Florida AFL-CIO v. State of Florida Department of Labor & Employment Security

504 F. Supp. 530, 1980 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 16462, 93 Lab. Cas. (CCH) 13,347
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. Florida
DecidedDecember 22, 1980
DocketNo. TCA 78-1043
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 504 F. Supp. 530 (Florida AFL-CIO v. State of Florida Department of Labor & Employment Security) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Florida AFL-CIO v. State of Florida Department of Labor & Employment Security, 504 F. Supp. 530, 1980 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 16462, 93 Lab. Cas. (CCH) 13,347 (N.D. Fla. 1980).

Opinion

FINAL SUMMARY JUDGMENT

HIGBY, District Judge.

All parties have moved for summary judgment, and summary judgment is appropriate. At issue is the validity of part of Florida’s unemployment compensation statute as applied by the Defendants. In Florida a person is disqualified from eligibility for unemployment compensation if she has failed without good cause to apply for available suitable work or to accept suitable work when offered. § 443.06(2), Fla.Stat. [531]*531(Supp.1978). A person is also disqualified if she voluntarily leaves her employment without good cause attributable to her employer. § 443.06(1), Fla.Stat. (Supp.1978). Florida Administrative Code Rule 8B-2.16 delineates factors to be considered in determining the suitability of work and specifically designates some work as unsuitable. Florida courts, the Unemployment Appeals Commission, and the Defendants interpret the statute and regulation to mean a union member who leaves or refuses work solely because it is or has become non-union is disqualified from receiving unemployment compensation, even though her union penalizes her for retaining or accepting the work. Adams v. The Auchter Company, 339 So.2d 623 (Fla.1976), aff’g, The Auchter Company v. Industrial Relations Commission, 304 So.2d 487 (Fla. 1st D.C.A. 1974); U.C. Order No. 78-1899 (October 30, 1978). The Plaintiffs attack this interpretation of suitable work and good cause attributable to an employer as impermissible because the federal government has preempted the subject with the Labor Management Relations Act, Title 29, United States Code, Section 141 et seq., and the National Labor Relations Act, Title 29, United States Code, Section 151 et seq.

All the human Plaintiffs are members of unions affiliated with the non-human Plaintiff, Florida AFL-CIO.

Plaintiffs Detweiler, Cush, Hamilton, and Bass voluntarily left their employment when their employers went nonunion. They all filed claims for unemployment compensation benefits and, on appeal, were determined to be disqualified pursuant to Florida Statutes, § 443.06(1). They could have remained in employment with their employers after the employers went nonunion, at wage rates substantially the same as before going nonunion. The reason these Plaintiffs quit their employment was because there ceased to be a collective bargaining agreement between their union(s) and their employees). Except for the lack of a collective bargaining agreement, continued employment with the Plaintiffs’ employers would have been ‘suitable.’ Under the provisions of Florida Statutes, §§ 443.-06(1), (2) and Rule 8B-2.16, Florida Administrative Code, employment for union members, such as Plaintiffs, would not be deemed ‘unsuitable’ on the basis that such employment is not covered by a collective bargaining agreement.

Pre-Trial Stipulation, Doc. No. 53 at 4. Reiser has not been denied benefits because of refusing non-union work. But he is a member of an AFL-CIO union.

“It is the policy of all labor organizations which are members of Plaintiff Florida AFL-CIO that members may not accept work, or continue to work, for an employer who is not subject to a collective bargaining agreement. Members who violate this policy may be subject to fine, suspension, or expulsion from the labor organization, depending upon the facts and circumstances of the particular case and the policies of the particular local.” Id.

Plaintiffs argue the Defendants’ interpretation of suitable work and good cause to leave employment frustrates the policy against non-union work and meddles impermissibly in an area preempted by federal legislation solely for federal regulation.

The doctrine of labor law pre-emption concerns the extent to which Congress has placed implicit limits on ‘the permissible scope of state regulation of activity touching upon labor-management relations.’ Sears, Roebuck & Co. v. Carpenters, 436 U.S. 180, 187, 98 S.Ct. 1745 [1752], 56 L.Ed.2d 209. ...
There is general agreement on the proposition that the ‘animating force’ behind the doctrine is a recognition that the purposes of the federal statute would be defeated if state and federal courts were free, without limitation, to exercise jurisdiction over activities that are subject to regulation by the National Labor Relations Board. Id., at 218, 98 S.Ct. 1745 [at 1768], 56 L.Ed.2d 209 (Brennan, J., dissenting). The overriding interest in a uniform, nationwide interpretation of the federal statute by the centralized expert agency created by Congress not only de-
[532]*532mands that the NLRB’s primary jurisdiction be protected, it also forecloses overlapping state enforcement of the prohibitions in § 8 of the Act, Plankinton Packing Co. v. Wisconsin Employment Relations Board, 338 U.S. 953, 94 L.Ed. 588, 70 S.Ct. 491, as well as state interference with the exercise of rights protected by § 7 of the Act. Automobile Workers v. Russell, 356 U.S. 634, 644, 78 S.Ct. 932, 2 L.Ed.2d 1030.

New York Telephone Company v. New York State Department of Labor, 440 U.S. 519, 527, 528, 99 S.Ct. 1328, 1334, 1335, 59 L.Ed.2d 553, 561 (1979) (footnotes omitted). There are no easily applicable rules. “Instead, the cases reflect a balanced inquiry into such factors as the nature of the federal and state interests in regulation and the potential for interference with federal regulation.” Farmer v. United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America, Local 25, 430 U.S. 290, 300, 97 S.Ct. 1056,1063, 51 L.Ed.2d 338, 350 (1977).

San Diego Building Trades Council v. Garmon, 359 U.S. 236, 79 S.Ct. 773, 3 L.Ed.2d 775 (1959), established two guidelines. First: “When it is clear or may fairly be assumed that the activities which a State purports to regulate are protected by § 7 of the National Labor Relations Act, or constitute an unfair labor practice under § 8, due regard for the federal enactment requires that state jurisdiction must yield.” Garmon, 359 U.S. at 244, 79 S.Ct. at 779, 3 L.Ed.2d at 782. Second: “When an activity is arguably subject to § 7 or § 8 of the Act, the States as well as the federal courts must defer to the exclusive competence of the National Labor Relations Board if the danger of state interference with national policy is to be averted.” Garmon, 359 U.S. at 245, 79 S.Ct. at 779, 3 L.Ed.2d at 783. See, also, Sears, Roebuck and Company v. Carpenters, 436 U.S. 180, 98 S.Ct. 1745, 56 L.Ed.2d 209 (1978); Lodge 76, International Association of Machinists and Aero-Space Workers, AFL-CIO v. Wisconsin Employment Relations Commission,

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504 F. Supp. 530, 1980 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 16462, 93 Lab. Cas. (CCH) 13,347, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/florida-afl-cio-v-state-of-florida-department-of-labor-employment-flnd-1980.