Wrongful Termination and Cba Violations

[james.ortiz64]

My question involves labor and employment law for the state of: TX

I was fired without just cause in violation of the Collective Bargaining Agreement. Recorded the whole thing. Was told I was being laid off (without the required one week notice) even though I had more seniority than many other employees. Nowhere on the recording do you hear the words 'terminated', 'disciplinary action', 'write up' or fired. I was not provide with a reason in writing as required by the CBA. After I left he put stop payment on my checks and said I was fired for changing the passwords on my email acct. My Union Local was run by buffoons who were absolutely helpless because there was no money in the treasury for arbitration, they even refused to meet with me to listen to the recording. He sued me for making disparaging comments in an internet forum so I countersued with wrongful term, tortious interference of a business relationship for the letter he sent to a competitor I was going to go to work for, emotional distress etc. With no job or resources I had to do this in Pro Se. I followed their lead during discovery and provided a copy of the recording and letter. 18 months go by and we're put on the dismissal docket for inactivity. I show up and get a trial date set. They set a 'no evidence summary judgment hearing' and my concern is I will commit a procedural error in getting my recording admitted in evidence. I assume I can not just show the judge my recording device and say I have all the evidence I need right here - or can I? Do I need to give them copies on a flash drive? Will there be an audio system I can plug into my laptop and pay the recording for the court? Can I start and stop while it is playing to point out his lies? This is crucial and I missed the episode on Boston Legal that covered this (humor). What else could I possibly be missing that I will need to do? Any help about this would be greatly appreciated.

[cbg]

You may have violations of your CBA but you do not have legal violations. The law does not require that there be just cause, that you be given one week's notice (or any notice at all) or that you be provided with a reason. You do not have a wrongful termination as defined by law. Based on the information you have posted, your termination was not illegal as far as state or Federal law is concerned.

Since any violations are violations of the CBA and not of the law, your recourse is going to be through the union. What the judge will and will not allow with regards to recordings are going to be up to the judge, assuming you get to court in the first place.

I understand that this is not the answer you want to hear.

[Disagreeable]

Likely, you have waited to long for recourse via your collective bargaining agreement.

[ESteele]

You get good grades for effort! Based on your post, though, you will want to be a very quick study to synthesize the basics of evidence and employment law in order to have a better chance of surviving the upcoming summary judgment hearing.

With respect to the violation of the CBA, you could have brought a hybrid suit against your employer for failing to adhere to the contract and against your union for failing to represent you adequately by taking your dispute to arbitration. However, to bring such a hybrid action, an aggrieved employee has to file it in court within six months of learning of the underlying factual basis for the action. You did not apparently file a timely judicial action against the employer or the union here. As a consequence, you do not appear to have any basis for proceeding with a type of “wrongful discharge” claim.

Consequently, while the recording may have been great evidence in connection with an arbitration proceeding under the CBA or a hybrid judicial action against the employer and the union, it may have little or no relevance to your other claims. With that said, at a minimum, the recording will establish the reasons given to you for your discharge.

If you want to “introduce” the recording at the upcoming hearing, you will have to seek the judge’s indulgence to excuse the fact you did not file an electronic copy or a transcript with the court beforehand. (Did you provide the defendant employer with a copy and/or a transcript of the recording during discovery?) At a minimum, you should bring electronic copies for the court and for the defendant.

Furthermore, with respect to your remaining state law claims, you need to research whether the Texas courts have previously recognized such claims. (This research will likely involve hours on the Internet and/or in a law library. It will certainly take significantly more time than to watch an episode of “Boston Legal,” a truly substandard legal drama.)

You will also need to adduce evidence (i.e., documents; non-hearsay testimony) to support your contention that your former employer made false statements to a prospective employer against you which sank a job opportunity. If you do not have any documents or non-hearsay testimony to support this claim, the court will in all likelihood dismiss it.

Finally, as alluded to above, you need to research whether Texas courts would recognize an emotional distress claim under these circumstances. Without doing this research, I would expect the courts would not recognize such a claim here because what the former employer did would not be deemed sufficiently outrageous to substantiate a civil emotional distress claim. Nonetheless, you need to “put in the work” by doing the requisite research to determine if this claim is actually viable.

[Disagreeable]

With respect to the violation of the CBA, you could have brought a hybrid suit against your employer for failing to adhere to the contract and against your union for failing to represent you adequately by taking your dispute to arbitration. However, to bring such a hybrid action, an aggrieved employee has to file it in court within six months of learning of the underlying factual basis for the action. You did not apparently file a timely judicial action against the employer or the union here. As a consequence, you do not appear to have any basis for proceeding with a type of “wrongful discharge” claim.

All OP has said in regard to the union is they are buffoons. If OP did not grieve the discharge, in a timely manner, the union has no duty to represent their grievance, unless the company brought the issue up for discussion.