Opinion · Supreme Court of the United States
Union Pacific Railroad v. Price
3 L. Ed. 2d 1460
- Type
- Opinion
- Court
- Supreme Court of the United States
- Jurisdiction
- Federal
- Date
- 1959-06-29
- Topic
- general
finding awards of the National Railway Adjustment Board reviewable for a violation of due process | In enacting the RLA, Congress intended to bar an “employee’s subsequent resort to the common-law remedy after an adverse determination of his grievance by the Adjustment Board.” | discharged employee may not litigate validity of discharge in common-law action after failing to sustain his grievance before the Board | party cannot relitigate issue in subsequent lawsuit after litigated on merits before NRAB | explaining the origins of the RLA’s grievance and arbitration mandate | “the plain language of [45 U.S.C. § 153 First (m) ], on its face, imports that Congress intended that the Board’s disposition of a grievance should preclude a subsequent court action by a losing party”
Citator
- Cited by
- 76 opinions
delivered the opinion of the Court.
This is a diversity common-law action brought by the respondent, a former employee of petitioner railroad, in the United States District Court for the District of Nevada to recover damages from the railroad for allegedly wrongfully discharging him in violation of the collective bargaining agreement between it and the Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen. The validity of the discharge was previously challenged upon the same grounds before the National Railroad Adjustment Board, First Division, in a proceeding brought by the Brotherhood on respondent’s behalf under § 3 First (i) of the Railway Labor Act,1 seeking the respondent’s reinstatement with back pay. The Board rendered an award in favor of the petitioner. The question for decision here is whether the respondent may pursue a common-law remedy for damages for his allegedly wrongful dismissal after having chosen to pursue' the statutory remedy which resulted in a determination by the National Adjustment Board that his dismissal was justified.
The respondent was employed, by petitioner as a swing brakeman (an extra brakeman who is not a regularly assigned member of a train crew) and was a member of
On July 12, 1949, the respondent was called to “deadhead” on Train No. .37 from Las Vegas, Nevada, to Nipton, California, at which point he was to detrain and await assignment to another train traveling to Las Vegas. Train No. 37 arrived at Nipton at 10:30 p. m., and the train dispatcher assigned respondent to train No. X 1622E> which was due to arrive at Nipton around 4 a. m., en route to Las Vegas. The respondent complained that there were no facilities available in- Nipton for eating or sleeping and told the dispatcher he would go back to Las Vegas and return after getting something to eat. The. dispatcher refused to release him and orderéd him to wait the arrival of train X 1622E. The respondent disobeyed this instruction and deadheaded back to Las Vegas on a train which left Nipton at 11:10 p.m.
The railroad suspended the respondent on the morning of July 13. On July 16 he received a notice to appear at 10 a. m. on July 17 before an Assistant Superintendent of the railroad for an investigation. At the respondent’s request the investigation was postponed to the morning of July 18, at which time the respondent requested a further postponement until his representative, the Brotherhood’s Local Chairman, could be present. A postponement was again granted, until 2:30 p. m. of the 18th, but
The Brotherhood processed respondent’s grievance through the required management levels, and when settlement could not be reached, nor agreement arrived at for a joint submission to the National Railroad Adjustment Board, the Brotherhood, in January 1951, filed an ex parte submission with the Board’s First Division.2 Hearing was waived by the parties and the submission was considered on the papers filed by them.’ The Adjustment Board; on June 25, 1952, rendered its award “Claim denied,” with supporting findings.3
We do not agree with the Court, of Appbals’ holding that the Board’s award was based solely on its decision that Article 33 (á) was. not violated by. the railroad because respondent’s dismissal followed a “thorough investigation.” Rather we think the award also reflects the Board’s determination that respondent was discharged for good cause. Thus we agree with Judge Healy, dissenting in the Court of Appeals, that on the face of the customárily brief findings of the Board4 it appears “plain that
The purpose of the Railway Labor Act was to provide a framework for peaceful settlement of labor disputes between carriers and their employees to “insure to the public continuity and efficiency of interstate transportation service, and to protect the public from the injuries and losses consequent upon any impairment or interruption of interstate commerce through failures of managers and employees to settle peaceably their controversies.” H. R. Rep. No. 328, 69th Cong., 1st Sess., p. 1. Congress did not, however, in the original 1926 Act, create the National Railroad Adjustment Board or make the use of such an agency compulsory upon the parties; rather the Act contemplated that settlement of disputes would be achieved through “machinery for amicable adjustment of labor disputes agreed upon by the parties . . . .” S. Rep. No. 606, 69th Cong., 1st Sess., p. 4. Congress, therefore, provided that adjustment boards should be “created by agreement between any carrier or group of carriers, or the carriers as a whole, or its or their employees.” § 3 First of the Railway Labor Act of 1926, 44 Stat. 678. These adjustment boards, intended for use in settling what are termed minor disputes in the railroad industry, primarily grievances arising from the application of collective bargaining agreements to particular situations, see Railroad
But the 1926 Act provided no sanctions to force the carriers and their employees to make agreements establishing adjustment boards and many railroads refused to participate on such boards or so limited their participation that the boards were ineffectual.9 Moreover, the boards which were created were composed of equal numbers of management and labor representatives and. deadlocks over particular cases became commonplace. Since no procedure for breaking such deadlocks was provided, many disputes remained unsettléd. As reported to Congress in 1934 by Mr. Eastman, Federal Coordinator of Transportation: “Another difficulty with the present law [the 1926 Act], even where an adjustment board has been established, is that, although its decisions are final and binding upon both parties, there can be no certainty that there will be a decision.” Hearings before Senate Com
The railroad labor organizations were particularly dissatisfied. They urged that effective adjustment of grievances could be attained only by amendments to the 1926 Act that would' establish a National Adjustment Board in which both carriers and employees would be required to participate, that would permit an employee to compel a carrier to submit a grievance to the Board, that would provide for a neutral person to break deadlocks occurring when the labor and management representatives divided equally, and, finally, that would make awards binding on the parties and enforceable in the courts, when favorable to the employees.10 These views prevailed in the Con
The labor spokesman for the proposal made it crystal clear that an essential feature of the proposal was that Board awards on grievances submitted by or on behalf of employees were to be final and binding upon the affected employees. The employees were willing to give up their remedies outside of the statute provided that a workable and binding statutory scheme was established to settle grievances. Mr. George Harrison, President of the Brotherhood of Railroad Clerks, stated: “Grievances come about because the men file them themselves. Railroads don’t institute grievances. Grievances are instituted against railroad officers’ actions, and we are willing to take our chances with this national-board because we believe, out of our experience, that the national board is the best and most efficient method of getting a determination of these many controversies . . . .” Hearings before the Senate Committee on Interstate Commerce on S. 3266, 73d Cong., 2d Sess., p. 33. “[W]e are now ready to concede' that we can risk having our grievances-go to a board and ge.t them determined . . . [but] if we are going to get a hodgepodge arrangement by law, rather than what is suggested by this bill,.then we don’t want to give up that right, because we only- give up the right because we feel that we will get a measure of justice by this machinery that we'suggest here.” Id., at 35; Mr. Eastman echoed this thought : “decisions of the adjustment board . . . are made final and binding by the terms of this act, and as I understand it, the labor organizations, none of them, are objecting to that provision. They have their day in court and they have their members on the adjustment board, and if an agreement cannot be reached between the parties
Thus the employees considered that their interests would be best served by a workable statutory scheme providing for the final-settlement of grievances by a tribunal composed of people experienced in the railroad industry. The employees’.representatives made it clear that, if such a statutory scheme were provided, the employees would accept the awards as to disputes processed through the schemé as final settlements of. those disputes which were not to be raised again.
Despite the conclusion compelled by the over-all scheme of the Railway Labor Act and its legislative history, it is suggested that because an enforcement proceeding against a noncomplying carrier under § 3 First (p) affords the defeated carrier some opportunity to relitigate the issues decided by the Adjustment Board,12 unfairness results if
Plainly the statutory scheme as revised by the 1934 amendments was designed for effective and final decision of grievances which arise daily, principally as matters of the administration and application of the provisions of collective bargaining agreements. This grist of labor relations is such that the statutory scheme cannot realistically- be squared with the contention that Congress did not purpose to foreclose litigation in the courts over grievances submitted to and disposed of by the Board, past the action under § 3 First (p) authorized against the noncomplying carrier, see Washington Terminal Co. v. Boswell, 75 U. S. App; D. C. 1, 124 F. 2d 235, aff’d by an equally divided Court, 319 U. S. 732, or the review sought of an award claimed to result from a denial of due process of law, see Ellerd v. Southern Pacific R. Co., 241 F. 2d 541; Barnett v. Pennsylvania-Reading Seashore Lines, 245 F. 2d 579, 582. So far as appears, all of the Courts of Appeals 13 and District Courts14 which have
We therefore hold that the respondent’s submission to the Board of his grievances as to the validity of his discharge precludes him from seeking damages in the instant common-law action.
The judgment of the Court, of Appeals is reversed and the case is remanded with direction to affirm the judgment of the District Court.
It is-so ordered.
Section 3 First (i) of the Railway Labor- Act, 48 St at. 1191, 45 U. S. C. § 153 First (i), provides:
“The disputes between an employee or group of employees and a carrier or carriers growing out of grievances or out of the inter-, pretation or application of agreements concerning rates of pay, rules, or working conditions, including cases pending and unadjusted on June 21, 1934, shall be handled in. the usual manner up to and including the chief operating officer of the carrier designated to handle such disputes; but, failing to reach an ádjustméiít in this manner, the disputes may be referred by petition of the parties or by either party to the appropriate division of the Adjustment Board with a full statement of the facts and all supporting data bearing upon the disputes.”
It is conceded that respondent authorized the Brotherhood to bring his claim before the Adjustment Board. Compare Elgin, J. & E. R. Co. v. Burley, 325 U. S. 711, aff’d on rehearing, 327 U. S. 661.
The pertinent excerpts from the findings are the following:
“If the carrier is to have efficient operations on its railroad, employees must be relied on to obey operating instructions and orders. Claimant was found to have wilfully disobeyed his orders. This was insubordination and merited discipline.
“The employee . . . seeks complete vindication on the grounds that he was denied the investigation-provided by the rules of agreement. Thus, the only question for review is whether there was substantial •compliance with the investigation rule.
“Basically, the complaint is that the hearing was held when the claimant was not present.
“. . . The right of the employee to be heard before being disciplined is a personal right which he can waive by action, inaction, or failure to act in good faith. . . .
"... his position here would have been strengthened had he personally appeared at all stages of the proceeding to labor as best*605 he could to preserve his record and to get his story to us first hand. All that the transcript reflects does claimant no credit, but leaves us with the feeling that the things of which he now complains Were planned by him that way.”
Garrison, The National Railroad Adjustment Board: A Unique Administrative Agency, 46 Yale L. J. 567, 584, describes the awards of the' First Division of the National Adjustment'.Board as follows:
“It will be noted that, except for the purely jurisdictional recitals, the findings consist of a single sentence (‘The evidence indicates that the movements made did not constitute switching under Article I-R’) which constitutes the nub of the whole decision. Rarely does this central finding consist of more than a sentence or two. To a lay reader the sentence quoted above is meaningless. In order that it may be more intelligible the findings in their printed form are preceded by the employees’ statement of facts taken from their submission, and a statement of their position (likewise extracted from the submission), followed by the management’s statement of facts*607 and a statement of its position derived similarly from its submission. From these rival statements it is easy to determine what' the controversy is about, but it is not easy to determine from the laconic findings'the real basis upon which the decision was reached.”
In an interpretation announced on November 26, 1958, sought by the railroad under § 3 First (m) of the Railway Labor Act, the Board declared that its award reflected its conclusion that the railroad was justified in discharging respondent. This interpretation was not before the Court of Appeals in this case, and we refer to it only as further substantiation of our conclusion based on the iecord in the case.
Since respondent, instead of bringing his claim in court as was his right under Moore v. Illinois Central R. Co., 312 U. S. 630, chose to pursue that claim before the Adjustment Board, he does not even argue that a holding that the Railway Labor Act precludes a relitigation of that claim in the courts would deprive him of any constitutional right to a jury trial.
48 Stat. 1191-1192, 45 U..S. C. § 153 First (m). That section provides:
“The awards of the several divisions of the Adjustment Board shall be stated in writing. A copy of the awards shall be furnished to the respective parties to the controversy, and the awards shall be final and binding upon both parties to the dispute, except insofar as they shall contain a money award. In case a dispute arises involving an interpretation of the award the division of the Board upon request of either party shall interpret the award in the light of the dispute."
Despite the clear import of the statutory language and the legislative history the respondent argues that this Court’s holding in Moore v. Illinois R. Co., 312 U. S. 630, requires us to hold that the instant suit is not precluded. However, the holding in Moore was simply that a common-law remedy for damages might be pursued by a discharged employee who did not resort to. the statutory remedy before the Board to challenge the validity of his dismissal. A different question arises here where the employee obtained a determination from the Board, and, having lost, is seeking to relitigate in the courts the same issue as to the validity of his discharge.
See Hearings' before the Senate Committee on Interstate Commerce on S. 3266, 73d Cong., 2d Sess., p. 15. The Chairman of the United States Board of Mediation described § 3 First of the 1926 Act as follows: “The provision in the present [1926] act for adjustment boards is in practice about as near a fool provision as anything could possibly be. I mean this — that on the face of it they shall, by. agreement, do so and so. Well,-you can do pretty nearly anything by agreement, but how can you get them to agree ?” Hearings before the Senate Committee on Interstate. Commerce on S. 3266; 73d Cong., 2d Sess., p. 137.
Provision for judicial enforcement of awards against employees was thought to be unnecessary since grievances are usually asserted by employees challenging some action by the carrier, and if the grievance is not sustained by the Board, the award simply denies the claim and requires no affirmative action by the employee. If an
For discussion of the statutory scheme enacted in the Railway Labor Act and the 1934 amendments thereto, see Elgin, J. & E. R. Co. v. Burley, 325 U. S. 711; Railroad Trainmen v. Chicago River & I. R. Co., 353 U. S. 30; Washington Terminal Co. w. Boswell, 75 U. S. App. D. C. 1, 124 F. 2d 235, aff’d by an equally divided Court, 319 U. S. 732.
Section 3 First (p) of the Railway Labpr Act, 48 Stat. 1192, '45 U. S. C. § 153 First (p), provides:
“If a carrier does not comply with an order of a division of the Adjustment Board within the .time limit in such order, the petitioner . . . may file in the District Court of the United States . . . a petition setting forth briefly the causes for which he claims relief, and the order of the division of the Adjustment Board in the premises. Such suit in the District Court of the United States shall proceed in all respects as other civil suits, except that on the trial of such suit the findings and order of the division of the Adjustment'Board shall be prima facie evidence of the facts therein stated, and except that the petitioner shall not be liable ~for costs in the district court nor for costs at any subsequent stage of the proceedings, unless they accrue upon his appeal, and such costs shall be paid out of the appropriation for the expenses of the courts of the United' States.. If the petitioner shall finally prevail he shall be allowed a reasonable attor*615 ney’s fee, to be taxed arid collected as a part of the costs of the suit. The district courts are empowered, under the rules of the court governing actions at law, to make such order and enter such judgment, by writ of mandamus or otherwise, as may be appropriate to enforce or set aside the order of the division of the Adjustment Board.”
Barnett v. Pennsylvania-Reading Seashore Lines, 245 F. 2d 579 (C. A. 3d Cir.); Bower v. Eastern Airlines, Inc., 214 F. 2d 623 (C. A. 3d Cir.); Michel v. Louisville & N. R. Co., 188 F. 2d 224 (C. A. 5th Cir.); Reynolds v. Denver & R. G. W. R. Co., 174 F. 2d 673 (C. A. 10th Cir.); Washington Terminal Co. v. Boswell, 75 U. S. App. D. C. 1, 10, 124 F. 2d 235, 244 (C. A. D. C. Cir.), aff’d by an equally divided Court, 319 U. S. 732.
Weaver v. Pennsylvania R. Co., 141 F. Supp. 214 (D. C. S. D. N. Y.), aff’d per curiam, 240 F. 2d 350 (C. A. 2d Cir.); Byers v. Atchison, T. & S. F. R. Co., 129 F. Supp. 109 (D. C. S. D. Cal.); Greenwood v. Atchison, T. & S. F. R. Co., 129 F. Supp. 105 (D. C. S. D. Cal.); Farris v. Alaska Airlines, Inc., 113 F. Supp. 907 (D. C. W. D. Wash.); Parker v. Illinois Central R. Co., 108 F. Supp. 186 (D. C. N. D. Ill.); Futhey v. Atchison, T. & S. F. R. Co., 96 F. Supp. 864 (D. C. N. D. Ill.); Kelly v. Nashville, C. & St. L. R. Co., 75 F. Supp. 737 (D. C. E. D. Tenn.); Ramsey v. Chesapeake & O. R. Co., 75 Supp. 740 (D. C. N. D. Ohio); Berryman v. Pullman Co., 48 F. Supp. 542 (D. C. W. D. Mo.).