Trustees of the District Council No. 9 Painting Industry Insurance Fund v…

Background

District Council No. 9 International Union of Painters and Allied Trades, A.F.L.-C.I.O., and the trustees of two jointly administered labor-management funds petitioned under Section 301 of the Labor Management Relations Act to confirm a final arbitration award against Sahara Construction Corp. Sahara Construction was a party to a collective bargaining agreement with the Union.

The agreement authorized the Joint Trade Committee to arbitrate disputes about interpreting or applying the agreement. It also provided that the committee’s awards would be final and binding, and that a court could enter judgment on an award. The agreement required the Union to select a job steward on certain jobs and prohibited discrimination against a steward performing the steward’s duties.

The Union demanded arbitration after alleging that Sahara Construction discriminated against job steward Edgar Torres. At the June 9, 2022 arbitration hearing, the Union’s representative said he had observed Union members performing covered work at a Bronx jobsite without Torres present. Sahara Construction did not appear. On June 16, 2022, the Joint Trade Committee found a violation and ordered payments of $1,204.00 in wages, $1,115.52 in benefits, and $2,000.00 in liquidated damages. Sahara Construction did not comply or oppose the later court petition.

Court’s analysis

The court explained that confirmation of an arbitration award is ordinarily a summary proceeding that turns the award into a court judgment unless the award is vacated, modified, or corrected. Judicial review under the labor law is very limited: the court does not reconsider the arbitrator’s factual or contractual conclusions, but checks whether the arbitrator acted within the authority granted by the collective bargaining agreement.

The court found that the Joint Trade Committee’s award was within the committee’s authority under the agreement. The petition to confirm the award was therefore granted. Because the award specified definite amounts, the court ordered Sahara Construction to pay a total of $4,319.52, consisting of $2,000.00 to the Joint Board of the Painters and Decorating Industry, $1,204.00 to Torres, and $1,115.52 to the “PIIAF.” The court noted that neither the award nor the petition defined “PIIAF” and stated that it understood the term to refer to the District Council No. 9 Painting Industry Annuity Fund.

The court also awarded post-judgment interest at the statutory rate under 28 U.S.C. § 1961. It denied the petitioners’ motion for summary judgment as moot because a petition to confirm an arbitration award is treated like a summary-judgment motion. The petitioners’ request for attorneys’ fees and costs was denied without prejudice because they had not submitted declarations or other supporting records showing the amounts requested and the basis for those requests. The court allowed a supported fee application by November 30, 2022, but stated that fees would not be awarded for the unnecessary summary-judgment motion.

Disposition

Judge Valerie Caproni granted the Union and trustees’ petition to confirm the final arbitration award. She denied the petitioners’ motion for summary judgment as moot and denied their request for attorneys’ fees and costs without prejudice. The Clerk was directed to enter judgment for $4,319.52 plus statutory post-judgment interest, terminate the open motions, and close the case.