Dist. Ct. did not err in granting defendant-union’s motion to dismiss for failure to state cause of action plaintiff-union member’s action alleging that defendant failed to fairly represent him on his grievance seeking to challenge employer’s termination of him on job abandonment grounds. Record showed that: (1) employer granted plaintiff 30 days’ leave of absence to travel to Saudi Arabia to take care of his mother; (2) employer denied plaintiff’s request for additional time off; and (3) employer terminated plaintiff three months after employer had expected plaintiff to return to work, even though plaintiff had not become aware of employer’s letter denying his request for extended leave of absence. Plaintiff thereafter filed grievance through defendant, which represented plaintiff during grievance, and Board thereafter denied grievance, and union denied plaintiff’s subsequent request to arbitrate issue. Plaintiff could not proceed on argument that defendant arbitrarily denied his request to arbitrate issue, since collective bargaining agreement precluded arbitration, where, as here, Board had unanimously denied plaintiff’s grievance. Moreover, plaintiff could not proceed on claim that defendant had irrationally represented him at grievance hearing, where plaintiff failed to allege why he believed he could remain on leave of absence three months longer than employer had allowed and had failed to identify evidence that might have been helpful to his grievance that defendant had refused to introduce.
Federal 7th Circuit Court
Civil Court
Labor Law