Phillips v. Russ

Background

Clio Phillips, who was representing herself, sued Bayberry Care Center and the United Food and Commercial Workers Union. She invoked Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits certain employment discrimination, and 42 U.S.C. § 1981, which prohibits racial discrimination in specified contractual relationships. The court also interpreted her filings as raising claims under the National Labor Relations Act.

Phillips alleged that she had been employed as a certified nursing assistant at Bayberry. She said that she opposed the Union’s continued representation, circulated and filed a petition to decertify the Union, objected to the structure of a negotiated wage increase, and was then subjected to additional work, criticism, pressure to withdraw the petition, and termination. She also alleged that Bayberry denied her a union representative during a disciplinary meeting. Against the Union, she alleged that it refused to process her grievance concerning her termination.

Court’s analysis

The court screened Phillips’s complaint because she had been allowed to proceed without paying filing fees. Under that screening requirement, the court had to dismiss claims that were frivolous, failed to state a legally sufficient claim, sought relief from an immune defendant, or fell outside the court’s subject-matter jurisdiction. The court also applied the rule requiring a complaint to provide enough factual detail to make liability plausible.

For the Title VII and Section 1981 claims, the court held that Phillips’s only race-related allegation was that she was Black and her supervisor was white. She did not allege facts suggesting that race was a motivating factor, or the necessary cause under Section 1981, of an adverse employment action. The court noted that most of her allegations instead concerned her union activity and petition to decertify the Union. Because she was representing herself and might be able to provide additional facts, the court granted her leave to amend these claims.

For the claim against the Union, the court treated Phillips’s allegations as asserting that the Union breached its duty of fair representation. To state that claim, Phillips needed facts showing that her grievance had merit, that the Union knew about it, and that the Union acted arbitrarily in failing to process it. The court found that the attached materials instead indicated that a Union representative investigated the grievance, arranged a meeting with Bayberry, offered assistance with participating, and contacted Phillips afterward. Phillips did not attend the meeting and did not respond to the later contact. The court therefore concluded that she failed to state a claim that the Union acted arbitrarily, but granted her leave to amend.

For the claims against Bayberry based on retaliation for union activity, the court held that claims arguably covered by Sections 7 or 8 of the National Labor Relations Act generally fall within the National Labor Relations Board’s exclusive authority. The court found no valid, independently supported duty-of-fair-representation claim against the Union that could provide a basis for federal jurisdiction over the related Bayberry claims. It therefore dismissed the claims against Bayberry for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction, while allowing Phillips to replead them if she could adequately state a claim against the Union.

Ruling and effect

The court granted Phillips 60 days to file an amended complaint. The amended complaint had to replace, rather than supplement, the original complaint and had to identify the relevant people, events, dates, locations, injuries, and requested relief. The order stated that failure to amend within the permitted period, absent good cause, would result in dismissal of the complaint and declining supplemental jurisdiction over any state-law claims. No summons would issue at that time. The court also certified that an appeal would not be taken in good faith and denied fee-free status for purposes of an appeal. Judge Laura Taylor Swain signed the order.