Sullivan v. Ball

710 F. Supp. 778, 1989 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 3641, 1989 WL 34608
CourtDistrict Court, M.D. Florida
DecidedJanuary 12, 1989
DocketNo. 88-197-Civ-J-12
StatusPublished

This text of 710 F. Supp. 778 (Sullivan v. Ball) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, M.D. Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Sullivan v. Ball, 710 F. Supp. 778, 1989 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 3641, 1989 WL 34608 (M.D. Fla. 1989).

Opinion

ORDER OF DISMISSAL

MELTON, District Judge.

This cause is before the Court on defendant’s Motion to Dismiss Plaintiffs’ Amended Complaint — Class Action, filed herein on August 30, 1988. Plaintiffs responded with a memorandum in opposition to the motion, filed herein on September 22, 1988. Defendant argues that this Court lacks subject matter jurisdiction to hear this case. For the reasons stated herein, the Court will grant the motion and dismiss this case with prejudice.

A brief description of the nature of the underlying controversy facilitates an understanding of the issue of jurisdiction.1 Plaintiffs were and are civilian employees — Aircraft Mechanics, Aircraft Metal-smiths, and Aircraft Electricians — permanently assigned to the Naval Aviation Depot (formerly the Naval Air Rework Facility), Naval Air Station Jacksonville (“NAS Jacksonville”). As a regular part of their duties, plaintiffs travel to various other Naval Stations throughout the world, including Naval Air Station Cecil Field (“NAS Cecil Field”), which is located approximately seventeen miles from NAS Jacksonville. Both worksites are within the commuting area for the consolidated city of Jacksonville, which has the largest geographical area of any city in the nation.

[779]*779Prior to January 1987 plaintiffs were paid mileage and travel allowance when they were on official business and on temporary assignment away from their permanent duty station, including assignment to NAS Cecil Field. This payment was made for the excess distance traveled relative to the distance otherwise traveled between a plaintiff’s home and permanent duty station. Plaintiffs submit that they gave substantial consideration to the ease and accessibility of the situs of their permanent duty station in selecting their permanent residence.

In January 1987, the union representing plaintiffs, International Brotherhood of Teamsters Local 512 (“Local 512”), agreed with defendant’s agent, the management at NAS Jacksonville, to a Memorandum of Understanding changing the payment policy concerning travel to NAS Cecil Field. Under the January 1987 policy, assignment to NAS Cecil Field for six weeks or longer results in a change of the permanent duty station of an employee from NAS Jacksonville to NAS Cecil Field. This change of permanent duty station renders an employee ineligible for temporary duty payments such as mileage. Defendant, however, does not pay any relocation allowance authorized by statute or regulation. Plaintiffs registered complaints with defendant’s agent over the January 1987 policy.

Defendant sought a legal opinion from the Deputy Counsel for the Comptroller of the Navy (“Deputy Counsel”) on the propriety of the January 1987 policy. This opinion request was prompted by several grievances filed by Local 512 challenging the policy. In a document dated November 19, 1987, the Deputy Counsel approved the practice of designating multiple posts of duty within the Jacksonville corporate limits and curtailing mileage payments accordingly.

Although the January 1987 policy began as a six month long experiment, defendant has continued the policy to present. Plaintiffs filed their action in March 1988. Plaintiffs seek certification of the action as a class action suit. In response to the first motion to dismiss filed by defendant, plaintiffs sought and obtained leave to file an amended complaint. Jurisdiction under the three counts of the Amended Complaint is asserted on essentially two grounds. Count I seeks a declaratory judgment on the meaning of the statute governing travel pay, 5 U.S.C. § 5704. Counts II and III rely on the so-called Little Tucker Act, 28 U.S.C. § 1346(a)(2). Count II asserts a theory of damages from the refusal to pay travel allowance to plaintiffs. Count III asserts a theory based in an employer’s liability for its role in a breach of the duty of fair representation by a union, a doctrine established by Vaca v. Sipes, 386 U.S. 171, 87 S.Ct. 903, 17 L.Ed.2d 842 (1967), for employers in the private sector covered by the National Labor Relations Act. The Court is of the opinion that none of the jurisdictional bases asserted by plaintiffs form a basis for continuation of this suit in this forum.

Because the Declaratory Judgment Act does not confer jurisdiction, Scales v. Memorial Medical Center, 690 F.Supp. 1002, 1003 (M.D.Fla.1988), Count I, an action for declaratory judgment on the meaning of § 5704, must rely on the statute to be interpreted for its jurisdictional basis. However, judicial construction of § 5704 in the present context is preempted by the Civil Service Reform Act of 1978 (“CSRA”), 5 U.S.C. § 7101 et seq. As a consequence, the Court lacks jurisdiction to entertain the merits of the claim.

The parties agree that CSRA covers plaintiffs and that plaintiffs are covered by a collective bargaining agreement between Local 512 and the Naval Air Rework Facility (“Local 512 Agreement”). Defendant urges that the subject matter of Count I is committed to the grievance and arbitration procedure of the Local 512 Agreement and therefore not susceptible to resolution other than by CSRA procedures. Plaintiffs argue that a declaration as to the meaning of the statute is unrelated to the collective bargaining agreement.

CSRA permits inclusion within the definition of a grievance “any complaint ... concerning ... any claimed violation, misinterpretation, or misapplication of any law, [780]*780rule, or regulation affecting conditions of employment.” 5 U.S.C. § 7103(a)(9)(C)(ii). A grievance is defined using these precise terms in article 42, section 2(c)(2) of the Local 512 Agreement. Neither travel pay nor any closely analogous right is included in the exceptions list of article 42, section 2(d). CSRA permits the exclusion of a subject from grievance procedure if the parties agree to that subject’s exclusion. 5 U.S.C. § 7121(a)(2). The Local 512 Agreement, in fact, expressly reiterates the inclusion of grievances “where the grievant alleges Federal law or procedure was violated.”

Insofar as the underlying dispute which forms the basis for Count I falls within the meaning of a grievance under the Local 512 Agreement, CSRA makes the grievance procedure exclusive for resolving the dispute. 5 U.S.C. § 7121(a)(1). Plaintiffs seek to avoid this result by framing the issue as one of statutory interpretation rather than collective bargaining. This argument is unavailing.

First, it bears note that the purpose of CSRA sets to rest any attempt to neatly segregate statutory issues and collective bargaining issues.

A leading purpose of the CSRA was to replace the haphazard arrangements for administrative and judicial review of personnel action, part of the “outdated patchwork of statutes and rules built up over almost a century” that was the civil service system....

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Bluebook (online)
710 F. Supp. 778, 1989 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 3641, 1989 WL 34608, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/sullivan-v-ball-flmd-1989.