114 (1989), stating:

The United States Supreme Court has developed two doctrines for determining whether a state claim is preempted by the NLRA. One doctrine, set forth in San Diego Building Trades Council v. Garmon, 359 U.S. 236, 245, 79 S.Ct. 773, 3 L.Ed.2d 775 (1959), established that state regulations and causes of action are preempted when they concern an activity that is actually or arguably protected or prohibited by the NLRA.[[3]] The state claim may survive, however, if the conduct at issue "is of only peripheral concern to the federal law or touches interests so deeply rooted in local feeling and responsibility...." The court balances the state's interest in regulating or promoting a remedy for the conduct against the intrusion in the NLRB's [National Labor Relations Board's] jurisdiction and the risk that the state's determination will be inconsistent with provisions of the NLRA.

After deciding Garmon, the United States Supreme Court further articulated the preemption doctrine:

The critical inquiry, therefore, is not whether the State is enforcing a law relating specifically to labor relations or one of general application but whether the controversy presented to the state court is identical to ... or different from ... that which could have been, but was not, presented to the Labor Board. For it is only in the former situation that a state court's exercise of jurisdiction necessarily involves a risk of interference with the unfair labor practice jurisdiction of the Board which the arguably prohibited branch of the Garmon doctrine was designed to avoid.
* * *
The primary-jurisdiction rationale unquestionably requires that when the same controversy may be presented to *317 the state court or the NLRB, it must be presented to the Board. [Sears, Roebuck & Co. v. San Diego Co. Dist. Council of Carpenters, 436 U.S. 180, 197, 202, 98 S.Ct.

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Bluebook (online)
685 N.W.2d 313, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/calabrese-v-tendercare-of-mich-inc-michctapp-2004.