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U.S. Second Circuit Court of Appeals holds that employer may discipline union rep for attempted bribery of witness at hearing

U.S. Second Circuit Court of Appeals holds that employer may discipline union rep for attempted bribery of witness at hearing
Source: Adjunct Law Prof Blog; http://lawprofessors.typepad.com/adjunctprofs/
Reproduced with permission. Copyright © 2009, Mitchell H. Rubinstein, Esq., Adjunct Professor of Law, St. Johns Law School and New York Law School, All rights reserved.

The 2d Circuit issued a very important RLA case that has implications for the broader field of labor arbitration. A special adjustment board complied with the Railway Labor Act (RLA) and acted within the scope of its jurisdiction under the Act when it held that Amtrak was permitted to discipline an employee for conduct that occurred while he was functioning as a union representative.

While representing a union member at a disciplinary hearing, the employee allegedly attempted to bribe a witness. The adjustment board found the employee guilty as charged; however, a federal district court vacated the board's decision, finding that the RLA did not provide employers with any say over the conduct of the employees' representative while the representative is engaged in his or her representative capacity.

The Second Circuit observed that the "federal courts do not sit as super arbitration tribunals in suits brought to enforce awards of the adjustment board, so they may not substitute their judgments for those of the board." In this instance, the circuit court found no support for the district court's conclusion that the RLA created an unassailable "cloak of immunity" for the misconduct of railroad employees functioning in a representative capacity. Such a doctrine would have a deleterious effect on the "time-tested disciplinary process" through which railroad labor disputes are resolved. United Transp Union v National RR Passenger Corp (Amtrak,___F.3d___(2d Cir. December 9, 2009).

Mitchell H. Rubinstein

Full post as published by New York Public Personnel Law on February 09, 2010 (boomark / email).