Intl Brhd Boilermake v. Thyssenkrupp Elevato

• Court: Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
• Decided: April 23, 2004
• Docket: 02-6439
• Status: Published

Opinion

RECOMMENDED FOR FULL-TEXT PUBLICATION Pursuant to Sixth Circuit Rule 206 2 Int’l Brotherhood of Boilermakers v. No. 02-6439 ELECTRONIC CITATION: 2004 FED App. 0119P (6th Cir.) Thyssenkrupp Elevator Manufacturing, File Name: 04a0119p.06 Inc.

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS _________________

FOR THE SIXTH CIRCUIT COUNSEL _________________ ARGUED: Michael T. Manley, BLAKE & UHLIG, Kansas City, Kansas, for Appellant. Edward R. Young, YOUNG & INTERNATIONAL X PERL, Memphis, Tennessee, for Appellee. ON BRIEF: BROTHERHOOD OF - Michael T. Manley, BLAKE & UHLIG, Kansas City, Kansas, BOILERMAKERS, LOCAL - for Appellant. Edward R. Young, Robert J. Leibovich, - No. 02-6439 YOUNG & PERL, Memphis, Tennessee, for Appellee. UNION NO . S-251, - Plaintiff-Appellant, > _________________ , - v. - OPINION - _________________ THYSSENKRUPP ELEVATOR - FRIEDMAN, Circuit Judge. This appeal challenges a MANUFACTURING, INC., - district court’s refusal to enforce an arbitrator’s award made Defendant-Appellee. - in a grievance procedure pursuant to a collective bargaining N agreement. The arbitrator ruled that the ground upon which Appeal from the United States District Court the company had discharged an employee was erroneous and for the Western District of Tennessee at Jackson. ordered the employee reinstated. The district court refused to No. 02-01015—James D. Todd, Chief District Judge. enforce the award because the company also had based the discharge upon an alternative ground, which under the Argued: March 11, 2004 collective bargaining agreement had become final when the union had not challenged it before an arbitrator. We affirm. Decided and Filed: April 23, 2004 I Before: MOORE, SUTTON, and FRIEDMAN, Circuit Judges.* A. The facts are undisputed. The collective bargaining agreement between the appellee Thyssenkrupp Elevator Manufacturing, Inc. (“the Company”) and the appellant International Brotherhood of Boilermakers Local Union No. S-251 (“the Union”), permits the Company to discharge employees for “just cause.” The company’s “Attendance * Policy” provides for the imposition of “control points” on The Ho norable D aniel M . Friedman, Circuit Judge of the United employees for unauthorized absence, with increasingly severe States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, sitting by designation.

1 No. 02-6439 Int’l Brotherhood of Boilermakers v. 3 4 Int’l Brotherhood of Boilermakers v. No. 02-6439 Thyssenkrupp Elevator Manufacturing, Thyssenkrupp Elevator Manufacturing, Inc. Inc.

penalties for increased absences ranging from warnings for On October 18, 2000 the Company wrote Chandler that six to eight points to a three-day layoff for nine points and following an investigation, it appeared that he had “violated discharge for ten points. Company Rule No. 3, a rule that makes it a dischargeable offense to engage in punching another employee’s time card, Article XXI of the collective bargaining agreement contains falsifying any time card, payroll record, or work ticket; a four- step grievance procedure for the resolution of “any knowingly giving false information to anyone whose duty it dispute” between the Company and its employees involving is to make such records.” The letter continued: the interpretation or an alleged violation of a specific provision of the agreement. Para. 1. The first two steps This is to notify you that your termination is also being involve discussion and negotiation between the employees based on your violation of Rule No. 3, effective and their supervisors. Paras. 2-4. If the employee is September 7, 2000. dissatisfied with the outcome, he may proceed to step three, which involves discussion and negotiation between the Union The Union filed separate step-three grievances with respect Grievance Committee and Company representatives. “If the to each of these two grounds for discharge. The grievance Union Grievance Committee is satisfied with the Company’s regarding the September 7 discharge notice was filed on that decision, such decision shall constitute an agreement between date; the grievance regarding the October 18 notice was filed the Company and the Union and the Aggrieved employee on October 23. The Company denied the first grievance on shall be bound by such agreement.” Para. 5. October 18, 2000 and denied the second grievance on November 30, 2000. In denying the first grievance, the If, however, the Union disagrees with the Company’s Company stated: “All of the details realized as the basis of decision in the step-three grievance, it “may within ten (10) termination has [sic] been considered, which includes details normal working days from date of written answer from the in attendance as well as his time card violation covered by Company appeal to an impartial arbitrator whose decision Rule No. 3. As a result, we have determined that the shall be final and binding on the Company, the Union and its discharge was justified.” members, and the aggrieved employee.” Para. 6. The agreement further provides: “Any grievance which has been The Union appealed to an arbitrator the Company’s denial properly presented under the grievance procedure and which of the first grievance involving the discharge for excessive is not appealed to the next step by the Union within the absenteeism. The Union, however, did not appeal to an designated time limit shall be considered settled on the basis arbitrator the Company’s denial of the second grievance of the Company’s decision in the last step through which it relating to the time card misuse. was processed.” Para. 13. In case of a discharge, any grievance proceeds immediately to step three. Art. XXII, C. At the hearing before the arbitrator, the Company Para. 1. attempted to raise and present evidence regarding the issue of the second ground of discharge. The Union objected on the B. The Company discharged its employee Danny ground that “We’re not here for anything except excessive Chandler, effective September 7, 2000 for “Excessive absenteeism.” The arbitrator responded: “we’re here for Absenteeism” (it determined he had eleven control points). excessive absenteeism. That’s the only grievance that was No. 02-6439 Int’l Brotherhood of Boilermakers v. 5 6 Int’l Brotherhood of Boilermakers v. No. 02-6439 Thyssenkrupp Elevator Manufacturing, Thyssenkrupp Elevator Manufacturing, Inc. Inc.

presented to me to hear and that’s the one I have to stand on.” The Union then filed suit against the Company in the In response to the question “Is it the Union’s position that the United States District Court for the Western District of second grievance is a separate distinct grievance?”, the Union Tennessee and moved for summary judgment enforcing the responded “Yes.” arbitrator’s decision. The Company also moved for summary judgment. The district court denied the Union’s motion and The arbitrator invalidated the Company’s discharge of granted the Company’s. The court explained: Chandler “for the excessive absenteeism issue presented in this hearing” because it “did not meet the ‘just cause’ Because Defendant discharged Chandler on two separate criteria.” The arbitrator ruled that the Company improperly and distinct grounds, Plaintiff filed two separate and had determined that Chandler had accrued eleven control distinct grievances, Plaintiff and Defendant had two points and that the proper number was nine, which permitted separate and distinct step three meeting [sic], and only a three-day suspension, not a removal. The arbitrator Plaintiff chose only to appeal one grievance, the second “changed” the removal “to a 3 day time off penalty as grievance became final in accordance with the terms of outlined in the Attendance policy for 9 assessed points.” The the collective bargaining agreement. arbitrator also ordered “[t]he grievant . . . to be returned to his employment status after the 3-day penalty is recorded, Order at 9. without loss of his seniority or benefits.” The court stated that in these circumstances, “the The arbitrator further stated: Arbitrator’s decision regarding Chandler’s excessive absenteeism is irrelevant.” Id. at 8. With respect to the Company’s contention that this hearing should also consider the charge of falsifying his II time worked record on August 17th which is a violation of Company Rule No 3 is a valid part of this grievance A. In the first portion of the grievance procedure followed and should be part of this hearing is without merit [sic]. in this case (the step-three procedure), both the Union and the The grievant was not formally notified of these Company treated the two grounds upon which the Company additional charges until October 18, 2000 well after he discharged Chandler as separate and distinct disputes. As the had been discharged for excessive absenteeism namely district court pointed out, the Union filed “two separate and September 7, 2000. These charges had not been distinct grievances” and the Union and the Company “had discussed in the lower steps of the grievance procedure. two separate and distinct step-three meeting[s].” The The charge of falsifying his time record therefore, is Company wrote separate letters rejecting each of the “after the fact” and not admissible in this hearing. The grievances. only charge that is valid in this hearing is the one as noted on the grievance form that he was discharged for The Union, however, appealed to arbitration only the first excessive absenteeism. of the grievances, relating to the Company’s discharge of Chandler for excessive absenteeism. The effect of its failure to appeal the other ground of discharge - the time card No. 02-6439 Int’l Brotherhood of Boilermakers v. 7 8 Int’l Brotherhood of Boilermakers v. No. 02-6439 Thyssenkrupp Elevator Manufacturing, Thyssenkrupp Elevator Manufacturing, Inc. Inc.

misuse - was to make that ground of discharge final. In the Supreme Court, two state trial judges and others from words of the collective bargaining agreement, the grievance participating in a state court suit in which he was a party. The relating to that ground of discharge was “considered settled court of appeals ruled that “[w]hen the United States Supreme on the basis of the Company’s decision in the” step-three Court denied Carras’ petition for writ of certiorari, however, grievance, i.e., that “nothing” had been presented “to the Michigan trial court judgment became final and the state substantiate that Mr. Chandler’s time record was not court suit was terminated. Because there is no longer a state falsified.” court proceeding from which to enjoin the named defendants’ participation, the relief which Carras has sought can no longer Thus, when the grievance related to Chandler’s alleged be given by a federal court. Therefore, this aspect of Carras’ excessive absenteeism came before the arbitrator for suit has become moot.” Id. at 1289 (citations omitted). resolution in step four of the grievance procedure, the case was in the following posture: the Company had rejected the Similarly, in Rosskamp v. Kerr McGee Corp., 992 F.2d 557 other grievance involving the alternative ground for discharge (5th Cir. 1993), the Fifth Circuit affirmed the district court’s and, because the Union had not taken that grievance to holding that the employer was statutorily immune from arbitration, the Company’s rejection of it had become final. liability for a tort claim. The Fifth Circuit then held: “Our Accordingly, there was outstanding a final determination by agreement with the district court on statutory employer the Company discharging Chandler for time card misuse. immunity renders moot Phillips’ cross-appeal arguing Therefore, there was nothing the arbitrator could do with alternative grounds for tort immunity.” Id. at 557. In respect to the only ground of discharge that was before him - Kaminski v. United States, 339 F.3d 84 (2d Cir. 2003), the for excessive absenteeism - that could change Chandler’s Second Circuit ruled in a federal habeas corpus proceeding discharge, which had become final and unreviewable. arising out of a federal criminal conviction, that a “certificate of appealability does not permit review of . . . alternative There was, therefore, no live controversy remaining with bases for the district court’s decision. And, ordinarily, unless respect to the validity of Chandler’s discharge. Even if the a certificate encompasses all of the grounds for a court’s arbitrator set aside the excessive absenteeism ground for that ruling on an issue, an appeal that challenges only some of the discharge, the discharge still would remain in effect because district court’s grounds will be moot.” Id. at 85. of the unchallenged alternative ground upon which it also rested. In traditional terms, there was no longer any case or These cases all involved different facts and different issues. controversy regarding the discharge, and any question What they have in common with the present case, however, regarding its validity was moot. is the recognition that “[t]he test for mootness is whether the relief sought would, if granted, make a difference to the legal In comparable circumstances courts have recognized that interests of the parties.” McPherson v. Mich. High Sch. there was nothing for them to decide where their decision on Athletic Ass’n, 119 F.3d 453, 458 (6th Cir. 1997) (en banc) the issue before them would have no impact or effect on the (internal quotations marks omitted); see also Bowman v. rights of the parties. Thus, in Carras v. Williams, 807 F.2d Corr. Corp. of America, 350 F.3d 537, 550 (6th Cir. 2003). 1286 (6th Cir. 1986), Carras filed suit in a federal court under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 to enjoin the Justices of the Michigan No. 02-6439 Int’l Brotherhood of Boilermakers v. 9 10 Int’l Brotherhood of Boilermakers v. No. 02-6439 Thyssenkrupp Elevator Manufacturing, Thyssenkrupp Elevator Manufacturing, Inc. Inc.

Here, as we have shown, the arbitrator’s rejection of the The cases dealing with the limited scope of judicial review of excess absenteeism ground for discharge could not affect the arbitrators’ decisions are irrelevant to that issue. discharge itself, which also rested on another unchallenged ground. In determining the validity of the excess absenteeism The Union also relies on the Seventh Circuit’s decision in ground for discharge, the arbitrator thus performed a futile Chrysler Motors Corp. v. International Union, Allied act. The district court so recognized when it stated that, Industrial Workers, Local 793, 2 F.3d 760 (1993), as because the Company’s alternative ground for discharge was authority that the district court should have enforced the not appealed and became final, “the arbitrator’s decision arbitrator’s award in this case. The facts in that case, which regarding Chandler’s excessive absenteeism is irrelevant.” is not binding precedent in this court, are sufficiently different from those in the present case that that case is not persuasive B. The Union invokes cases that stress the limited role the authority here. courts have in reviewing arbitrators’ decisions in proceedings under collective bargaining agreements. See, e.g., United In Chrysler, the Company discharged a male employee for Paperworkers Int’l Union v. Misco, Inc., 484 U.S. 29, 36 sexually harassing a female employee. The Union filed a (1987) (“[T]he courts play only a limited role when asked to grievance challenging the discharge, and the arbitrator, review the decision of an arbitrator.”); id. at 38 (“Courts thus concluding that the discharge was too severe a penalty for the do not sit to hear claims of factual or legal error by an employee’s single transgression, reduced it to a thirty-day arbitrator as an appellate court does in reviewing decisions of suspension. Although the Company presented evidence to the lower courts.”). It argues that under these principles the arbitrator that the employee had committed similar district court was required to accept the arbitrator’s rulings transgressions on four other occasions, the arbitrator refused that no issue involving the alternative ground of discharge to consider that evidence because the Company became aware was properly before him and that because the Company of it only after it had discharged the employee. erroneously determined that Chandler had eleven control points rather than nine, his discharge based on that The Company then in effect reinstated the employee for one determination was improper and the Company therefore was day and discharged him again for the four other required to reinstate him after suspending him for three days. delinquencies. The court of appeals upheld both the Company’s reinstatement of the employee and its subsequent Those cases might be relevant if the challenge to the discharge of him “pursuant to the evidence its post-discharge arbitrator’s award here related to his evaluation of the merits investigation had uncovered,” which it described as “entirely of the alternative ground of discharge or even to his refusal to appropriate.” 2 F.3d at 764. consider the merits of that ground. Those would be matters for the arbitrator. Here, however, the arbitrator’s error was in In Chrysler there were two separate discharges, the second deciding the merits of the excessive absenteeism ground for made after the Company had reinstated the employee for a discharge in a situation where that decision could not affect day, and only the first of which was the subject of a the rights of the parties. That is not a matter that the grievance. In the present case, in contrast, there was only a collective bargaining agreement commits to the arbitrator. single discharge, on September 7, 2000, although the Company subsequently provided an additional ground for that No. 02-6439 Int’l Brotherhood of Boilermakers v. 11 Thyssenkrupp Elevator Manufacturing, Inc.

action. The Company’s notification to Chandler of the second ground for discharge informed him that his “termination is also being based on [his] violation of Rule No. 3, effective September 7, 2000.” The present case thus involved two different grounds for a single discharge, each of which was the subject of a separate grievance, and one of which became final when the Union did not appeal it to the arbitrator. Chrysler, however, involved two separate and different discharges, based upon different grounds, only the first of which was the subject of a grievance. Chrysler simply is not relevant to the issue we decide in this case. CONCLUSION The judgment of the district court is affirmed.