Clyde Stanley Bernhardt, Jr. v. American Airlines, Inc., and Allied Pilots Association

Bernhardt, discharged from his position as a pilot for American Airlines, Inc., (American) sought the assistance of the Allied Pilots Association (APA), a union of which he was then a member. APA, at Bernhardt’s request, filed a grievance with American in line with a collective bargaining agreement between the union and American, dated June 1, 1970. Following the filing of the grievance, a hearing concerning the propriety of the discharge was conducted by a Pilot System Board of Adjustment. The grievance procedure and the adjustment Board had, through collective bargaining, been established under the requirements of the Railway Labor Act, 45 U.S.C. § 151 et seq. The Adjustment Board’s five members consisted of two representatives of APA, two representatives of American, and a neutral arbitrator. After a full hearing, the Adjustment Board sustained Bernhardt’s discharge, concluding:

Thereafter, Bernhardt instituted suit against American and APA in the District Court. The complaint was drawn in five counts, but essentially, Bernhardt’s claims were that his rights under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-2, had been violated; that his equal…