Alaska Airlines v. Schurke, No. 13-35574 (9th Cir. 2018)
Annotate this CaseThe en banc court held that the Railway Labor Act did not preempt a worker's claim premised on a state law right to reschedule vacation leave for family medical purposes, when the worker's underlying right to vacation leave was covered by a collective bargaining agreement (CBA). The court also held that the Act did not preempt the worker's claim because the claim neither arose entirely from nor required construction of the CBA. Furthermore, that the CBA must be consulted to confirm the existence of accrued vacation days was not sufficient to extinguish the worker's independent state law right to use the accrued time to care for a sick child. Accordingly, the court affirmed the district court's grant of summary judgment to defendants.
Court Description: Labor Law. Affirming the district court’s summary judgment in favor of the defendants, the en banc court held that the Railway Labor Act did not preempt a worker’s claim premised on a state law right to reschedule vacation leave for family medical purposes, when the worker’s underlying right to vacation leave was covered by a collective bargaining agreement. ALASKA AIRLINES V. SCHURKE 3 The en banc court held that the RLA did not preempt the worker’s claim because the claim neither arose entirely from nor required construction of the CBA; that the CBA must be consulted to confirm the existence of accrued vacation days was not sufficient to extinguish the worker’s independent state law right to use the accrued time to care for a sick child. Dissenting, Judge Ikuta, joined by Judges Tallman, Callahan, Bea, and M. Smith, wrote that resolution of the state law claim required interpretation or application of the CBA, and the claim therefore constituted a “minor dispute” that must be resolved through the RLA’s mandatory arbitral mechanism.
This opinion or order relates to an opinion or order originally issued on January 25, 2017.
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