United States Supreme Court Cases & Opinions

U.S. Supreme Court

Elgin, Joliet & Eastern Railway Co. v. Burley, 325 U.S. 711 (1945)

Elgin, Joliet & Eastern Railway Co. v. Burley

No. 160

Argued November 15, 1945

Decided June 11, 1945

325 U.S. 711

Syllabus

1. The contention that an award of the National Railroad Adjustment Board under the Railway Labor Act amounts to nothing more than an advisory opinion is inconsistent with the terms, purposes, and legislative history of the Act, and with decisions of this Court construing it. P. 325 U. S. 720.

2. A collective bargaining representative is without statutory authority under the Railway Labor Act to compromise and settle accrued monetary claims of individual employees (arising out of alleged violations of a collective agreement by the employer) or to represent them exclusively before the National Railroad Adjustment Board in proceedings before it for determination of such claims, and, in the absence of legally sufficient authorization, a settlement so effected and an adverse award based thereon do not bar a suit by the individual employees to enforce such claims. P. 325 U. S. 738.

3. Upon the record in this case, it cannot be said as a matter of law that the collective bargaining representative was authorized in any legally sufficient manner to settle the claims in question or to represent the individual employees before the Adjustment Board. P. 325 U. S. 748.

140 F.2d 488 affirmed.

Certiorari, 323 U.S. 690, to review the reversal of a summary judgment for the defendant railroad company in a suit by employees upon claims arising out of alleged violations of a collective bargaining agreement.

Page 325 U. S. 712