Can a Union Bargaining Agreement Limit An Employee’s Right to Sue?

If you are part of a union, your rights in all aspects of your work, may be governed by a collective bargaining agreement, or CBA. That CBA may have provisions in it that address things like making claims for discrimination and harassment, or wage and hour claims. In some cases, a CBA may expand your rights to sue, but in others, it may limit your rights to sue, or go to court.

How a CBA Can Limit Lawsuits

A CBA may define what is, and what is not, harassment or discrimination, and it may impose additional burdens on you, in reporting harassment and discrimination—for example, whereas you would normally just tell your supervisor or HR department about a hostile work environment, your CBA may dictate you tell both your employer, and union representatives, and that you make your claim a certain way (for example, in writing, or directed to a specific person).

If you do not abide by the CBA, and you end up suing for discrimination or harassment, the Defendant (your employer) may claim that you have no right to sue.

In other cases, CBAs may limit your right to access courts, by compelling you to mediate or arbitrate your clients first, before you file a lawsuit.

Can You Go Straight to Court?

Whether you have to abide by the limitations in your CBA (if there are any), depends on what kind of claim you are making.

Generally, courts have said that discrimination and retaliation claims can be brought directly to court, the way any non-union member’s claim would be brought, even if there is also, concurrently, a union complaint or grievance being filed under the applicable CBA.

But other claims, like those related to employment contracts, may be governed by the CBA.

Often, the question becomes whether or not an employment law claim is addressed by the CBA, and if so, to what extent—does the CBA contain a thorough and complete statement of the worker’s procedural and substantive rights? If so, the CBA may govern, and limit a worker’s right to sue.

Wage Claims and Federal and State Statutes

When it comes to wage claims, a CBA cannot limit an employee’s right to be paid under applicable federal laws—so, for example, a CBA could not say that an employee who should get overtime pursuant to the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), cannot get that overtime. It could not define what work you get to be paid for, and what work your employer doesn’t have to pay you for.

In other words, a CBA cannot be used to deprive a worker of rights he or she would have under federal or state laws (this is assuming that the worker is covered by the FLSA in the first place, and is not exempt).

Read the CBA

If you are a union member subject to a CBA, one of the things that your employment law attorney will do is review your CBA, to see what it says about the claim that you want to make about your employer. Many times a union may not be aware of applicable state or federal employment laws, and thus, provisions in the CBA may be unenforceable.

Contact the San Jose employment attorneys at the Costanzo Law Firm today for help.

Source:

law.justia.com/cases/federal/appellate-courts/F3/209/1122/474097/