Knox Porcelain Corp. v. Teamsters Local Union No. 519

504 F. Supp. 284, 1980 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 15230
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Tennessee
DecidedNovember 11, 1980
DocketCiv. No. 3-80-426
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 504 F. Supp. 284 (Knox Porcelain Corp. v. Teamsters Local Union No. 519) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Tennessee primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Knox Porcelain Corp. v. Teamsters Local Union No. 519, 504 F. Supp. 284, 1980 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 15230 (E.D. Tenn. 1980).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM

ROBERT L. TAYLOR, District Judge.

In this action plaintiff Knox Porcelain Corporation (hereinafter the Company) seeks to vacate an arbitration award. The case is presently before the Court on plaintiff’s motion for summary judgment.

The facts are not in dispute. Mary Brantley was employed by the Company and its predecessor since 1961. At all times relevant to this case, a collective bargaining agreement was in effect between the Company and the defendant Teamsters Local Union No. 519 (hereinafter the Union). Under that agreement, jobs were placed in various job classifications. From 1969 to 1979, Mrs. Brantley worked as stockroom clerk, a job within the machine operator classification. On August 20, 1979 due to technological and product requirement changes, Mrs. Brantley was transferred from the stockroom clerk job to a job in the press room, another job within the machine operator classification. On September 4, 1979, Mrs. Brantley was again transferred, this time to a suspension glaze wheel crew job, another job within the machine operator classification. On September 18, 1979, the suspension glaze wheel crew ran out of work and was temporarily assigned to the spool glaze wheel job, still another job within the machine operator classification. As stated in Mrs. Brantley’s affidavit, this job

involved putting a tray of spools onto a line at one end and taking them off at another end. The board on which the spools were placed held either 32 or 34 spools each weighing two (2) pounds. The board had to be lifted from about knee high to well up over a person’s head.

Mrs. Brantley was unable to lift the boards of spools and so informed her supervisor. Shortly thereafter, the Company’s personnel manager told Mrs. Brantley that he would have to terminate her as a voluntary quit for failure to perform work available in her job classification. A grievance was filed the same day in which Mrs. Brantley [286]*286claimed she had not quit and claimed that the Company had violated Articles 3.6 and 21 of the collective bargaining agreement.1 The grievance was submitted to arbitration pursuant to the collective bargaining agreement.

The arbitrator stated the issue to be: “Was the termination of Mary Brantley on September 18, 1979 proper under the terms of the labor agreement and if not, what should the remedy be?” The arbitrator found that the transferring of Mrs. Brantley from job to job within the machine operator classification did not violate the agreement. However, the arbitrator found that the Company “violated the spirit of the agreement” in not allowing Mrs. Brantley the option of taking a layoff when she was unable to do the work at the spool glaze wheel. He then made the following award:

The grievant is to be placed on layoff effective September 19,1979, rather than be considered a quit. She is to have all the rights pertaining thereto. The grievant is to be assigned to the job to which she would have been eligible a week after her layoff. She is to be made whole for earnings and fringe benefits lost since then, with appropriate adjustment for unemployment compensation and minus any outside earnings during the interim.

In Storer Broadcasting Co. V. American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, Cleveland Local, AFL-CIO, 600 F.2d 45 (6th Cir. 1979), the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit recently summarized the law applicable to judicial review of the award of an arbitrator. In Storer, 600 F.2d at 47, the Court stated that

[e]mployees shall lose their entire seniority if:
(a) They voluntarily quit.
(b) They are discharged for cause.
Article 21 provides that
564, 80 S.Ct. 1343, 4 L.Ed.2d 1403 (1960); United Steelworkers of America v. Warrior & Gulf Navigation Co., 363 U.S. 574, 80 S.Ct. 1347, 4 L.Ed.2d 1409 (1960); United Steelworkers of America v. Enterprise Wheel & Car Corp., 363 U.S. 593, 80 S.Ct. 1358, 4 L.Ed.2d 1424 (1960)].... But there are at least two important exceptions to this general rule. First, “the arbitrator is confined to the interpretation and application of the collective bargaining agreement, and although he may construe ambiguous contract language, he is without authority to disregard or modify plain and unambiguous provisions.” Detroit Coil Co. v. Int’l Ass’n of Machinists, 594 F.2d 575, 579 (6th Cir. 1979), citing cases. Thus, the courts are empowered to set aside an award if the arbitrator exceeds these confines. Second, “although a court is precluded from overturning an award for errors in the determination of factual issues, '[nevertheless, if an examination of the record before the arbitrator reveals no support whatever for his determinations, his award must be vacated.’ ” Id. at 590-91, citing NF & M Corp. v. United Steelworkers of America, 524 F.2d 756, 760 (3d Cir. 1975). See also Timken Co. v. Local Union No. 1123 United Steelworkers of America, 482 F.2d 1012, 1014-15 (6th Cir. 1973). (Footnotes omitted.)

In challenging the arbitrator’s award in this case, the Company relies upon both of the exceptions stated above. The Company argues that the arbitrator exceeded his authority by ruling that the Company could not terminate Mrs. Brantley for failure to perform a job in her classification to which the arbitrator had found it was proper to transfer her. The Company also argues that the arbitrator had no authority to order that Mrs. Brantley be placed on layoff and given the rights of a laid off employee under Article 3.3 of the collective bargain[287]*287ing agreement.2 This is so, the Company argues, because this was not a layoff case, as that term is ordinarily used, but rather an employee termination case.

[286]*286[t]here will be no discrimination against any employee because of sex, race, color, religion, creed, nationality, or age up to sixty-five (65) years.

[287]*287In the opinion of the Court, these arguments miss the mark. Article 7.1 of the collective bargaining agreement provides that: “Employees shall be disciplined or discharged only for just cause.” Although the arbitrator did not state that he found that the Company violated this provision, it seems apparent that he did so find.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
504 F. Supp. 284, 1980 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 15230, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/knox-porcelain-corp-v-teamsters-local-union-no-519-tned-1980.