Haggerty v. USAir, Inc., 91-3248

• Decision Date: 02 January 1992
• Docket Number: No. 91-3248,91-3248
• Citation: 952 F.2d 781
• Parties: 139 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2105 Charles R. HAGGERTY, Appellant, v. USAIR, INC.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Third Circuit

Page 781

952 F.2d 781

139 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2105

Charles R. HAGGERTY, Appellant, v. USAIR, INC.

No. 91-3248.

United States Court of Appeals Third Circuit.

Argued Oct. 1, 1991.

Decided Jan. 2, 1992.

Timothy P. O'Reilly (argued), Pittsburgh, Pa., for appellant.

Thomas E. Reinert, Jr. (argued), Alissa D. Aaronson, Morgan, Lewis & Bockius, Washington, D.C., for appellee.

Before SLOVITER, Chief Judge, COWEN and ROSENN, Circuit Judges.

OPINION OF THE COURT

SLOVITER, Chief Judge.

On this appeal we must decide what is the appropriate statute of limitations for a private cause of action under the Employee Protection Program of the Airline Deregulation Act of 1978 (ADA or Act). Judicial search for a statute of limitations occurs, of course, only when the statute is silent, an inevitable by-product when the private right to sue on the claim has not been set out explicitly in the statute. That is the situation with the claim in question, filed under the Act's Employee Protection Program, a "sunset" provision that expired in 1988, that contained neither an explicit right to sue ¹ nor a statute of limitations. We must resolve a division among the district courts of this circuit as to the applicable statute of limitations period, and decide whether the statute of limitations to be used is to be found in a state or federal source. ²

I. Facts and Procedural History

Plaintiff Charles R. Haggerty was an air frame and power plant mechanic with Eastern Airlines from 1968 until 1987. On March 6, 1987, Haggerty, who was then working at Eastern's Pittsburgh facility, received notice that he was going to be laid off as part of a work force reduction. Under the collective bargaining agreement between Haggerty's union, the International Association of Machinists, and Eastern, Haggerty then had a choice: either he could use his seniority to "bump" less senior mechanics in other Eastern locations or he could accept the layoff with severance pay and recall rights to Pittsburgh. Because Haggerty had nineteen years of seniority at the time, he could have bumped to almost any maintenance station in the Eastern system. Haggerty's initial reaction to his layoff was to protect his employment and he filed the appropriate papers so that he could bump a less senior employee in Cleveland.

Shortly after submitting those papers, Haggerty became aware of the Employee Protection Program of the Airline Deregulation Act (ADA), 92 Stat. 1705 (codified at various sections of Title 49 U.S.C. app.). Under the relevant provision,

Each person who is a protected employee of an air carrier which is subject to regulation by the Civil Aeronautics Board who is furloughed or otherwise terminated by such an air carrier ... shall have first right of hire ... by any other air carrier hiring additional employees.... Any employee who is furloughed or otherwise terminated (other than for cause), and who is hired by another air carrier ... shall retain his rights of seniority and right of recall with the air carrier that furloughed or terminated him.

49 U.S.C. app. § 1552(d)(1) (1988) (emphasis added).

Haggerty knew that USAir was hiring mechanics in his home city of Pittsburgh at the time. Therefore, based on what he had learned about the ADA program, Haggerty rescinded his bumping request at Eastern and applied for a job as a mechanic with USAir in Pittsburgh. Haggerty was interviewed by USAir on May 12, 1987, and his application was rejected on June 24, 1987. Shortly thereafter, Haggerty retained counsel who wrote to USAir in September 1987, and received no answer. Meanwhile, in August 1987, Haggerty wrote to the Department of Labor and received a response in November 1987, advising him that he could pursue a private cause of action under the ADA. In March 1988, Haggerty was hired by United Parcel Service, where he is currently employed as a mechanic.

On March 19, 1990, more than two years after USAir rejected his application, Haggerty filed the present action, asserting that USAir's failure to hire him violated the Airline Deregulation Act. Haggerty seeks instatement as an employee at USAir's Pittsburgh terminal, back wages and benefits, and restoration of seniority and bidding rights retroactive to the time he claims he should have been hired.

After discovery, USAir moved for summary judgment on three bases. USAir argued, first, that the action was time-barred because it was commenced two years and eight months after the alleged violation, and, second, that Haggerty was not covered by the Employee Protection Program of the Airline Deregulation Act because he voluntarily accepted layoff instead of exercising his bumping rights under the collective bargaining agreement. Finally, USAir asserted that Haggerty's rejection was justified because he did not meet USAir's employment requirements for airline mechanics.

The district court referred USAir's motion for summary judgment to a magistrate judge who recommended that the motion be granted. After giving the parties an opportunity to object, the district court adopted the magistrate judge's report and recommendation verbatim, holding that the six-month statute of limitations under section 10(b) of the National Labor Relations Act ("NLRA"), 29 U.S.C. 160(b) (1988), should be applied or, in the alternative, that the 180-day period under the Pennsylvania Human Relations Act, 43 Pa.Stat.Ann. § 959(g) (1991), was applicable. Thus, Haggerty's claim was time-barred. As an alternative ground for summary judgment, the court held that inasmuch as Haggerty had not exercised his bumping rights, he had voluntarily accepted layoff and was therefore not entitled to benefit from the duty-to-hire provision of the ADA.

We have jurisdiction over Haggerty's timely appeal pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1291 (1988). We give plenary review to a grant of summary judgment. Waldorf v. Shuta, 896 F.2d 723, 728 (3rd Cir.1990). Because we conclude that Haggerty's claim was subject to a six-month statute of limitations, we need not reach the question whether Haggerty's failure to exercise his seniority rights under the collective bargaining agreement barred him from coverage under the Employee Protection Program.

II.

"Borrowing" Statutes of Limitations

As a general principle, when a federal statute fails to provide explicitly for a statute of limitations, the courts assume that Congress intended them to apply the statute of limitations from an analogous state statute. Agency Holding Corp. v. Malley-Duff & Assocs., 483 U.S. 143, 147, 107 S.Ct. 2759, 2762, 97 L.Ed.2d 121 (1987); DelCostello v. International Brotherhood of Teamsters, 462 U.S. 151, 158, 103 S.Ct. 2281, 2287, 76 L.Ed.2d 476 (1983). The Supreme Court recently reiterated the principle that "analogous state statutes of limitations are to be used unless they frustrate or significantly interfere with federal policies." Reed v. United Transp. Union, 488 U.S. 319, 327, 109 S.Ct. 621, 627, 102 L.Ed.2d 665 (1989). Nonetheless, the Court has recognized that "[i]n some circumstances ... state statutes of limitations can be unsatisfactory vehicles for the enforcement of federal law," and in such cases timeliness rules should be taken from federal law. DelCostello, 462 U.S. at 161-62, 103 S.Ct. at 2289; Occidental Life Ins. Co. of California v. EEOC, 432 U.S. 355, 367, 97 S.Ct. 2447, 2454, 53 L.Ed.2d 402 (1977) ("State legislatures do not devise their limitations periods with national interests in mind....").

In DelCostello, the Supreme Court was faced with the question of which statute of limitations to apply to a "hybrid" suit containing claims by employees against their unions alleging breach of the unions' duty of fair representation and claims by the employees against their employers under section 301 of the Labor Management Relations Act, 29 U.S.C. § 185, alleging a breach of the collective bargaining agreement. Although the Court two years earlier had held that an employee's suit against the employer was governed by a state statute of limitations for vacation of an arbitration award rather than by a state statute for an action on a contract, see United Parcel Service v. Mitchell, 451 U.S. 56, 101 S.Ct. 1559, 67 L.Ed.2d 732 (1981), in DelCostello the Court explained that Mitchell was limited to a choice between two state statutes of limitations. 462 U.S. at 165-66, 103 S.Ct. at 2291-92.

In DelCostello, the Court was called upon to decide whether the state or a federal statute of limitations should be applied. The Court reiterated the general principle as to borrowing state statutes of limitations, but stated that it has "not hesitated" to turn away from state law "when a rule from elsewhere in federal law clearly provides a closer analogy than available state statutes, and when the federal policies at stake and the practicalities of litigation make that rule a significantly more appropriate vehicle for interstitial lawmaking." DelCostello, 462 U.S. at 172, 103 S.Ct. at 2294.

In DelCostello, the Court chose to apply the six-month period under section 10(b) of the NLRA for filing charges of unfair labor practices. It explained that the state statutes did not provide appropriate analogies. On the other hand, section 10(b) was designed to accommodate a balance of interests similar to those at stake in a hybrid claim--"the national interests in stable bargaining relationships and finality of private settlements, and an employee's interest in setting aside what he views as an unjust settlement under the collective-bargaining system." Id. at 171, 103 S.Ct. at 2294 (quoting Mitchell, 451 U.S. at 70, 101 S.Ct. at 1567 (Stewart, J., concurring)).

Thereafter, in Agency Holding Corp. the Court was faced with the question of the appropriate statute of limitations for a civil RICO claim. The Court began its consideration with an inquiry into "whether all claims arising out of the federal statute 'should be characterized in the same way, or whether they should be evaluated differently depending...