Alaska Employment Law

Two recent appellate opinions illustrate the possibilities and limitations for employees pursuing wage claims.

The 9th Circuit case reminds practitioners that § 301 permits an individual union member to sue for unpaid wages laid out in the CBA, as well as for wrongful discharge.

Although claims arising under a collective bargaining agreement that concern questions of labor policy are generally reserved to the union, ”it is well settled that rights which are personal rights of the employees may be enforced by them directly under section 301.” . . .  Where, as here, a former employee asserts claims involving “uniquely personal rights” regarding “wages, hours, [o]vertime pay, and wrongful discharge,” a direct suit against the employer is proper under section 301. 

There are two important caveats: the employee must a) sue within 6 months of the accrual of the cause; and must b) plead, as well as prove, that the union breached its duty of fair representation.  

Soremekun v. Thrifty Payless, Inc., 2007 WL 4168339 (9th Cir. Nov. 27, 2007)(citations omitted).

The 4th Circuit held that FLSA statutory remedies are exclusive for claims of FLSA violations - i.e., that employees asserting unpaid FLSA wages could not use state contract, negligence, or fraud law to recover FLSA-mandated pay.*  The Court also held that the state [North Carolina] unfair trade practices act doesn’t cover most employment-related disputes (one exception being an employer claim against an ex-employee for breach of a non-compete covenant). 

Anderson v. Sara Lee Corp., No. 05-1091 (4th Cir. Nov. 19, 2007).

*This issue differs from that laid out in Quinn v. ASEA, 944 P.2d 468 (Alaska 1997), where the Alaska Court held that a contract claim for overtime guaranteed under a CBA may co-exist with a statutory claim for AWHA overtime, and is governed by the longer limitations period for contracts, not for the AWHA.  [Disclosure: I am counsel for the employees in a class action, on appeal to the Supreme Court, where the issue has some relevance.]