California Appellate Tracker

Garity v. APWU National Labor Organization

July 14, 2016

Plaintiff’s prima facie claim for disability discrimination against her labor union does not necessarily require a showing that the union breached its duty of fair representation.

Plaintiff claimed her union, the APWU, sided with management rather than representing her by processing and prosecuting her complaints that the Post Office discriminated against her based on her physical and mental disabilities. Plaintiff lost her separate complaint against the APWU for breach of its contractual duty of fair representation. But this decision holds that to state a discrimination claim under Title VII or the ADA, an employee need not also show that her union breached its contractual duties to her. So her discrimination suit survived despite the demise of her breach of contract suit.

Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals (Bybee, J.); July 5, 2016; 2016 WL 3607049

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Garity v. APWU National Labor Organization

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