Adams v. Republic Steel Corp., 7 Div. 50

• Court: Supreme Court of Alabama
• Writing for the Court: SIMPSON
• Citation: 49 So.2d 214,254 Ala. 620
• Docket Number: 7 Div. 50
• Decision Date: 19 October 1950
• Parties: ADAMS v. REPUBLIC STEEL CORP.

Page 214

49 So.2d 214 254 Ala. 620 ADAMS
v.
REPUBLIC STEEL CORP. 7 Div. 50. Supreme Court of Alabama. Oct. 19, 1950.
Rehearing Denied Dec. 14, 1950.

[254 Ala. 621]

Page 215

Hawkins & Copeland, of Gadsden, for appellant.

[254 Ala. 622] Benners, Burr, Stokely & McKamy, of Birmingham, and Hood, Inzer, Martin & Suttle, of Gadsden, for appellee.

SIMPSON, Justice.

Suit by appellant on the common count for work and labor done from December 25, 1943, to April 1, 1947. From an adverse ruling on the pleadings, the plaintiff took a nonsuit and has appealed.

The real question is whether or not the plaintiff is entitled to retroactive pay as a former employee of defendant corporation, as fixed by the contract executed April 29, 1947, between plaintiff's bargaining agent, United Steel Workers of America (CIO), and defendant.

The facts decisive of the question were developed by the defendant's special pleas and the plaintiff's demurrer and replications to these pleas. It will not be necessary to deal separately with the several assignments of error or the various pleadings, since the only question is whether, from these developed facts, the allegations show plaintiff, as a former employee of defendant, to be entitled to retroactive pay or whether he was barred of recovery by reason of not having filed any claim with the defendant within the 120-day period prescribed by § 2, Article 7 of the aforesaid contract of April 29, 1947, which provided:[254 Ala. 623] 'Section 2--Employees Eligible. The foregoing lump sum payments shall be made to employees who are on the plant payroll on the date the plant standard hourly wage rates are officially established, and to former employees who are not on the plant payroll on the date the plant standard hourly wage rates are officially established provided such former employees file individually signed requests therefor in writing with the Company within 120 days after the date on which the standard hourly wage rates are officially established.' (Emphasis supplied.)

We will first state the facts as disclosed by the pleadings and the respective contentions of the parties.

The plaintiff's work, as a production and maintenance employee of the defendant corporation, for which claim is made was

Page 216

during portions of the year 1943-1944. But continuously from 1942 until the filing of this suit and thereafter, the United Steel Workers of America, a labor union, was the certified (by the National Labor Relations Board under federal law) representative of all the employees of defendant as their exclusive bargaining representative to bargain with the defendant with reference to their wages, hours, rates of pay and working conditions; during all this time these matters were agreed upon and established from time to time by written contracts between the said union and the defendant, and the plaintiff had been paid in accordance with these contracts for all work and labor done and had duly acknowledged receipt therefor. In 1942 a contest arose, among other matters, as to whether certain jobs were subject to reclassification under a uniform standard to abolish certain alleged wage rate inequities and to effect a more stabilized rate structure. The corporation and the union, as the bargaining agent of the employees, set up a joint commission to study the question, to work out the details and make recommendations accordingly. Many grievances, including the claimed intra-plant wage rate inequities, and the necessity for reducing job classifications, were submitted by the union to this commission. Later the National War Labor Board entertained jurisdiction to solve the grievances and the Board entered a directive specifying certain 'guideposts to facilitate collective bargaining directed to the solution' of this longstanding problem. The directive further stipulated that any agreement reached between the company and union should be transmitted to the commission for its approval before becoming effective. The defendant and the union, after many conferences and much negotiation over this long period, did on April 29, 1947, enter into the written agreement aforesaid, which, among other things, reclassified various jobs and abolished certain wage rate inequities, and this agreement was approved by the United States Department of Labor Steel Commission. This agreement was made effective as to the parties here by a complete bargaining contract dated April 30, 1947, executed between the defendant and the union, approving the April 29, 1947, agreement. The effect of these two agreements was to establish a higher rate of pay for the job in which the plaintiff had been classified and, had he, as a former employee, filed his claim within the 120-day period prescribed by said (above quoted) § 2, Article 7 of the contract of April 29, 1947, he would have been, under that contract, entitled to a certain amount of retroactive pay for the 1943-1944 period claimed.

The appellee corporation, as indicated by its several special pleas, rests its defense on the theory that the contract is the basis of the plaintiff's claim and suit and that plaintiff, being subject to all the terms and conditions thereof, is barred of recovery for noncompliance with said § 2 with reference to 'former employees.'

The answer of plaintiff in refutation of this contention is that he does not sue on the contract, that his right to sue is on an implied contract arising as follows: On December 25, 1943, the union contract with defendant expired and the union threatened to strike to achieve certain objectives, including reclassification of jobs, adjustment of rates of pay, etc., but there then being a national...