Hammond v. Terminal Railroad Association of St. Louis

The plaintiff, a railroad worker, originally filed this suit in state court. The suit alleged that the railroad, by charging the plaintiff-"inappropriatly and for the purpose of causing harassment and emotional stress directed toward the plaintiff"-"with a violation of his job duties" and with "unnecessary delays in his job performance," had violated the Federal Employers Liability Act, 45 U.S.C. §§ 51-60. The railroad removed the case to federal district court on the ground that the suit was actually a "minor dispute" arising under the Railway Labor Act, 45 U.S.C. §§ 151 et seq. The plaintiff then filed in the district court both a motion to remand the case to state court and an amended complaint. The complaint charged the railroad with unfairly criticizing the plaintiffs work, prosecuting unwarranted disciplinary charges against him, setting unrealistic work quotas and "wearing him out physically and mentally thereby," harassing him by "keeping an extraordinarily close watch on [his] work and following him from work assignment to work assignment," conducting disciplinary proceedings against him unfairly (as by tricking him into signing a waiver of his right to a formal investigation), and, by these tactics, deliberately inflicting emotional distress on him. The district court denied the plaintiffs motion to remand the case to the state court and then dismissed the plaintiffs suit on the ground that in minor disputes the exclusive remedy (with immaterial exceptions, see Brotherhood of Railway, Airline & Steamship Clerks v. Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Ry., 847 F.2d 403, slip op. at 11-18 (7th Cir. 1988)) is arbitral.