Background
Parnell Colvin and Richard Vela, members of the Laborers International Union of North America Local Eight Hundred Seventy-Two, appealed a district court order that denied their motion for partial summary judgment and granted the defendants’ motion for summary judgment. The plaintiffs alleged violations of their due process rights, breach of fiduciary duty, and retaliatory discharge under federal labor laws after being expelled from the union for refusing to pay supplemental dues.
The court’s reasoning
The court found that while the plaintiffs were expelled without a full and fair hearing, Section Four Hundred Eleven, subsection A, paragraph Five of the Labor Management Reporting and Disclosure Act does not protect members who refuse to pay dues. The court deferred to the union’s interpretation of its own constitution regarding supplemental dues. Regarding the fiduciary duty claim, the court noted that enforcing payment obligations did not amount to intentional misconduct or fraud under Nevada Revised Statutes Section Seventy-Eight, point One Hundred Thirty-Eight. On the retaliation claim, the court determined that although the plaintiffs exercised protected rights by criticizing union leaders, they failed to demonstrate that the union’s non-discriminatory reason for their discharge was a pretext for impermissible retaliation.
What it means going forward
This decision reinforces the authority of labor unions to enforce membership dues and discipline members for nonpayment, even when procedural hearings are not held, provided the dues are mandated by the union’s constitution. It also sets a high bar for union members seeking to prove retaliation or breach of fiduciary duty in expulsion cases.