Chrysler Corp. v. Unemployment Insurance Appeal Board of Department of Labor

345 A.2d 418, 1975 Del. LEXIS 498
CourtSupreme Court of Delaware
DecidedSeptember 17, 1975
StatusPublished

This text of 345 A.2d 418 (Chrysler Corp. v. Unemployment Insurance Appeal Board of Department of Labor) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Delaware primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Chrysler Corp. v. Unemployment Insurance Appeal Board of Department of Labor, 345 A.2d 418, 1975 Del. LEXIS 498 (Del. 1975).

Opinion

HERRMANN, Chief Justice:

In this unemployment compensation case, the question is whether the claimants were “participants” in a labor dispute such as to disqualify them for benefits under 19 Del. C. § 3315(4)1 and Lowe Bros., Inc. v. Unemployment Insurance Appeal Board, Del. Supr., 332 A.2d 150 (1975).

I.

The Unemployment Insurance Appeal Board made the following findings of fact:

The claimants were employees of Chrysler Corporation and members of Local Union 1212 of the United Auto Workers (hereinafter “UAW”), which consisted of office workers, engineers, and parts-de[419]*419partment personnel. Local Union 1183 of the UAW, consisting of production workers at the same Chrysler plant, went on strike. The members of Local Union 1212 reported for work on the following day; but, three days later, approximately 128 members of that union,2 the claimants here, vvere laid off because of lack of work resulting from the strike in which Local Union 1183 was involved. Both Locals came under the same International of UAW; but each had separate officers, by-laws, and meeting places. Each Local had a separate contract with Chrysler; there were different provisions in each contract, different salary classifications, and different contract negotiators. Although the Appeal Board made no finding, it seems undisputed that the International had just approved the Local 1183 strike.

The Appeal Board, relying upon Emrick v. Unemployment Compensation Commission, Del.Super., 3 Storey 561, 173 A.2d 743 (1961), made the following findings and conclusions:

“ * * * There is no question that these employees, members of Local 1212, did not directly or indirectly participate in the labor dispute. In fact, they crossed the picket line to go to work. We are not satisfied that they would receive any gain from the outcome of the labor dispute or as to their interest in the dispute. Accordingly, these employees are simply employees who are out of work through no fault of their own and as such are entitled to unemployment compensation benefits.”

Upon appeal by Chrysler, the Superior Court upheld the Board. We affirm.

II.

In Lowe, the non-striking claimants, members of the lathers’ unions, were out of work because of strikes by separate unions representing various other trades at the construction sites at which the claimants were employed. Approving the conclusion and rationale of Emrick, we held that under a proper construction of our Statute:

“ * * * Claimant involvement in the causation of the unemployment is the sole focal point of § 3315(4) when read in the light of the public policy underlying the Act. If the unemployment is in any way the fault of the claimant, by reason of his participation in a labor dispute, he is disqualified for benefits; if, on the other hand, he is free of fault because of non-participation in the labor dispute [and is otherwise qualified], he is eligible for benefits.” 332 A.2d at 153.

The claimants contend that Lowe settles the issue here. The employer contends, however, that Lowe is distinguishable because ‘‘both locals [the striking Local 1183 and the claimants’ non-striking Local 1212] followed the directives of national headquarters” ;3 that, therefore, a “partici[420]*420pation-through-agency” approach is the proper line of scrutiny for examination of the claimants’ “involvement” and consequent disqualification for benefits in this labor dispute, citing Ford Motor Co. v. Abercrombie, 207 Ga. 464, 62 S.E.2d 209 (1950), and United States Steel Corporation v. Wood, 269 Ala. 5, 114 So.2d 551 (1959). In Abercrombie, the claimants, employed in a Georgia plant of Ford, were laid off for lack of .work due to a strike at a Michigan plant of the employer. The Court indicated that the officers of the International bound the Georgia claimants as their agents; and held that the two plants were part of the same overall facility and, thus, the work stoppage was within the “factory, establishment, or other premises” disqualification provision of the Georgia Unemployment Compensation Act. In Wood, the Court disqualified a non-striking claimant who, as here, was a member of a local union affiliated with a national union with which the striking local was also affiliated, on the ground that the national union had “masterminded” the strike. The employer’s argument concludes that to reject the “participation-through-agency” rationale of Abercrombie would be to permit the International of UAW to “whipsaw” under our Statute; that it would permit an award of unemployment compensation benefits where there is involved “a national strike over national issues called by the claimants’ own union in the context of ongoing collective bargaining.”

In response to the “participation-through-agency” concept of Abercrombie, the claimants cite Ford Motor Co. v. Kentucky Unemployment Compensation Commission, Ky.App., 243 S.W.2d 657 (1951) and Park v. Appeal Board of Michigan Employment Security Commission, 355 Mich. 103, 94 N.W.2d 407 (1959), and contend on the basis thereof that Abercrombie is unsound and, alternatively, that the Statute and the record in this case do not support the Abercrombie-type disqualification for benefits.

In the Kentucky case, the strike at Ford’s Michigan plant resulted in lay-off of claimants at Ford’s Kentucky plant for lack of work. The Court rejected the “participation-through-agency” rationale of Abercrombie and held that the Kentucky claimants were entitled to benefits since they were not directly on strike and had no power to avert the Michigan strike.4

In Park, a strike at an Ohio plant caused the claimants employed at Michigan [421]*421plants to be laid off for lack of work resulting from the strike. It was undisputed that the claimants engaged in no strike activity and continued working until they were laid off. The Court refused to disqualify the claimants on the basis of the principal-agent holding in Abercrombie, stating:

“[t]hat [the Abercrombie] court also found as a fact that there was no participation in, nor causing of, the strike by any of the claimants, but that they were bound by the actions of their international union officers in authorizing the Rouge plant strike on the theory of principal and agent. This holding would, of course, suggest that any strike in any plant of any employer in any State would disqualify for unemployment compensation benefits any employee of any other plant, whether in the same State or not, and whether owned by the same employer or not, provided he was unemployed as a result of that strike and the strike was called by the same union.
“We find no warrant for such conclusions in the Michigan statute.” 94 N.

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Related

United States Steel Corporation v. Wood
114 So. 2d 551 (Supreme Court of Alabama, 1959)
Ford Motor Co. v. Abercrombie
62 S.E.2d 209 (Supreme Court of Georgia, 1950)
Emrick v. Unemployment Compensation Commission
173 A.2d 743 (Superior Court of Delaware, 1961)
Ford Motor Co. v. Kentucky Unemployment Compensation Commission
243 S.W.2d 657 (Court of Appeals of Kentucky (pre-1976), 1951)
Park v. Employment Security Commission
94 N.W.2d 407 (Michigan Supreme Court, 1959)
Lowe Bros., Inc. v. Unemployment Insurance Appeal Board
332 A.2d 150 (Supreme Court of Delaware, 1975)
Pacific Maritime Ass'n v. California Unemployment Insurance Appeals Board
236 Cal. App. 2d 325 (California Court of Appeal, 1965)
Chrysler Corp. v. California Unemployment Insurance Appeals Board
199 Cal. App. 2d 683 (California Court of Appeal, 1962)

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Bluebook (online)
345 A.2d 418, 1975 Del. LEXIS 498, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/chrysler-corp-v-unemployment-insurance-appeal-board-of-department-of-del-1975.