Legal Question in Employment Law in California
I have a question regarding exhausting of administrative remedies before seeking judicial relief. I worked for a National Lab in a union that has a grievance process. The process is very flawed and Staff Relations will deny processing grievances at all cost. However I did seek answers from senior managers but not from the Lab Director himself. There is a case from my union in 1994 Bockover vs Perko where the case was dismissed because the administrative process was not exhausted. In the decision this was cited - Those seeking recovery in court must first exhaust administrative remedies unless they "can positively state that the [agency] has declared what its ruling will be in the particular case ...." (Gantner & Mattern Co. v. California E. Com. (1941) 17 Cal. 2d 314, 318 [109 P.2d 932]
Despite filing an official grievance, I did ask questions on several occasions and received answers via email and official memo. Will these answers qualify as "positively knowing the agencies answer"?
An example would be would I receive my yearly retention bonus in which the reply in memorandum was I would not be issued the retention bonus because I did not met one of the requirements (they did list the specific requirement).
The next step would be to seek relief because in my opinion the reason I didn't meet all requirements in this one example is because they lied about a policy that doesn't exist which caused for a temporary clearance suspension from Department of Energy, in which an administrative law judge from DOE stated at not time did the Lab positively state this policy to anyone and managers admitted in the hearing the policy did not exist.
1 Answer from Attorneys
You state that you filed an official grievance, but then go on to write as though you did not file anything at all. As such, it is hard to understand what you did and did not do with respect to your claim.
In any event, the exception you cite as to the rule of exhausting administrative remedies is extremely narrow. Fitting within that exception is an uphill battle for almost any employee.
You need to meet with a plaintiff-side labor lawyer to evaluate your chances of success as to any claim by your employer that you failed to exhaust your administrative remedies.
Related Questions & Answers
Looking for something else?
10,200 active attorneys ready to answer your legal questions today.
Featured Attorneys
Earn additional revenue and grow your business.
