Maushund v. Earl C. Smith, Inc.
| Decision Date | 21 July 1986 |
| Docket Number | No. 85-1648,85-1648 |
| Citation | 795 F.2d 589 |
| Parties | 123 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2404, 105 Lab.Cas. P 12,003, 1 Indiv.Empl.Rts.Cas. 557 Donald MAUSHUND, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. EARL C. SMITH, INC., Defendant-Appellee. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Sixth Circuit |
Anthony F. Houle, argued, John C. McColl, McIntosh, McColl, Allen, Carson, McNamee & Strickler, Port Huron, Mich., for plaintiff-appellant.
Terence K. Jolly, argued, Matheson, Bieneman, Parr, Schuler & Ewald, Bloomfield Hills, Mich., for defendant-appellee.
Before ENGEL, KENNEDY and MILBURN, Circuit Judges.
This action was originally commenced by plaintiff Donald Maushund in Michigan's state courts. Maushund claimed that his discharge as a part-time truck driver employed by defendant Earl C. Smith, Inc., breached an oral contract which he alleged to have with that company not to discharge him without cause. In this respect, Maushund claimed rights and sought damages in reliance upon Toussaint v. Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Michigan, 408 Mich. 579, 292 N.W.2d 880 (1980). Because the complaint also alleged the existence of a collective bargaining agreement between the employer and the Teamsters Union, of which plaintiff was a member, the company removed the action to the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan asserting that the case was governed by section 301 of the Labor Management Relations Act, 29 U.S.C. Sec. 185, and that, therefore, jurisdiction over the action was vested in the federal court.
Having removed the case, the employer then moved for summary judgment, urging that the suit was time-barred because not commenced within the six-month period of limitations for such actions. DelCostello v. International Brotherhood of Teamsters, 462 U.S. 151, 103 S.Ct. 2281, 76 L.Ed.2d 476 (1983); Smith v. General Motors, 747 F.2d 372 (6th Cir.1984); Shapiro v. Cook United, Inc., 762 F.2d 49 (6th Cir.1985). The employer also moved for summary judgment on the state claim upon the basis that the National Labor Relations Act totally preempted state law and that the Toussaint rationale was therefore inapplicable in the context of a collective bargaining agreement governed by federal law. United States District Judge James Harvey agreed and granted summary judgment on both grounds.
Maushund appeals, but on the sole basis that his oral contract rights under Toussaint are not preempted by federal law. He does not contest the district court's holding that his section 301 claim is time-barred.
While generally acknowledging that national labor policy extinguishes an individual employee's power to negotiate his own agreement with his employer and while acknowledging that he was a member of Local 339 of the Teamsters, with whom the employer had a collective bargaining agreement, Maushund stresses his unique status as a casually employed driver who had not succeeded in working sufficient days on a regular basis to entitle him to the normal privileges of seniority which were guaranteed to those truck drivers whose employment was regular and not casual. As a casual employee, Maushund contends, his rights were severely curtailed under the collective bargaining agreement. Maushund acknowledges that he had never sought to avail himself of the grievance procedure which the company and the union had set up, and he infers at least that such would be futile in his case. He therefore asserts that his employment status is outside the coverage and protection of the collective bargaining agreement and that, accordingly, his rights under state law are not preempted.
It is undisputed that a collective bargaining agreement is in existence between the employer here and...
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Johnson v. Delphi Corp., No. C-3-02-313.
...by Defendant, the Sixth Circuit has implicitly articulated its agreement with the Ninth Circuit, as expressed in Maushund v. Earl C. Smith, Inc., 795 F.2d 589 (6th Cir.1986); Ulrich v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., 884 F.2d 936 (6th Cir.1989); and Fox v. Parker Hannifin Corp., 914 F.2d 795 (6......
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Birch v. The Pepsi Bottling Group, Inc.
...in separate negotiations with the company and precludes any actions to enforce such an agreement." (quoting Maushund v. Earl C. Smith, Inc., 795 F.2d 589 (6th Cir.1986)) (second alteration in original)); id. ("[E]mployees covered by a CBA cannot rely upon the existence of a separate, indivi......
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Fox v. Parker Hannifin Corp.
...the preemptive scope of section 301. The district court's analysis on this point conflicts with our rulings in Maushund v. Earl C. Smith, Inc., 795 F.2d 589 (6th Cir.1986), and Ulrich v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., 884 F.2d 936 (6th Cir.1989). We determined in Maushund that "[t]he collectiv......
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Alexander v. Udv North America, Inc.
...between federal claims and defenses serves to distinguish this case from a Sixth Circuit decision cited by UDVNA, Maushund v. Earl C. Smith, Inc., 795 F.2d 589 (6th Cir.1986). Maushund addresses ordinary and not complete preemption under § 301 of the LMRA, concluding that "the Toussaint lin......