August Paul Rossi v. Trans World Airlines, Inc.

Rossi, a flight engineer employed by TWA, enrolled in the company’s First Officer Training Program. Because his progress in the program was unsatisfactory, he was dismissed from the program and discharged as flight engineer. The Pilots’ System Board of Adjustment, an arbitration board established by the collective bargaining agreement pursuant to the mandate of the Railroad Labor Act as applied to air carriers, 45 U.S.C. § 184 , sustained his dismissal.

Rossi sought reinstatement in district court, claiming that failure to complete the training program bore no rational relationship to his ability to continue serving as flight engineer. The court refused to review the Board’s award and granted TWA summary judgment. Ros-si appeals. We affirm.

Awards of the National Railroad Adjustment Board (NRAB) enjoy the same finality as awards of arbitration panels. Gunther v. San Diego & A.E.R. Co., 382 U.S. 257, 263 , 86 S.Ct. 368 , 15 L.Ed.2d 308 (1965); Barrett v. Manufacturers R. Co., 453 F.2d 1305 , 1307 (8th Cir. 1972). Therefore, whether awards of airline adjustment boards established pursuant to 45 U.S.C. § 184 should be treated like those of private arbitration boards rather…