Truex v. Garrett Freightlines, Inc.

• Decision Date: 14 March 1986
• Docket Number: No. 84-6468,84-6468
• Citation: 784 F.2d 1347
• Parties: Michael TRUEX and Fred Trujillo, Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. GARRETT FREIGHTLINES, INC., Ray King, George Lyles, Jr., Keith Tribby, and Corporate and Individual Does 1 through 200, inclusive, Defendants-Appellees.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Ninth Circuit

Page 1347

784 F.2d 1347

Michael TRUEX and Fred Trujillo, Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. GARRETT FREIGHTLINES, INC., Ray King, George Lyles, Jr. Keith Tribby, and Corporate and Individual Does 1 through 200, inclusive, Defendants-Appellees.

No. 84-6468.

United States Court of Appeals Ninth Circuit.

Argued and Submitted Oct. 7, 1985.

Decided Nov. 12, 1985.

Designated for Publication March 14, 1986.

Michael D. Hanson, Law Offices of Hanson & Adams, San Bernardino, Cal., for plaintiffs-appellants.

Steven M. Schneider, Mitchell, Silberberg & Knupp, Los Angeles, Cal., for defendants-appellees.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Central District of California.

Before GOODWIN, ALARCON and POOLE, Circuit Judges.

ALARCON, Circuit Judge:

Appellants Michael Truex and Fred Trujillo (hereinafter appellants) appeal from the district court's summary judgment in favor of appellees Garrett Freightlines, Inc., Ray King, George Lyles, Jr., and Keith Tribby (hereinafter referred to collectively as Garrett). Appellants contend that the district court erred in ruling that (1) their state tort claims for intentional infliction of emotional distress were preempted by federal labor law, and (2) their failure to exhaust the grievance procedures available under their collective bargaining agreements barred their section 301 claims for breach of the collective bargaining agreements.

In reviewing a grant of summary judgment, this court must determine whether, after viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the opposing party, any genuine issue of material fact remains for trial and whether the substantive law was correctly applied. Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(c); Friends of Endangered Species, Inc. v. Jantzen, 760 F.2d 976, 981 (9th Cir.1985). The district court's summary judgment award is reviewable de novo. Friends of Endangered Species, 760 F.2d at 981.

I. FACTS AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

Appellant Truex is a member of Teamsters Union Local No. 495. Appellant Trujillo is a member of Teamsters Union Local No. 63. Although Truex and Trujillo are covered by different collective bargaining agreements between their respective unions and their employer, Garrett, the provisions of the collective bargaining agreements relevant to this appeal are identical.

Article 45 of the collective bargaining agreements sets forth a grievance procedure which provides a method for resolution of "any controversy" between the union and the employer. Article 46 provides that the employer must have just cause to discharge or suspend any employee and must have given the employee at least one warning notice describing the employer's complaint. Pursuant to article 46, warning notices are automatically deemed protested by the employee, but grievances based on them will not be heard unless the notices are used as a basis for suspension or discharge within their effective life (nine months).

Truex received seven warning notices between January 1983 and February 1984. Trujillo received eight warning notices between August 1983 and February 1984. The notices chastised both men for wasting company time and for excessive absenteeism. Trujillo also received notices for failing to follow instructions and for using abusive language toward supervisors. Three of the warning notices received by Truex furnished the basis for his suspension in 1984. Truex grieved these notices and the arbitrator ruled in his favor, awarding him back pay and ordering him reinstated.

Appellants filed a single complaint in Los Angeles County Superior Court against Garrett and their supervisors at Garrett (Ray King (assistant terminal manager), George Lyle, Jr. (dock supervisor), and Keith Tribby (operations manager)), alleging harassment, breach of the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and negligent employment. Appellants allege that the warning notices were issued without foundation, and that their inability to grieve the letters under the terms of their collective bargaining agreements caused them to suffer emotional distress. Appellants also allege that they suffered harassment at the hands of their supervisors at Garrett, which took the form of following them for several hours during each work shift (including break times, meals, and restroom visits), confronting them and using abusive language toward them, bribing other employees to "set them up for termination," reassigning work for no legitimate reason, and in the case of Trujillo, forcing him to push heavy dollies when mechanized models were available.

Garrett filed a petition for removal with the district court on the basis that the state claims were artfully pled federal claims for breach of the collective bargaining agreements, and were preempted by Labor Management Relations Act (LMRA) Sec. 301, 29 U.S.C. Sec. 185(a) (1982). Garrett then moved for summary judgment on the grounds that (1) appellants' state claims were preempted by federal labor law, and (2) appellants' failure to exhaust the grievance procedures available to them under their collective bargaining agreements barred their section 301 actions. Appellants filed a cross-motion for remand. The district court denied appellants' motion for remand and granted Garrett's summary judgment motion.

II. PREEMPTION

Appellants' complaint purports to allege the following state law claims: (1) harassment; (2) breach of implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing; (3) intentional infliction of emotional distress; and (4) negligent employment. On appeal, appellants concede that removal was proper because their claim for breach of the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing "is in part a contract theory implicating the collective-bargaining agreement." Appellants' Opening Brief at 1; see Olguin v. Inspiration Consolidated Copper Co., 740 F.2d 1468, 1473 (9th Cir.1984) (court may look to facts outside of the complaint to determine whether an "artfully pleaded" state claim is in reality a section 301 claim for breach of the collective bargaining agreement). Each of appellants' remaining claims also attacks the propriety of conduct which is regulated by the collective bargaining agreements.

A. HARASSMENT AND EMOTIONAL DISTRESS CLAIMS

Appellants' harassment and emotional distress claims are based upon the following allegations: (1) Garrett issued unjustified warning letters criticizing appellants' conduct during working hours; (2) appellants' supervisors engaged in excessive surveillance of appellants during working hours for the purpose of harassing them; (3) appellants' supervisors used abusive language toward them; (4) appellants' supervisors attempted to bribe other employees to "set up" appellants for termination; and (5) appellants' work duties were reassigned for no legitimate purpose.

Appellants' claims that Garrett issued them unjustified warning letters, conducted excessive supervision of them, and altered their work assignments are in essence claims that administration of discipline was improper under the standards set by the collective bargaining agreements. See Choate v. Louisville & Nashville R.R., 715 F.2d 369, 371-72 (7th Cir.1983) (employee's characterization in emotional distress claim of employer's threats of dismissal, punishment, and attempts to discipline employee as "improper" implies existence of contractual standards in collective bargaining agreement). Because an evaluation of these claims is substantially dependent upon an analysis of the terms of the collective bargaining agreements, the claims are preempted by federal labor law. Allis-Chalmers Corp. v. Lueck, 471 U.S. ----, 105 S.Ct. 1904, 1916, 85 L.Ed.2d 206 (1985); see Beers v. Southern Pacific Transportation Co., 703 F.2d 425, 429 (9th Cir.1983) (preemption proper where employee's complaint concerned working conditions and disciplinary procedures which are rights covered by or substantially related to the collective bargaining agreement).

Moreover, because the collective bargaining agreements expressly specify a just cause standard for termination, appellants' claim that Garrett is attempting to terminate them is of necessity a claim that Garrett is engineering a breach of the collective bargaining agreements by preparing to terminate appellants without just cause. Because disputes concerning the employment relationship are governed by the collective bargaining agreement, they are preempted by federal labor law. See Olguin v. Inspiration Consolidated Copper Co., 740 F.2d at 1476 (emotional distress claim concerning employment or work conditions held preempted by federal labor law); Magnuson v. Burlington Northern, Inc., 576 F.2d 1367, 1369 (9th Cir.) (emotional distress claim preempted because it was based on a matrix of facts which were inextricably intertwined with the grievance machinery of the collective bargaining agreement), cert. denied, 439 U.S. 930, 99 S.Ct. 318, 58 L.Ed.2d 323 (1978).

Therefore, the district court properly dismissed appellants' harassment and mental distress claims as preempted by federal labor law. See Allis-Chalmers v. Lueck, 105 S.Ct. at 1916 (where evaluation of state tort claim is substantially dependent upon analysis of terms of collective bargaining agreement, a claim must either be treated as a section 301 claim or dismissed as preempted by federal labor law).

Appellants contend that their emotional distress claims fit within the exception to federal preemption carved out by the Supreme Court in Farmer v. United Brotherhood of Carpenters & Joiners of America, Local 25, 430 U.S. 290, 97 S.Ct. 1056, 51 L.Ed.2d 338 (1977). In Farmer, a union member brought a claim for intentional infliction of emotional distress against his union and its officials, alleging a campaign of personal abuse and harassment which included frequent public ridicule, incessant verbal abuse, and discrimination in hiring referrals. Id. at 292-93, 97 S.Ct. at 1059. The Court held that the emotional...