Caputo v. National Ass'n of Letter Carriers

• Decision Date: 16 February 1990
• Docket Number: No. CV-85-4300.,CV-85-4300.
• Citation: 730 F. Supp. 1221
• Parties: Martin CAPUTO, Plaintiff, v. NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF LETTER CARRIERS, United States Postal Service and Branch 99 National Association of Letter Carriers, Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Eastern District of New York

730 F. Supp. 1221

Martin CAPUTO, Plaintiff, v. NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF LETTER CARRIERS, United States Postal Service and Branch 99 National Association of Letter Carriers, Defendants.

No. CV-85-4300.

United States District Court, E.D. New York.

February 16, 1990.

J. Warren Mangan, O'Connor & Mangan, Long Island City, N.Y., for plaintiff.

Keith E. Secular, Cohen, Weiss & Simon, Steven Riegel, Civ. Div., U.S. Attys. Office, E.D.N.Y., New York City, for defendants.

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

GLASSER, District Judge:

Plaintiff, a former employee of the United States Postal Service, ("USPS") filed this complaint alleging that USPS had wrongfully suspended him from employment from April 1, 1983 to February 23, 1985 in violation of its national collective bargaining agreement with the National Association of Letter Carriers ("NALC"), of which Caputo was a member, and that NALC and its affiliate, Branch 99 of NALC ("the union") breached their duty to fairly represent plaintiff in his dispute with the Postal Service. Jurisdiction is predicated on Section 301 of the Labor Management Relations Act, 29 U.S.C. § 185(a) and Section 1208(b)-(e) of the Postal Reorganization Act, 39 U.S.C. § 1208(b)-(e).

On February 19, 1988 defendant United States Postal Service, joined by Defendant Branch 99, National Association of Letter Carriers moved this court for summary judgment. For the reasons set forth below, I hereby grant in part and deny in part defendants' motion.

Plaintiff Caputo, while in the employ of the Postal Service as a letter carrier assigned to the Staten Island, New York Post Office, was a member of the Naval Reserve who in February, 1983 was called to active duty for training in Hawaii. On or about February 13, 1983 while on liberty in Honolulu, Caputo was arrested by civilian police and charged with drinking in public, possession of narcotics and resisting arrest. He was detained for forty hours and then released. Plaintiff returned home and on or about March 12 or 13, when he reported to the Navy Reserve for weekend duty, he was placed under arrest by his unit commander and charged with the same conduct that had led to his arrest in Hawaii, in addition to a charge that he was AWOL for the period of detention in Hawaii. Caputo was placed in custody by the Naval Reserve until March 30, 1983 when Judge Henry Bramwell of this Court ordered his release. (CV 83-1229, March 30, 1983.) Plaintiff collected unemployment until December, 1983 and in January, 1984 obtained a job with the Raytheon Company. On July 23, 1984 he began working for the New York City Sanitation Department. On that same date the United States Military Court of Appeals dismissed the court martial charges against Caputo.

On March 30, 1983 Caputo presented Judge Bramwell's order to the Staten Island station where he worked and was informed by his supervisor and by the head of personnel for Staten Island that he would not be permitted to return to work. The head of personnel sent Caputo a letter on April 1, 1983 confirming that he would be suspended until the Postal Inspector's office investigation was completed. Caputo also spoke to the Union shop steward, Anthony Ciarmella, who told him that he had resigned as steward and that he should speak to Paul Daloio, the Union president. According to Caputo, on the evening of March 30, 1983 he went to Daloio's home to discuss the situation and Daloio told him that the Postal Service could refuse to let him work until the court martial proceeding was cleared up. Caputo testified that when he presented Daloio with a copy of Judge Bramwell's decision Daloio "was very pleased that I had that order. He made a copy of it. He has a copy machine in his office there. He said that he would get my job back. He said he would file a grievance timely and everything, and he would take care of things for me. He told me to keep him posted with any updates that I could give him and he would keep me posted." Deposition of Martin Caputo, October 9, 1986 at p. 111. (Hereinafter, "CAPUTO II")¹ When questioned during the deposition about the filing of the grievance, Caputo said that Daloio "did say that he wasn't sure when to file that grievance. He said he had to find out if he was supposed to file it then or after the Court case, but whatever, that he would file it timely and take care of everything." CAPUTO II at 113. When asked whether Daloio actually said he was going to file something immediately or rather that he would review the situation and learn about the status of the court case and then file the grievance, Caputo testified that: "(Daloio) wasn't sure. He said he would immediately take action. He wasn't sure as to when to file the grievance, but he was immediately going to look into things. If it had to be done right away he was going to do it.... He definitely did say he was going to file it, but not if it wasn't time to file yet, then he can't file." CAPUTO II at 115.

Daloio testified in his deposition that the first time he ever met Caputo, and the first time they discussed his grievance in person, was at a meeting in Daloio's home in August, 1984 when the plaintiff brought over the documents regarding the court martial, i.e., indicating that the Court of Military Appeals had dismissed the charges. Deposition of Paul Daloio, May 18, 1986 at p. 13.

The collective bargaining agreement negotiated by USPS and NALC applicable to Caputo's employment provides a grievance arbitration procedure for the resolution of disputes.² This procedure consists of three "steps" which may culminate in binding arbitration. Step 1 is an oral discussion held between the affected employee and/or a local union shop steward and the employee's immediate supervisor. The Agreement provides that grievances must be initiated by the employee, and may be initiated by the Union, within 14 days after the employee is aggrieved. If the parties do not resolve the grievance, it may then be appealed to Step 2 by the Union. At Step 2, a meeting is typically held between a local union officer and the Postmaster of the post office or his designee. The Union can appeal a Step 2 decision to Step 3, which consists of a meeting between regional representatives of USPS and NALC. At each Step, union and management have authority to enter into a binding settlement of the grievance and if no settlement is reached, NALC can appeal a grievance from Step 3 to final and binding arbitration.

On or about August 9, 1984 the Union filed Caputo's grievance.³ USPS took the position that it was untimely and would not be entertained. In late October, 1984 Daloio prepared a Step 2 grievance appeal and met with the appropriate management representative, who on January 14, 1985 issued a decision rejecting the grievance as untimely. On January 22, 1985 Daloio prepared a Step 3 appeal which on June 7, 1985 was remanded to Step 2 by the regional officials who instructed the local union and management representative to meet within 15 days to discuss and attempt to resolve the grievance. The remand noted that the grievance had been rejected as untimely at Step 1 and that this matter remained an issue. At that meeting, held on June 20, 1985, Daloio and the management representative settled Caputo's grievance for one month's back pay. Plaintiff sued, alleging that the Union breached its duty of fair representation by failing to file a timely grievance on his behalf, by failing to advise the plaintiff of the progress of his grievance and the settlement, and by agreeing to the terms of the settlement.

Defendants,⁴ the moving party, take the position that even according to Caputo's version of events, they should be granted summary judgment. On a motion for summary judgment the moving party bears the burden of establishing that there is no genuine issue of material fact to be submitted to the trier of fact and that the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(c). As the Second Circuit recently articulated it, the general rule in a summary judgment motion is that "all ambiguities and inferences to be drawn from the underlying facts should be resolved in favor of the party opposing the motion, and all doubts as to the existence of a genuine issue for trial should be resolved against the moving party." Brady v. Town of Colchester, 863 F.2d 205 (2d Cir.1988) (citing Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 330 n. 2, 106 S.Ct. 2548, 2556-57 n. 2, 91 L.Ed.2d 265 (1986) and Adickes v. S.H. Kress & Co., 398 U.S. 144, 158-59, 90 S.Ct. 1598, 1609, 26 L.Ed.2d 142 (1970).) For purposes of this motion, defendants-movants apparently concede plaintiff's version of the facts and conclude that Caputo's own "deposition testimony fails to disclose facts sufficient to establish a breach of the duty of fair representation," not only on the issue of timeliness but also on the allegations of failure to inform plaintiff on the progress of his grievance and of bad faith in agreeing to the terms of the settlement. (Def. Memorandum In Support of its Motion for Summary Judgment at 4.) (Hereinafter "Def's memo") Plaintiff's position is that an issue of material fact exists on the question of when plaintiff first requested the union's assistance and that "if Plaintiff's testimony is credited by the trier of fact Branch 99 has breached its duty of fair representation." (Pl. Memorandum in Opposition to Defendant's Motion for Summary Judgment) (Hereinafter "Pl. memo") Plaintiff apparently misunderstands defendants' position, which, as indicated above, concedes plaintiff's version of the facts for purposes of this motion.⁵

Breach of Duty of Fair Representation by Untimely Filing of Grievance

On the facts asserted by the plaintiff, the question presented is whether the union's failure to file a grievance until August 1984 after having been informed of the facts by plaintiff on March 30, 1983 and having assured him that his rights would be preserved constitutes a breach of the union's duty...