APPEALS COURT GIVES RELIEF TO ALBERTSON'S EMPLOYEES

SEATTLE -- Employees of Albertson's, Boise, Idaho, can seek judicial relief through the courts without first going through the grievance-arbitration procedure, according to a ruling by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals here.

for the United Food and Commercial Workers Union, which is seeking back pay and damages in a class-action suit against the retailer. The suit claims that Albertson's requires employees to do off-the-clock work and discourages them from filing workers' compensation claims for work-related issues.

Mike Read, an Albertson's spokesman, said the retailer was disappointed with the appeals court ruling, "but since it reiterated what the lower court had ruled, it came as no surprise. But it doesn't impact the litigation going forward in any significant way."

In a related case, a U.S. District Court judge in Idaho said the UFCW could amend its lawsuit to include claims that Albertson's had violated the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, which prohibits employers from taking adverse action against employees for exercising any rights granted by an employee benefit plan.

The court said ERISA claims could be included, based on the union's contention that Albertson's had threatened to impose discipline on employees for reporting off-the-clock work that the chain was allegedly encouraging.

According to Read, the court's decision allowing inclusion of the ERISA claims "was not an endorsement of the merits of those claims but reflected the court's opinion that it could not determine beyond doubt that the claims were futile."