Jones v. Am. Postal Workers Union

• Decision Date: 08 June 1999
• Docket Number: CA-96-22-3,No. 97-2584,97-2584
• Citation: Jones v. Am. Postal Workers Union, 192 F.3d 417 (4th Cir. 1999)
• Parties: (4th Cir. 1999) ROBERT E. JONES, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. AMERICAN POSTAL WORKERS UNION, NATIONAL; AMERICAN POSTAL WORKERS UNION, LOCAL NUMBER 4755, Defendants-Appellees, and PATRICIA FERN BUTTS, Defendant. EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY COMMISSION, Amicus Curiae. (). . Argued:
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Fourth Circuit

Page 417

192 F.3d 417 (4th Cir. 1999)

ROBERT E. JONES, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. AMERICAN POSTAL WORKERS UNION, NATIONAL; AMERICAN POSTAL WORKERS UNION, LOCAL NUMBER 4755, Defendants-Appellees and PATRICIA FERN BUTTS, Defendant.

EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY COMMISSION, Amicus Curiae.

No. 97-2584 (CA-96-22-3).

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS, FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT.

Argued: June 8, 1999.

Decided: September 10, 1999.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of West Virginia, at Martinsburg.

W. Craig Broad water, District Judge.

[Copyrighted Material Omitted]

[Copyrighted Material Omitted] COUNSEL ARGUED: Robert E. Jones, Appellant Pro Se. Robert John Gregory, EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY COMMISSION, Washington, D.C., for Amicus Curiae. Susan Lynne Catler, O'DONNELL, SCHWARTZ & ANDERSON, P.C., Washington, D.C., for Appellee. ON BRIEF: C. Gregory Stewart, General Counsel, Philip B. Sklover, Associate General Counsel, Lorraine C. Davis, Assistant General Counsel, EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY COMMISSION, Washington, D.C., for Amicus Curiae. Peter J. Leff, O'DONNELL, SCHWARTZ & ANDERSON, P.C., Washington, D.C., for Appellees.

Before ERVIN, HAMILTON, and WILLIAMS, Circuit Judges.

Vacated and remanded by published opinion. Judge Hamilton wrote the opinion, in which Judge Ervin and Judge Williams joined.

OPINION

HAMILTON, Circuit Judge:

The principal issue in this appeal is whether a labor union that represents federal employees may constitute a labor organization as that term is defined in the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA), 42 U.S.C. §§ 12101 12213, and therefore be subject to suit in federal district court for violations of 42 U.S.C. § 12112(a). Because the ADA provides that the term "labor organization" shall have the same meaning given that term in Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. §§ 2000e to 2000e-17, a sister statute, resolution of the principal issue requires us to resolve the antecedent question of whether a labor union that represents federal employees may constitute a labor organization as that term is defined in Title VII. For the reasons that follow, we hold a labor union that represents federal employees may constitute a labor organization as that term is defined in Title VII and by proxy the ADA.

I.

At approximately 11:45 a.m. on June 20, 1994, the Postmaster of the United States Post Office in Martinsburg, West Virginia (the Post Office), Sebastian Giargiano (Postmaster Giargiano), determined that United States Postal Service (the Postal Service) employee Robert Jones (Jones) was acting strangely on the job and was in need of medical treatment. The Postal Service employed Jones as a claims/inquiry clerk. Postmaster Giargiano decided to transport Jones via automobile to the Medical Center for the Department of Veteran's Affairs (the Medical Center) in Martinsburg. Just prior to leaving the Post Office, Jones handed Postmaster Giargiano an envelope and said this letter is for you. Believing the envelope contained ordinary mail, Postmaster Giargiano tossed it on his desk for reading upon his return.

On the way to the Medical Center, Jones told Postmaster Giargiano that he intended to kill his supervisor, Kim Mickelinc (Mickelinc), that day. He also told Postmaster Giargiano that the system was winning, he could not handle it any more, and that things would be better if Mickelinc was dead. Upon arrival at the Medical Center, Jones was admitted as a psychiatric patient under the care of Dr. Kodali.

Upon returning to the Post Office after transporting Jones to the Medical Center, Postmaster Giargiano opened the envelope Jones had given him and read Jones's handwritten letter inside. The letter appeared to Postmaster Giargiano to be a suicide note. Postmaster Giargiano notified, among others, the Manager of Human Resources in the Appalachian District for the Postal Service, James Cox, and Postal Inspector Steve Randolph (Inspector Randolph) about the letter and about hearing Jones verbally threaten the life of Mickelinc.

During the next few weeks, the Postal Service investigated the matter. As part of the investigation, Inspector Randolph submitted a report dated July 19, 1994 to Dennis Moles, the Acting Manager of Post Office Operations in Charleston, West Virginia. The report stated that Patricia Butts (Butts), the Secretary-Treasurer of the Eastern Panhandle Local Number 4755, American Postal Workers Union (the Local),¹ informed him (Inspector Randolph) that at a union meeting approximately one week after Jones threatened to kill Mickelinc, those present unanimously expressed objections to Jones returning to work. The report also states that Butts informed him that Jones's fellow employees would feel very worried and apprehensive if Jones returned to work. Butts repeated the same information a short time later to Postmaster Giargiano.

Dr. Kodali discharged Jones from the Medical Center on July 13, 1994 with a discharge diagnosis of schizophreniform disorder and post traumatic stress syndrome.² Dr. Kodali's discharge instructions recommended Jones spend one month convalescing. Postmaster Giargiano thereafter authorized advance sick leave for Jones through August 9, 1994. On a form provided by the Postal Service and dated August 3, 1994, Dr. Asghar, Jones's treating physician at the Medical Center for two years, stated that Jones's prognosis was "[f]air to good," and that Jones could return to work without restriction on August 13, 1994. Dr. Asghar did state on the form, however, that consideration should be given to reducing the amount of time Jones spent with the public.

On August 8, 1994, Postmaster Giargiano advised Jones by written memorandum that effective August 13, 1994 he would be in off-duty status, without pay, until the Postal Service advised him otherwise. The memorandum informed Jones that the Postal Service took this action because his "retention in a duty status may be injurious to [him]self or others." (J.A. 126). The memorandum then described Jones's death threat against Mickelinc in detail.

On September 6, 1994, Postmaster Giargiano gave Jones written notice of his proposed discharge from the Postal Service no sooner than thirty days from Jones's receipt of the notice. The notice cited Jones's improper conduct with respect to his death threat against Mickelinc and his suicide letter. The notice also stated that a letter of warning dated April 18, 1994, for improper conduct, would be considered in deciding whether Jones's proposed discharge should be sustained by senior Postal Service officials.³ Senior Postal Service officials sustained the decision to discharge Jones, and Jones was officially discharged on November 7, 1994.

The Local grieved Jones's discharge through the grievance procedures of the applicable collective bargaining agreement and won a reversal of his discharge in arbitration. The arbitration award of July 18, 1995, set aside Jones's discharge and converted it to a three-year medical leave of absence, thus allowing Jones to return to duty when he passes a fitness-for-duty examination and is no longer collecting workers' compensation benefits for his mental condition.

On April 3, 1996, Jones filed this action against the APWU in the United States District Court for the Northern District of West Virginia, and on April 19, 1996, he amended his complaint to add the Local as a defendant.⁴ Jones's complaint alleged that Butts's negative comments about him to Inspector Randolph and Postmaster Giargiano were made in her capacity as Secretary-Treasurer of the Local and were a substantial factor in his discharge. According to Jones's complaint, Butts's comments amounted to intentional discrimination by APWU and the Local (the Defendants) against an individual with a disability in violation of the ADA.

On October 16, 1996, the Defendants filed a motion to dismiss the action for lack of subject matter jurisdiction, see Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(b)(1), and alternatively for summary judgment, see Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(c). In support of their motion to dismiss for lack of subject matter jurisdiction, the Defendants argued that the district court lacked subject matter jurisdiction, because (1) they were not"labor organizations" as that term is defined in the ADA, and therefore not subject to suit as covered entities under the ADA, and (2) the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, 29 U.S.C. §§ 701-796l, which does not subject them to suit, provided Jones the only means of remedying the allegations in his complaint. On April 7, 1997, Jones filed a motion for summary judgment.

On April 25, 1997, the district court denied the opposing motions and discovery proceeded. On September 12, 1997, the Defendants renewed their motion for summary judgment, but also reiterated their arguments asserting lack of subject matter jurisdiction. In an opinion dated November 12, 1997, the district court: (1) held that it lacked subject matter jurisdiction over Jones's complaint for the two reasons argued by the Defendants; (2) granted the Defendants' motion for summary judgment on that basis; and (3) dismissed the case from its docket. Jones noted a timely appeal, in which the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (the EEOC) has filed an amicus brief.

II.

In this appeal, Jones challenges the district court's determination that it lacked subject matter jurisdiction over his ADA claims against the Defendants. Jones has the burden of proving the existence of subject matter jurisdiction. See Evans v. B.F. Perkins Co., 166 F.3d 642, 647 (4th Cir. 1999). The existence of subject matter jurisdiction is a threshold issue, which this court must address before addressing the merits of Jones's ADA claim. See Steel Co. v. Citizens for a Better Env't, 118 U.S. 1003, 1012-13 (1998) (reaffirming holding that a federal court may not hypothesize subject matter jurisdiction for the purpose of deciding a case on the merits). We review a district court's...