Local 54 United Paperworkers International Union
Opinion of the Court
Appeal from a decision of the Unemployment Insurance Appeal Board, filed August 13, 2001, which ruled that Local 54 United Paperworkers International Union was liable for unemployment insurance for compensation paid to its officers.
Local 54 United Paperworkers International Union represents approximately 526 workers at Sealright, Inc. Its collective bargaining agreement with Sealright contains a “no docking” clause pursuant to which Local 54’s officers may engage in certain union activity during regular work hours without suffering a loss of pay. Certain other union activity occurring during work hours is permitted by Sealright, but is not subject to the “no docking” clause. When this occurs, Local 54 reimburses its officers at their regular hourly rate for union activities during working hours, but not otherwise. Pursuant to the advice of a certified public accountant, Local 54, although it had never done so before, made unemployment insurance contributions on these payments in 1998 and 1999. In 2000, Local 54 stopped making these payments because the Workers’ Compensation Board had determined that they were not required to pay premiums under the Workers’ Compensation Law or the Disability Benefits Law. Local 54 requested a determination from the Department of Labor that it was exempt from paying unemployment insurance premiums. The Department denied the request and, following a hearing, an Administrative Law Judge determined that the union was liable for such payments. This determination was affirmed by the Unemployment Insurance Appeal Board (hereinafter Board) and Local 54 now appeals to this Court arguing that the Board’s decision is contrary to law and not supported by substantial evidence, and that the unemployment insurance laws of New York are preempted by the National Labor Relations Act.
Although there is evidence which would support each side’s arguments, we conclude that the Board’s decision is supported by substantial evidence since, while working on union business during regular hours where the officer is docked by the employer and paid by the union, the union not only reimburses the officers for expenses incurred during the performance of such duties, but taxes are withheld from these payments and a W-2 form is issued to the officers for filing with their federal tax returns. Moreover, even if the Workers’ Compensation Board concluded that Local 54 is not an employer, its determination under one statute is not binding on the Board when the same question arises under a different statute (see Matter of Scott v Manzi Taxi & Transp. Co., 179 AD2d 949, 951, lv denied 80 NY2d 752). Also, while Matter of Kaminski (Catherwood) (14 AD2d 178) is not directly on point, it is precedent for
We next address the preemption issue. When state laws regulate and interfere with conduct protected by the National Labor Relations Act, “due regard for the federal enactment requires that state jurisdiction must yield” (San Diego Bldg. Trades Council, Millmen’s Union, Local 2020 v Garmon, 359 US 236, 244). However, states should continue to regulate areas of “a merely peripheral concern of the Labor Management Relations Act” (id. at 243), “[o]r where the regulated conduct touched interests so deeply rooted in local feeling and responsibility” (id. at 244). “Congress has been sensitive to the importance of the States’ interest in fashioning their own unemployment compensation programs and especially their own eligibility criteria” (New York Tel. Co. v New York State Dept. of Labor, 440 US 519, 539). It is our view that Local 54’s argument, that if it is forced to pay unemployment insurance premiums it will be discouraged from compensating union officers for lost work time and that, in turn, will discourage union members from serving as officers, addresses only a peripheral concern of the Labor Management Relations Act, especially when compared to the regulation and collection of unemployment insurance benefits by New York’s Department of Labor, one of its core functions which is indisputably of substantial economic importance to the state. Hence, we hold that the National Labor Relations Act does not preempt New York’s unemployment insurance statute.
Mercure, J.P., Peters, Lahtinen and Kane, JJ., concur. Ordered that the decision is affirmed, without costs.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.