Section 23 Failure to Exhaust Internal Union Remedies

• Library: Emp-Emp Law 2000

For many years courts have held that a plaintiff must exhaust all of the union’s available internal remedies or show an adequate reason for the failure to do so before the plaintiff seeks relief against the union in the federal courts. Neal v. System Bd. of Adjustment, 348 F.2d 722 (8^th Cir. 1965). An employee’s lack of knowledge of the availability of an internal union remedy does not excuse the failure to exhaust the remedy. See Newgent v. Modine Mfg. Co., 495 F.2d 919 (7^th Cir. 1974).

Because of a conflict between the circuits in the application of the exhaustion rule, the Supreme Court in Clayton v. UAW, 451 U.S. 679 (1981), set down standards for determining when...