Cole v. Erie Lackawanna Ry. Co.

• Decision Date: 19 August 1976
• Docket Number: No. 75-2065,75-2065
• Citation: 541 F.2d 528
• Parties: 93 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2077, 79 Lab.Cas. P 11,575 L. F. COLE, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. ERIE LACKAWANNA RAILWAY COMPANY, Defendant-Appellant.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Sixth Circuit

Page 528

541 F.2d 528

93 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2077, 79 Lab.Cas. P 11,575

L. F. COLE, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. ERIE LACKAWANNA RAILWAY COMPANY, Defendant-Appellant.

No. 75-2065.

United States Court of Appeals, Sixth Circuit.

Argued April 1, 1976.

Decided Aug. 19, 1976.

Carl V. Bruggeman, Robert M. Anspach, Toledo, Ohio, for defendant-appellant.

Eugene A. Yazel, G. A. Piacentino, Marion, Ohio, for plaintiff-appellee.

Before CELEBREZZE, PECK and ENGEL, Circuit Judges.

CELEBREZZE, Circuit Judge.

L. F. Cole (hereinafter Appellee) was discharged in 1971 by the Erie Lackawanna Railway Company (hereinafter Appellant) for alleged unsatisfactory job performance. Following unsuccessful grievance efforts, Appellee, pursuant to 45 U.S.C. § 153 Second ¹ of the Railway Labor Act, sought In 1926 Congress first authorized carriers and their employees to establish boards of adjustment to resolve minor disputes. ² However, the 1962 Act was fraught with problems in that no sanctions for failure to reach agreement were provided and failure to agree was commonplace as these early boards of adjustment were composed of equal members of employee and carrier representatives.

relief from a special board of adjustment. Section 153 is a lengthy statute, spanning some eight pages. The bulk of the section is devoted to establishing the National Railroad Adjustment Board (hereinafter the NRAB) and setting out its powers and duties. Section 153 Second, added by amendment in 1966, empowers carriers and their employees to set up local special adjustment boards to resolve claims which would otherwise be filed with the NRAB or which have remained on the NRAB docket for over a year.

In 1934 Congress established the NRAB to provide a nationwide arbitration mechanism for resolving minor disputes between individual employees and carriers. The NRAB is divided into four divisions, each division hears claims from employees in particular job classifications. The NRAB sits in panels of three, one carrier-designated member, one member designated by employee representatives and one neutral panelist designated by the National Mediation Board.

The 1934 Act also carried forward authority to establish carrier, group or regional boards similar to those authorized in the 1926 Act. The above-noted problems with the early carrier-employee adjustment boards continued and such boards were seldom established. The result was the development of a backlog of thousands of claims awaiting disposition by the NRAB. In 1966, in response to this backlog, Congress amended the Railway Labor Act by adding Section 153 Second altering the structure of special adjustment boards to include a neutral panelist and authorizing such boards to hear claims otherwise referable to the NRAB.

Section 153 Second authorizes a carrier or group of carriers and representatives of the employees of such carrier or carriers to agree to the formation of a special adjustment board. If a carrier or union requests the formation of such a board and the nonrequesting party does not agree to the formation of a board within thirty days of the date of the request the National Mediation Board is empowered to name a representative for the nonagreeing party. If the carrier and union representatives are unable to agree on the proper disposition of a In 1971 Appellant and the United Transportation Union (hereinafter UTU), pursuant to an agreement, established a special adjustment board, Public Law Board No. 855 (hereinafter the Board), to resolve seven specified employee claims. Appellee's claim was one of the seven submitted to the Board.

claim, the National Mediation Board is also empowered to appoint a neutral member to break the deadlock.

In June of 1972, the Board, following its initial consideration of Appellee's claim, concluded that he had been dismissed for just cause and denied the claim. In April of 1973 Appellee filed an amended petition in district court seeking review of the Board's determination. In February of 1974 the district court granted Appellee's motion for summary judgment. The district court concluded that the Board had failed to provide Appellee with notice of its proceedings as required by 45 U.S.C. § 153 First (j). ³ The district court remanded the action to the Board. In October of 1974 the Board reconsidered its original determination and set aside Appellee's discharge, converting it into a 365-day disciplinary layoff, and ordered reinstatement and back pay for that portion of the layoff period in excess of 365 days. In December of 1974 Appellee petitioned the district court for enforcement of the Board's October determination. In May of 1975 the district court sustained Appellee's second motion for summary judgment and ordered Appellant to comply with the Board's determination. ⁴ Appellant brings this appeal from the district court's enforcement order.

Appellant raises three issues in challenging the district court's order. Appellant contends that the district court lacked jurisdiction to review the Board's determination. Appellant next argues that the district court erred in applying the notice requirements of 45 U.S.C. Section 153 First (j) to a special adjustment board proceeding. Finally, Appellant argues that even if Section 153 First (j) applies to special adjustment board proceedings, Appellee received sufficient actual notice of the June 1972 hearing before the Board to satisfy the notice provision.

Appellant first contends that Section 153 First (q), ⁵ which makes district court review available to a party aggrieved by the failure of the NRAB to make an award or by the terms of an award, does not apply to determinations of special adjustment boards. Appellant notes that Section 153 Second which empowers the establishment of special adjustment boards, does not expressly incorporate Section 153 First (q). Appellant further notes that Section 153 Second and Section 153 First (q) were added by 1966 amendments to the Railway The proceedings by way oof (sic) the Special Law Boards were designed to provide labor and management an expeditious way of handling minor disputes without going to the National Railroad Adjustment Board. There was no reason why the Special Law Board proceedings had to be handled in the same way that proceedings were handled in the National Railroad Adjustment Board.

Labor Act contained in a single piece of legislation. Appellant thus concludes that if Congress had intended to make Section 153 First (q) applicable to special adjustment board proceedings it would have so stated in the text of the statute. Appellant cites no judicial authority for this proposition. Appellant also makes no attempt to analyze the legislative history of the 1966 amendments. Appellant's only analysis of this issue, other than the statutory construction argument is contained in a short paragraph at page 14 of its brief to the Court:

Appellee responds by arguing that a review of the legislative history of the 1966 amendments demonstrates that Congress intended that parties to special adjustment board proceedings have the same access to limited district court review as would parties to NRAB proceedings. The purpose of the 1966 Amendments is set out in Senate Report No. 1201. ⁶ The Senate Report states that the purpose of the amendment was "to eliminate the large backlog (of cases pending before the NRAB) . . . and to provide equal opportunity for limited judicial review of awards of the (NRAB) to employees and employers." ⁷ The Report further states:

The bill also provides that judicial review of orders of the National Railroad Adjustment Board, and of boards established under this legislation, relating to minor disputes in the railroad industry would be available to either party but limited to the determination of questions traditionally involved in arbitration legislation whether the tribunal had jurisdiction of the subject, whether the statutory requirements were complied with, and whether there was fraud or corruption on the part of a member of the tribunal. (Emphasis added.) ⁸

It is clear from the above legislative history that Congress intended the district courts to exercise limited judicial review over determinations of the NRAB and over determinations of special adjustment boards. We affirmed a district court conclusion to this effect in United Transportation Union v. Clinchfield R.R., 427 F.2d 161 (6th Cir.), cert. denied, 400 U.S. 824, 91 S.Ct. 48, 27 L.Ed.2d 53 (1970). Accord, Transportation-Communication Division Brotherhood of Ry. v. St. Louis-San Francisco Ry., 419 F.2d 933, 935 (8th Cir. 1969); Slagley v. Illinois Central R.R., 397 F.2d 546, 550-51 (7th Cir. 1968).

Appellant next argues that the notice requirements of Section 153 First (j) do not apply to special board proceedings and consequently the district court erred in overturning the June 1972 judgment of Public Law Board No. 855 for failure to afford Appellee notice which satisfied Section 153 First (j). Appellant's second argument is a remake of its first argument. Appellant contends that Section 153 First (j) does not apply in special board proceedings because it was not expressly incorporated in Section 153 Second. Again, Appellant cites no judicial authority for this contention. The district court concluded that Appellant's position in this issue "ignores the legislative history, as well as the plain language, of the statute." ⁹ One of the passages from the legislative history of the 1966 amendments which we quoted in discussing the first issue raised by Appellant supports the district court's conclusion on this issue The bill also provides that judicial review of orders of the National Railroad Adjustment Board, and of boards established under this legislation, relating to minor disputes in the railroad industry would be available to either party but limited to the determination of questions traditionally involved in arbitration legislation whether the tribunal had jurisdiction of the...