Salt River Project Agricultura v. Reynold Lee

I. BACKGROUND

Salt River Project Agricultural Improvement and Power District co-owns a power plant called the Navajo Generating Station on Navajo reservation land in northern Arizona. Head- 5882 SALT RIVER PROJECT v. LEE water Resources, Inc. is a contractor employed by Salt River Project at the power plant. When they fired two Navajo Nation employees who worked at the power plant, the employees filed charges with the Office of Navajo Labor Relations alleging that they were fired without just cause in violation of the Navajo Preference in Employment Act, 15 Navajo Nation Code §§ 601 et seq. The Office of Navajo Labor Relations issued right-to-sue notices to both former employees, who then filed complaints with the Navajo Nation Labor Commission. Salt River Project and Headwaters defended the claims on, among other grounds, the theory that the Navajo Nation lacked authority to regulate employment matters at the power plant under (1) the terms of a 1969 lease between the Navajo Nation and Salt River Project for the land on which the power plant is located, which waived the tribe’s right to regulate employment relations at the power plant,1 and (2) a federal…