Antol v. Esposto
| Decision Date | 20 November 1996 |
| Docket Number | No. 95-3714,95-3714 |
| Citation | 100 F.3d 1111 |
| Parties | GARY L. ANTOL; WAYNE S. BAIR; HUBERT BAKER; TERRY BARZANTI; GREGORY F. BETCHY; HARRY P. CASTEEL; JOHN A. CETTIN; ARTHUR J. COLLAND; TEDDY W. CREE; DENNIS J. CUMPSTON; SCOTT E. CUNNINGHAM; CLYDE J. DAVIS; JOHN DEFRANCESCO; RONALD L. DENNIS; LOUIS A. DZARA; PAUL S. FARRIER; MARIO FRANCHI; WILLIAM L. GALLENTINE; ANDREW GARNEK, JR.; BERNARD J. GARNEK; MARVIN H. GARRISON, JR.; LEONARD GAYDOS, JR.; ABRAHAM M. GEORGE; THOMAS A. GEORGETTI; ROBERT M. GULLEY; FRED L. GUMP; ED GUTHRIE; SMAUEL E. HALL, JR.; STEVE HANCHECK; JOHN NELSON HANNA, JR.; DONALD G. HENDERSON; COLUMBUS J. HENRY; RICK HLATKY; JOHN HOAK; WILLIAM J. HOAK; WILLIAM J. HOAK; DAVID F. HOLLIS; ANDREW P. HORNICK; FLOYD THOMAS HORNICK; ROBERT F. HUTCHINSON; WALLY W. JACKSON; EARL C. KETTERING; WALTER E. KING; JOHN G. KOAST; THOMAS J. KOSS; MACK A. KOVELL; JOHN J. LESHKO, JR.; RANDY J. LINDICH; RUSSELL K. LOWE; JOSEPH F. LUCAS; FLOYD MACHESKA; GEROGE J. MARIETTA, SR.; JOHN C. MATTEY, JR.; LESTER N. MCCUNE; EDWARD D. MACMASTER; CARL JOSEPH METZ; RONADL T. MILLER; JOE R. MONICA; DONALD P. MOSER; ROBERT W. MYDEN; WILLIAM W. NIMPFER; JEROME A. NOVAK; LEONARD S. NOVAK; MICHAEL P. OPALENIK; MARK PHELHAC; PAUL PERUZZI; WAYNE J. PETERSON; JOHN PLISHKA; RICKIE POLKE; ANDREW G. POPERNACK, JR.; ALBERT J. POPIELARCHECK; JOHN R. POPILARCHECK; WILFRED P. POPP; PAUL J. REBAR; DUANE RECKARD; WAYNE RICHARD; GARY A. ROBINSON; GARY E. SABO; JOHN SEVER, IV; JOSEPH R. SHIMKO; MICHAEL SHIMKO; EDWARD ALLEN SHIPLEY; TIMOTHY R. SLEASMAN; JIMMY D. SMITH; SAMUEL A. SMITHLEY; WILLIAM J. STAJNRAJH; THOMAS R. STASZEL; ROBERT H. STEADMAN; JOHN P. STEPP; LARRY D. STEVENSON; RONALD B. STULL, SR.; GARY S. SWAROW; ALBERT C. TENCER; ROBERT L. THOMAS; BERNARD F. TOGGER; ROBET L. VANCE; GERGE W. VARGO; DONALD W. WALKO; DALE R. WYLES; STEPHEN YANTKOK, JR.; RICHARD ZELINA v. DOMINIC ESPOSTO; JOSEPH ESPOSTO; ORPHIA ESPOSTO; RICHARD ESPOSTO; M.W. REED; R.W. REED; R.W. REED, JR.; GARNET CORP.; BON DE, INC. OF SLOVAN; ATLAS FABCO, INC. Gary L. Antol, Wayne S |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Third Circuit |
Appeal from the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania, (D. C. No. 95-cv-00951) Claudia Davidson, (argued) Healey Davidson & Hornack, P.C., Pittsburgh, PA, for Appellants.
Joseph Mack, III (argued), Kurt A. Miller, Thorp, Reed & Armstrong, Pittsburgh, PA, John P. Lacher, Robert O. Lampl & Associates, Pittsburgh, PA, Rene D. Quinlan, Plowman, Spiegel & Lewis, Pittsburgh, PA, Stanley E. Levine, Ronald B. Roteman, Campbell & Levine, Pittsburgh, PA, for Appellees.
Before: MANSMANN, SCIRICA, and WEIS, Circuit Judges
In this suit brought under the Pennsylvania Wage Payment and Collection Law, plaintiffs assert claims against individual corporate officers and shareholders for wages due from the corporate employer. Because the claims are based on a collective bargaining agreement, we hold that the Wage Collection Law is preempted by the Labor Management Relations Act and the National Labor Relations Act. Accordingly, we affirm the district court orders granting summary judgment and dismissing the complaint.
Plaintiffs are 111 employees of the Shannopin Coal Company who were laid off on July 24, 1992. Defendants are seven individuals and three corporations, described variously as major stockholders, owners, operators and agents of the employer. Shannopin had filed for bankruptcy protection under Chapter 11 on September 31, 1991, but remained in operation until July 24, 1992. At that time, plaintiffs were owed various sums for wages actually earned while the bankruptcy was proceeding.
In May 1995, plaintiffs filed suit in the Court of Common Pleas of Greene County, Pennsylvania for the wages due and, as the complaint stated, for "several categories of vacation pay (graduated, regular, floating, and personal days) all of which were wages guaranteed to and earned by the plaintiffs as part of their contract of employment with [Shannopin]."
Plaintiffs based their case on the Pennsylvania Wage Payment and Collection Law, 43 Pa. Cons. Stat. Ann. Section(s) 260.2, et seq. (1992), and sought liquidated damages and attorneys' fees, as well as unpaid wages. Attached to their complaint is a schedule of the amounts claimed in the various categories of "wages, regular vacation, graduated vacation, floating and sick/personal."
Defendants removed the case to federal court, asserting that the "contract of employment" referred to in the plaintiffs' complaint was, in fact, a collective bargaining agreement between the United Mine Workers and Shannopin and that, therefore, the case was really an action to enforce the terms of the agreement under section 301 of the Labor Management Relations Act, 29 U.S.C. Section(s) 185(a). After removal, defendants filed Answers asserting various defenses, including non-liability under the Wage Act and allegations that Shannopin had continued in operation after the bankruptcy at the insistence of the plaintiffs' union representatives.
The case was assigned to a magistrate judge, who concluded that the plaintiffs' claims required interpreting the collective bargaining agreement, and, as such, were pre-empted by section 301. In addition, the magistrate judge found that plaintiffs had failed to exhaust their contractual remedies under the collective bargaining agreement. He therefore recommended that summary judgment be granted as to those defendants who had filed appropriate motions and that the action be dismissed as to those defendants who had not joined in the motions. He also denied the plaintiffs' motion to remand the action to the state court.1 The district judge adopted the recommendations and entered appropriate orders without additional comment.
On appeal, plaintiffs contend that their claims are independent of the collective bargaining agreement, that once liability is established under state law, reference to the collective bargaining agreement for calculation of damages does not trigger preemption, and that the district court's ruling discriminated against union employees. Moreover, plaintiffs point out that even if preemption is applicable, removal jurisdiction does not automatically follow.
Defendants counter that the plaintiffs' claims are based on a breach of the collective bargaining agreement and that a determination of wages and benefits due would require interpreting that agreement. In their view, federal law preempts the state statute and the federal courts have jurisdiction.
Section 301(a) provides: "Suits for violation of contracts between an employer and a labor organization representing employees in an industry affecting commerce as defined in this chapter, or between any such labor organizations, may be brought in any district court of the United States having jurisdiction of the parties, without respect to the amount in controversy or without regard to the citizenship of the parties." 29 U.S.C. Section(s) 185(a).
The matter at hand alleges a violation of a contract to which the union and the employer are signatories, but neither is a party to this suit. Thus, the statutory language does not provide a ready answer.
Although section 301 refers only to jurisdiction, it has been interpreted as authorizing federal courts to fashion a body of common law for the enforcement of collective bargaining agreements. Textile Workers Union v. Lincoln Mills, 353 U.S. 448, 456 (1957). An underlying reason for the development of federal law in this area is the need for uniform interpretation of contract terms to aid both the negotiation and the administration of collective bargaining agreements. See Local 174, Teamsters v. Lucas Flour Co., 369 U.S. 95, 103-04 (1962) (). National policy is particularly important in the enforcement of arbitration...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Medley v. Atl. Exposition Servs., Inc.
... ... nor will the resolution of the elements ... require the interpretation of those bargaining agreements"); Cf ... Antol v. Esposto , 100 F.3d 1111, 1117 (3d Cir. 1996) (finding pre-emption of plaintiff's Pennsylvania Wage Payment and Collection Law claims because the ... ...
-
Mersmann v. Continental Airlines
... ... ) (citing to Lingle as "a case of ordinary, rather than complete preemption" in a case involving complete preemption by ERISA) with Antol v. Esposto, 100 F.3d 1111, 1117 (3d Cir.1996) (citing Lingle, in a string of other cases that, unlike Lingle, directly address the complete ... ...
-
Pearson v. Component Technology Corp.
... ... Cf. Antol v. Esposto, 100 F.3d 1111, 1115 (3d Cir. 1996) (discussing the need for uniformity in the interpretation of collective bargaining agreements). The ... ...
-
Prachasaisoradej v. Ralphs Grocery Co.
... ... (See Antol v. Esposto (3d Cir.1997) 100 F.3d 1111, 1117 [§ 301 preempted employees claims for wages because they were "based squarely on the terms of the ... ...