Laurel Racing Ass'n Ltd. Partnership v. Babendreier

806 A.2d 357, 146 Md. App. 1, 2002 Md. App. LEXIS 137
CourtCourt of Special Appeals of Maryland
DecidedSeptember 3, 2002
DocketNo. 0933
StatusPublished

This text of 806 A.2d 357 (Laurel Racing Ass'n Ltd. Partnership v. Babendreier) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Special Appeals of Maryland primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Laurel Racing Ass'n Ltd. Partnership v. Babendreier, 806 A.2d 357, 146 Md. App. 1, 2002 Md. App. LEXIS 137 (Md. Ct. App. 2002).

Opinion

KENNEY, Judge.

Appellants, the Laurel Racing Association Limited Partnership (“Laurel Racing”), the Maryland Jockey Club of Baltimore City, Inc. (“MJC”), and Race Track Payroll Account, Inc. (“RTPA”),1 appeal the decision of the Circuit Court for Anne Arundel County in favor of appellees, Josepha Baben-dreier, the Board of Appeals (the “Board”), and the Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation (“DLLR”).2 The Board had affirmed its hearing examiner’s ruling that Baben-dreier was eligible for unemployment benefits. We have consolidated and reworded appellant’s questions for review as follows:3

[4]*4Did the Board err in concluding that Babendreier was “available” for work pursuant to the Labor & Employment Article, § 8-903(a)(l)(ii) of the Maryland Annotated Code?

Finding no error, we affirm.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

Appellants own and operate Laurel Park and Pimlico Race Course (“Pimlico”), in addition to Rosecroft Raceway, a live racing and simulcast venue for live races held at other tracks. Babendreier was employed as a Mutuel Department teller by RTPA, which provides employee and payroll services at the race tracks.4

For many years, Laurel Park and Pimlico employees have been represented by United Food and Commercial Worker’s Union, Local 27 (the “Union” or “UFCW 27”), of which Babendreier was a member. Their employment relationship is governed by the collective bargaining agreement (the “Agreement” or “Separate Agreements”), effective July 1, 1996, through June 10, 1998, by and between Laurel Park and Pimlico, collectively referred to therein as “Mile Tracks,” and the Union. On or about May 31, 1998, a “Memorandum Agreement” was executed, which included RTPA as an “Employer under the Separate Agreements,” in addition to Laurel Park and Pimlico.5 The Agreement reads, in pertinent part:

[5]*5AGREEMENT

These separate Agreements are made and entered into by LAUREL RACING ASSOC., INC., generally known as LAUREL PARK, and THE MARYLAND JOCKEY CLUB OF BALTIMORE CITY, Inc., generally known as a PIM-LICO RACE COURSE (each being referred to as the “Employer” and the two Employers together constituting the Maryland Mile Thoroughbred Race Tracks licensed by the Maryland Racing Commission and being sometimes hereinafter collectively referred to as the “Mile Tracks,”) and UNITED POOD AND COMMERCIAL WORKERS UNION, LOCAL 27 (herein referred to as the “Union”), as of the 1st day of July, 1996.

WITNESSETH

In consideration of the mutual promises contained in this Agreement, and for other good and valuable consideration, each Employer agrees with the Union as follows:

ARTICLE 4
Seniority
Section 1.
a. The purpose of seniority is to provide a right of preference in employment measured by length of continuous service with the Employer, including service prior to the effective date of this Agreement. Except as set forth in Section 1(c) of this Article, an employee shall have no preference for work assignment until he has obtained seniority standing as a Regular, Extra or Saturday/Holiday Employee in accordance with Section 2 of this Article.
b. All employees shall be considered Probationary Employees at an Employer’s track until they have completed 30 days of work from the date they first began to work at such track. A Probationary Employee shall have no rights to any work assignment and the decision [6]*6of the Employer in its sole discretion whether or not to give such Probationary Employee any work assignment shall be final.
c. All employees who have completed the 30 days probationary work period but have no Regular, Extra or Saturday/Holiday seniority standing shall be placed on a “Days Worked Seniority List” in the order of total days worked for the Employer. The employee with the most days worked shall be selected first for purposes of work assignment. Each department at each Employer’s track shall maintain its own work list and the Mutuel Department at each Employer’s track shall post such list on a weekly basis on its main bulletin board. Any employee who disputes his order of placement on the Days Worked Seniority List must bring such dispute to the attention of his Department Head on the day the list is posted. Failure by the employee to do so is at the employee’s own risk and the Employer shall have no liability for not having given such employee a work assignment on that or any previous day.
e. The most senior employee within a department shall have the right to work on any given day in the department in which he has seniority. (For example, if there are 20 positions in the Parking Department, then the 20 employees with the most Parking Department seniority will be assigned those 20 positions. The 21st employee according to seniority will not have the right to work before any of the first 20 senior employees.)
Thus, on a normal racing day -with the exception of Saturdays and Holidays, job assignments shall be filled as follows:
First: by Regular employees.
Second: by Extra employees.
Third: by Saturday and Holiday employees.
Fourth: by employees on the Days Worked Seniority List at the running track.
[7]*7Fifth: by any other employees at the sole discretion of the Employer.

ARTICLE 5

Layoffs

Section 1.

The determination of whether there shall be a layoff is the prerogative of the Employer. If employees in any classification in Schedule A6 are to be laid off, the Employer shall lay off employees in such classifications in accordance with their departmental seniority; that is, commencing with the employee having the least departmental seniority in the affected classification. Extra Employees shall be laid off before Regular Employees; and, in the case of Saturday/Holiday jobs only, Saturday/Holiday Employees shall be laid off before Extra Employees on regular workdays (i.e., days other than Saturday and Holidays). However, layoffs out of the Mutuel Department Money Room shall be by sub-departmental seniority, unless this results in the employee not working; then Money Room layoffs shall be by departmental seniority.

Section 6.

Any Regular Employee who is laid off under this Article shall remain a Regular Employee for the duration of the calendar year in which he is laid off. If he does not work enough days to maintain his Regular seniority, he shall be placed at the top of the Extra list in the following year, and shall then be slotted for the third year onto a seniority list according to the days worked in the previous year. However, if he is restored to the Regular seniority list within three (B) years after the date of his layoff, his [8]*8seniority as a Regular shall include the seniority he had accrued prior to the date of his layoff, unless he has lost his seniority pursuant to any of reasons 1 through 4 of Section 6 of Article 4.

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Bluebook (online)
806 A.2d 357, 146 Md. App. 1, 2002 Md. App. LEXIS 137, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/laurel-racing-assn-ltd-partnership-v-babendreier-mdctspecapp-2002.