Angela Schlacter-Jones v. General Telephone of California Patricia Leathers Carol Todd Doug Bartrip

Angela Schlacter-Jones was terminated by GTE California, Inc. because she tested positive for drugs. The terms and conditions of her employment were governed by a collective bargaining agreement between GTE and her union, the Communications Workers of America. She appeals the district court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of GTE and its employees, Patricia Leathers, Carol Todd and Doug Baxter (together, “GTE”) and the district court’s denial of her motion for leave to amend the complaint.

Schlacter-Jones’s appeal requires that we revisit whether § 301 of the Labor Management Relations Act (“LMRA”), 29 U.S.C. § 185 (a), preempts various state law and state constitutional claims. The district court concluded that each is preempted. The court also denied Schlacter-Jones’s motion for leave to amend, filed after GTE moved for summary judgment, because of undue delay and futility of the amended pleadings. The district court exercised jurisdiction pursuant to 29 U.S.C. § 185 (a) and 28 U.S.C. §§ 1441 , 1446, and we have jurisdiction over the appeal pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1291 . We affirm.

I

Schlacter-Jones, a member of the Communications Workers of America (“Union”), began…