Solo Cup Operating Corp. v. International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Local 528

226 F. Supp. 3d 1374, 2017 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 994, 2017 WL 54776
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. Georgia
DecidedJanuary 4, 2017
DocketCV 115-185
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 226 F. Supp. 3d 1374 (Solo Cup Operating Corp. v. International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Local 528) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. Georgia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Solo Cup Operating Corp. v. International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Local 528, 226 F. Supp. 3d 1374, 2017 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 994, 2017 WL 54776 (S.D. Ga. 2017).

Opinion

[1376]*1376ORDER

HONORABLE J. RANDAL HALL, UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE

“Everyone supposedly loves arbitration. At least until arbitration goes badly.” Saturn Telecomms. Servs., Inc. v. Covad Commc’ns Co., 560 F.Supp.2d 1278, 1279 (S.D. Fla. 2008). In this case, the parties arbitrated whether Plaintiff Solo Cup Operating Corporation (“Solo”) violated the parties’ collective-bargaining agreement. The arbitration went badly for Solo, and it now seeks to modify the arbitrator’s award. Because the arbitrator’s decision represents an arguable interpretation of the parties’ collective-bargaining agreement, the Court will not disturb his award.

I. Factual Background

This matter arises out of Tamela Wells’s employment with Solo, the termination of her employment, and the arbitration that ensued following the end of her employment.

1. The Parties’ Collective-Bargaining Agreement

While employed at Solo, Ms. Wells was a member of a bargaining unit represented by Defendant International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Local 528 (“the Union”). Solo and the Union were parties to a collective-bargaining agreement. Under Article 5 of that agreement, Solo was “vested exclusively with the management of the [1377]*1377business, including, but not limited to, the following rights: ... to change or eliminate existing methods of operations, equipment or facilities,... ” (Doc. 24-3 at 10.) Article 10 of the agreement established procedures for filing and resolving grievances. (Id. at 17.) And, under Article 11, grievances that the parties were unable to resolve amicably would proceed to arbitration. (Id. at 18.) Although arbitration under Article 11 was final and binding on the parties, the arbitrator had “no power to add to, subtract from or modify the terms” of the collective-bargaining agreement. (Id. at 18.) Article 27 of the collective-bargaining agreement specifically prohibited “discrimination by either [Solo] or the Union against any employee because of race, creed, color, age, sex, disability, or national origin, in the administration and application” of the collective-bargaining agreement. (Doc. 24-3 at 37.) The parties agree that, with respect to arbitrating claims for disability discrimination, Article 27 incorporated the Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”). The ADA makes it unlawful to fail to accommodate an otherwise qualified individual with a disability. See 42 U.S.C. § 12112.

2. Ms. Wells’s Employment

Ms. Wells worked for Solo from 1982 until 2014. She began working as a forklift operator in 1990, and she held that position until her employment was terminated in 2014. For the overwhelming majority of her time as a forklift driver, Ms. Wells operated a sit-down forklift. But in 2013, after Dart Container Corporation acquired Solo, Solo transitioned to using stand-up forklifts. Ms. Wells began operating a stand-up forklift in March 2014. Soon thereafter, she began experiencing health issues: she suffered from swollen ankles, back pain, and tingling and numbing in her feet.

Ms. Wells sought medical treatment for these issues. Her chiropractor diagnosed her with a “degenerative arthritic condition.” (Doc. 24-4 at 5.) She eventually visited an orthopedist who recommended that she be permitted to return to using a sit-down forklift. Ms. Wells provided Solo with a written statement from this doctor requesting that she either be allowed to use a sit-down forklift or take a fifteen-minute break for every hour she spent on the stand-up forklift. Solo agreed to accommodate her by allowing her to spend fifteen minutes performing other duties after every hour she spent on the stand-up forklift.

Subsequently, Ms. Wells’s primary-care physician also recommended that she be permitted to return to using a sit-down forklift. Alternatively, he recommended that Ms. Wells be allowed to take a thirty-minute break for every hour she spent on the forklift. Solo denied both requests and instructed Ms. Wells to seek additional options from her doctor. When Ms. Wells reported that no other possible accommodations existed, Solo terminated her employment. In response, the Union filed a formal grievance on Ms. Wells’s behalf, which Solo denied. The parties thus proceeded to arbitration.

3. The Arbitration

The parties jointly selected William A. Dealy Jr. to preside over the arbitration. The parties also stipulated that, aside from the restrictions placed on the arbitrator by the collective-bargaining agreement, “they were not restricting the Arbitrator in any way.” (Id. at 4.) And they agreed that the arbitrator would determine the issues to be decided. See International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers v. Verizon Fl., LLC, 803 F.3d 1241, 1247 (11th Cir. 2015) (“[WJhere—as here—the parties refuse to stipulate to the issues at arbitration, the arbitrator is ‘empowered’ to frame and [1378]*1378decide all the issues in the grievance as he sees them”).

At the arbitration and in its post-hearing briefs, Solo argued that the decision to implement the stand-up forklifts was within its powers under Article 5 of the collective-bargaining agreement, that providing Ms. Wells a sit-down forklift was not a reasonable accommodation under the ADA, and that, even if providing her a sit-down forklift were a reasonable accommodation, it amounted to an undue hardship and posed a direct threat under the ADA. The Union argued, among other things, that allowing Ms. Wells to return to using a sit-down forklift was a reasonable accommodation under the ADA,

After hearing the evidence and reviewing the briefs, the arbitrator determined that he was tasked with deciding:

Did the Company violate provisions of the parties’ collective bargaining agreement and/or any provisions of Federal law when it separated the Grievant, Ms. Tamela R. Wells, from employment on October 10, 2014. If so, what is the remedy?

(Doc. 24-4 at 24.) The arbitrator determined that Solo violated the collective-bargaining agreement (and the ADA) by not providing Ms. Wells with a reasonable accommodation. He awarded Ms. Wells back pay, ordered her reinstated, and ordered Solo to provide her with a sit-down forklift.

II.Procedural Background

Following the arbitrator’s ruling, Solo initiated this action in November 2015 by filing a complaint to vacate or modify the arbitrator’s award. (Doc. 1.) The Union answered and filed a counterclaim seeking to enforce the award. (Doc. 15.) Both parties now move for summary judgment. Solo asks the Court to modify the portion of the award ordering it to provide Ms. Wells with a sit-down forklift. The Union asks the Court to enforce the award in its entirety, to remand the case to the arbitrator to calculate back pay, and to award attorneys’ fees and costs.

III.Summary-Judgment Standard

Summary judgment is appropriate only if “there is no genuine dispute as to any material fact and the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(a). Facts are “material” if they could affect the outcome of the suit under the governing substantive law. Anderson v.

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226 F. Supp. 3d 1374, 2017 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 994, 2017 WL 54776, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/solo-cup-operating-corp-v-international-brotherhood-of-teamsters-local-gasd-2017.