Greene v. IPA/UPS Sys. Bd. of Adjustment

• Decision Date: 21 November 2016
• Docket Number: CIVIL ACTION NO. 3:15–CV–00234–TBR
• Citation: 221 F.Supp.3d 866
• Parties: Douglas W. GREENE, Plaintiff v. IPA/UPS SYSTEM BOARD OF ADJUSTMENT, Defendant. and United Parcel Service Co. and Independent Pilots Association, Intervenor, Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Western District of Kentucky

221 F.Supp.3d 866

Douglas W. GREENE, Plaintiff

v. IPA/UPS SYSTEM BOARD OF ADJUSTMENT, Defendant.andUnited Parcel Service Co. and Independent Pilots Association, Intervenor, Defendants.

CIVIL ACTION NO. 3:15–CV–00234–TBR

United States District Court, W.D. Kentucky, Louisville Division.

Signed November 21, 2016

Arnold L. Feldman, Feldman Gates & Bossert, LLC, Narberth, PA, for Plaintiff.

Douglas W. Greene, pro se.

James Michael Hearon, Quarles & Brady LLP, Indianapolis, IN, John A. Klages, Jr., Quarles & Brady, LLC, Chicago, IL, Irwin H. Cutler, Jr., Matthew P. Lynch, Priddy Cutler Naake & Meade, PLLC, Louisville, KY, for Defendant/Intervenor Defendants.

Memorandum Opinion

Thomas B. Russell, Senior United States District Judge

This case and its companion cases, Greene v. Frost Brown Todd, LLC, et al. , No. 3:14–CV–00619, and Greene v. Independent Pilots Association, et al. , No. 3:14–CV–00628, arise from Plaintiff Douglas W. Greene's dismissal from his employment as a pilot for UPS. In this case, Greene seeks to overturn the IPA/UPS System Board of Adjustment's determination that he was properly terminated for cause. Currently before the Court are Intervenor Defendants United Parcel Service Co.'s and Independent Pilots Association's motions for summary judgment. [DN 12; DN 22.] Greene has responded, [DN 50], and both UPS and IPA have replied [DN 72; DN 70.] Greene also submitted two additional documents raising new arguments not contained in his initial response, which effectively functioned as sur-replies filed without leave of the Court. [DN 75; DN 79.] The Court allowed IPA and UPS to respond to those additional filings, and they have. [DN 86; DN 87; DN 91; DN 93.] Fully briefed, this matter is ripe for adjudication.

For the following reasons, UPS's and IPA's motions for summary judgment are GRANTED. [DN 12; DN 22.] After Greene was terminated from UPS, the Railway Labor Act and the UPS–IPA Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) required him to submit his termination grievance to the System Board of Adjustment for binding arbitration. The System Board determined that Greene was rightfully terminated for insubordination after he refused to undergo an additional medical examination, which UPS ordered pursuant to the CBA. This Court may overturn the System Board's Award upon only three grounds: "(1) failure of the Adjustment Board to comply with the requirements of the Railway Labor Act; (2) failure of the Adjustment Board to conform, or confine, itself to matters within the scope of its jurisdiction; and (3) fraud or corruption." Union Pacific Railroad Co. v. Sheehan , 439 U.S. 89, 93, 99 S.Ct. 399, 58 L.Ed.2d 354 (1978) (citing 45 U.S.C. § 153 First (q)). UPS and IPA have shown, and Greene has failed to rebut, that no genuine dispute of material fact exists with respect to any of these three grounds of review. In deciding that Greene was properly terminated for cause, the System Board complied with the Railway Labor Act, acted within its jurisdiction, and did not engage in fraud or corruption. Therefore, UPS and IPA are entitled to summary judgment.

I. Facts and Procedural History¹

United Parcel Service is a worldwide cargo company, shipping thousands of packages around the globe each day. As part of this operation, headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky, UPS employs over 2,500 pilots. [DN 19–15 at 9.] In 2013, Plaintiff Douglas W. Greene was one of these pilots, as he had been for nearly twenty years prior. [Id. at 8.] By all accounts, Captain Greene was an exemplary pilot, routinely flying large jets along international routes. [Id. at 13–14.] Even UPS System Chief Pilot Roger Quinn, the company official who ultimately terminated Greene's employment, "describe[d] Captain Greene ... as doing his job well and [as] a pleasure to work with." [Id. at 14.] Greene was also politically active within the company, opposing the leadership of the Independent Pilots Association, the union that represents UPS's pilots. [Id. ] Several years earlier, a group of pilots led by Greene were successful in fending off tax assessments by the Kentucky Department of Revenue. [Id. ] Greene believes that UPS and IPA were allied against the pilots, and against Greene personally, with regard to the Kentucky tax investigation. [Id. ]

The circumstances giving rise to Greene's termination, the subject matter of this case, began on March 19, 2013.² [Id. at 15.] On that date, Greene was exercising jump seat privileges on a Federal Express flight from Memphis, Tennessee to his home in Anchorage, Alaska.³ [Id. ] At the conclusion of the flight, a FedEx security officer "confiscated a pair of small scissors with pointy ends" from Greene's personal belongings. [Id. at 15–16.] Although these scissors were not prohibited by Transportation Safety Administration guidelines, FedEx's internal security protocols barred their possession. [Id. at 16.] Having previously carried the scissors on jump seat flights before, Greene was unaware that the scissors were not allowed. [Id. ] By all indications, Greene behaved appropriately and respectfully towards FedEx officials during this incident. [Id. ]

Shortly thereafter, FedEx security sent a report to UPS describing the incident, and returned the scissors to Assistant Chief Pilot Jim Psiones, the head of Greene's Anchorage duty station. [Id. at 16–17.] Psiones gave the scissors back to Greene while Greene "was in a crew room with other pilots," mentioning to Greene "some type of security report." [Id. at 17.] Greene took issue with Psiones bringing up the occurrence in the presence of his coworkers, telling him that such matters should be addressed in private. [Id. ] Eventually, Chief Pilot Quinn was made aware of the scissor incident, and asked that a notation be made on Greene's Exception History Report, or EHR. The EHR is a non-disciplinary part of each UPS crewmember's employment record that makes note of various occurrences, such as work absences. See, e.g. , [DN 13–6.] A notation regarding the scissor incident was made on Greene's EHR on May 21, 2013, by Anchorage Chief Pilot Ed Faith. [Id. at 3–4.] The EHR notation stated, as quoted by Arbitrator Winograd [sic throughout]:

ups was notified by one fedex operator that during the screening process for mr. greene's requested jumpseat, a pair of scissors was discovered. this is a prohibited item! when asked about the scissors, mr. greene stated that "no one else seems to have a problem with them." the scissors were surrendered and later recovered by anc acp jim psiones. this is unacceptable behavior on the part of mr. greene and could jeopardize future jumpseat travel for ups pilots on fedex.

[Id. ] In a separate section, the EHR notation stated:

both jim psiones and ups security rep ken murray have spoken with mr. greene. he has been advised that his actions and confrontational behavior are unacceptable and not to have it happen again. entered by anc cp ed faith.... in a conversation subsequently with capt. greene, he did not seem to take the issue seriously and had negative opinions on the performance of the security staff at fedex and stated he has been through there (fedex) with those scissors several times with no problems. in short, capt. greene marginalized the event and always had a response justifying his actions. capt. greene took exception to my bringing the issue forward in the crew room. it was not my intent to address the issue openly. I was left with no options once capt. greene began talking and never stopped to listen. j psiones

[Id. ]

Greene took exception to the EHR notation, feeling that it did not accurately recount the scissor incident and the conversations that followed. [DN 19–15 at 19.] Over the summer, Greene attempted to have the notation removed from his EHR, contacting UPS managers, IPA representatives, Chief Pilot Quinn, and the chief pilot of FedEx. [Id. ] Greene also filed a complaint with the Transportation Safety Administration "alleging that ACP Psiones falsely told him the incident was reported to the TSA, although Captain Greene had been told by another manager that a TSA report had not been made." [Id. at 21–22.] While Chief Pilot Quinn ultimately decided that the notation would remain, he added an amendment stating that Greene had behaved courteously towards FedEx security during the scissor incident. [Id. at 19–20.]

Apparently, Greene's reaction to the scissor incident and the EHR notation caused his UPS supervisors to become concerned about his behavior. "In one exchange, Chief Pilot Quinn said that Captain Greene should be kept ‘in our sites' [sic] after being informed of Captain Greene's continuing disagreement with the EHR." [Id. at 21.] Psiones also took issue with Greene's challenge to the EHR notation, as well as Greene's aforementioned complaint against Psiones to the TSA. [Id. ] To address these internal concerns, UPS management held a meeting on August 22, 2013, which Anchorage Chief Pilot Ed Faith, IPA representative Wayne Jackson, and Greene attended. [Id. at 22.] During that meeting, the other parties "realized that Captain Greene was tape-recording what was said." [Id. ] Greene then admitted he had previously recorded conversations with UPS security officer Ken Murray on June 18 and with a local UPS manager on August 13. [Id. ] During his direct examination at the arbitration hearing, Greene stated that these were the only recordings he made of conversations with UPS officials. [Id. ] "However, on cross-examination, Captain Greene acknowledged that he had withheld a tape he made of a June 13 conversation with a Company manager," ostensibly to catch UPS officials in a lie. [Id. at 22–23.]

Arbitrator Winograd quoted Greene's taped statements at length in his written decision, as UPS cited the statements as support for its belief that Greene's behavior warranted an additional medical examination. [Id. at 23.] In the June 18 conversation with Murray, Greene discusses at length his belief that UPS, IPA, and the Kentucky...