Hughes v. UPS Supply Chain Solutions, Inc.

815 F. Supp. 2d 993, 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 112770, 2011 WL 4556410
CourtDistrict Court, W.D. Kentucky
DecidedSeptember 30, 2011
DocketCivil Action No. 3:10-cv-746-JGH
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 815 F. Supp. 2d 993 (Hughes v. UPS Supply Chain Solutions, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, W.D. Kentucky primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Hughes v. UPS Supply Chain Solutions, Inc., 815 F. Supp. 2d 993, 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 112770, 2011 WL 4556410 (W.D. Ky. 2011).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION

CHARLES R. SIMPSON III, District Judge.

Defendants have removed this case to federal court on the grounds that § 301 of the Labor Management Relations Act of 1947, 29 U.S.C. § 185 (“LMRA”), preempts plaintiffs’ state law claims. Plaintiffs now move to remand this case to state court, asserting that their verified amended complaint only asserts claims under Kentucky law. (DN 8).

Plaintiffs filed this action in Jefferson Circuit Court, alleging discrimination in employment and violations of Kentucky wage and hour statutory and regulatory law by defendants. Plaintiffs’ Verified Amended Class Action Complaint and Jury Demand, ¶ 1. Plaintiffs allege that defendants adopted a “100% healthy” policy and refused to allow temporarily disabled employees to work until they were fully recovered and not subject to any work restrictions. Id., at ¶ 31, 32. Plaintiffs also allege violations of Kentucky wage and hour law by defendants for uncompensated time spent between checking into security check points and traveling to work stations. Id., at ¶ 51-54. In their original and amended complaint, plaintiffs name “UPS Supply Chain Solutions, Inc., United Parcel Services, Inc., and Defendants John Doe 1-10” as defendants in this action. Id., at ¶ 6-9. Plaintiffs amended their complaint to add two additional named plaintiffs. Id., at ¶ 39, 10. Defendants then removed- this case to federal court alleging these two additional named plaintiffs were union members and plaintiffs’ claims were preempted by § 301. For the reasons set forth below, this court grants plaintiffs’ motion to remand.

I.

“Only state court actions that originally could have been filed in federal court may be removed to federal court by the defendant.” Caterpillar Inc. v. Williams, 482 U.S. 386, 391-92, 107 S.Ct. 2425, 2429, 96 L.Ed.2d 318 (1987). The “well-pleaded complaint rule” governs whether federal question jurisdiction exists and provides that it exists “only when a federal question is presented on the face of the plaintiffs properly pleaded complaint.” Id. at 392, 107 S.Ct. 2425. This rule “makes the plaintiff master of the claim; he or she may avoid federal jurisdiction by exclusive reliance on state law.” Id. An exception to this rule is the “complete preemption doctrine” where a statute has such preemptive force that it completely preempts an area of state law and any subsequent “claim purportedly based on that pre-empted state law is considered, from its inception, a federal claim, and therefore arises under federal law.” Id. at 393, 107 S.Ct. 2425; see also Klepsky v. [996]*996United Parcel Service, Inc., 489 F.3d 264, 269 (6th Cir.2007) (“[a]n exception to the [well-pleaded complaint] rule exists ... where federal law completely preempts state law on the relevant subject matter”).

The Sixth Circuit has adopted a two-part test for evaluating claims of complete preemption for cases involving a collective bargaining agreement (“CBA”) and the LMRA. Klepsky, 489 F.3d at 269.

We first look to whether resolving the state-law claim would require interpretation of the terms of the collective bargaining agreement and alternatively, whether the rights claimed by the plaintiff were created by the collective bargaining agreement, or instead by state law. In short, if a state-law claim fails either of these two requirements, it is preempted by § 301.

Id. (internal citations omitted). If a plaintiffs claims are not directly connected to the terms of the CBA, they are not preempted and “not every dispute concerning employment, or tangentially involving a provision of a collective-bargaining agreement, is preempted by § 301.” Allis-Chalmers Corp. v. Lueck, 471 U.S. 202, 211, 105 S.Ct. 1904, 85 L.Ed.2d 206 (1985); Klepsky, 489 F.3d at 270. “To the extent Defendant might somehow invoke the terms of the CBA as a defense, the Sixth Circuit has clearly held that such a defense does not turn an otherwise independent claim dependent on the labor contract.” Lewis v. Laborers Intern. Union of North America, AFL-CIO, 387 F.Supp.2d 715, 716 (W.D.Ky.2005) (quoting DeCoe v. General Motors Corp., 32 F.3d 212, 216 (6th Cir.1994)); see also Alongi v. Ford Motor, 386 F.3d 716, 727-28 (6th Cir.2004) (the fact that a claim may ultimately be preempted by federal law does not effect whether jurisdiction exists under complete preemption) (citing Livadas v. Bradshaw, 512 U.S. 107, 114 S.Ct. 2068, 129 L.Ed.2d 93 (1994)).

Defendants argue that because Kentucky’s wage and hour statute, KRS 337, does not expressly define an applicable compensable work time situation that supports plaintiffs’ claim, the union contract must be interpreted to determine whether the parties agreed that plaintiffs would be compensated for time between security checkpoints and work stations. Defendants’ Response to Plaintiffs’ Motion to Remand, at 16. Defendants claim that this necessitates removal to federal court under the complete preemption doctrine. Id.

Plaintiffs assert that their claims exist independently from the union contract and turn on Kentucky law, not an interpretation of the union contract. Plaintiffs brought this action based on independent state-law rights and not claims created by the collective bargaining agreement. Plaintiffs seek “damages and all available relief under Kentucky law for Defendants’ discrimination in employment and for Defendants’ violation of applicable wage and hour statutory and regulatory law.” Plaintiffs’ Verified Amended Complaint and Jury Demand, at ¶ 1. Plaintiffs’ claims are based upon statutory rights provided under Kentucky law that are unalterable by agreement. See KRS 336.700(2) (“no employer shall require as a condition or precondition of employment that any employee ... otherwise diminish any existing or future claim, right, or benefit to which the employee or person seeking employment would otherwise be entitled under any provision of the Kentucky Revised Statutes”); KRS 337. “[I]t would be inconsistent with congressional intent under § 301 to preempt state rules that proscribe conduct, or establish rights and obligations, independent of a labor contract.” Caterpillar, 482 U.S. at 395, 107 S.Ct. 2425. Plaintiffs do [997]*997not rely on rights created by the CBA, nor do plaintiffs seek relief provided only be the CBA. See Klepsky, 489 F.3d 264

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815 F. Supp. 2d 993, 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 112770, 2011 WL 4556410, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hughes-v-ups-supply-chain-solutions-inc-kywd-2011.