Construction Company Fails to Revive Employee Benefit Plans Suit

A Michigan road construction company couldn’t convince a federal appeals court Friday that a dispute over its workers’ benefit plans belonged in court instead of before the National Labor Relations Board.

A lower court correctly dismissed Reith-Riley Construction Co.'s lawsuit as preempted under the doctrine established by the US Supreme Court in San Diego Bldg. Trades Council v. Garmon, Judge Eric L. Clay said. The US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit affirmed the district court’s dismissal without prejudice of Reith-Riley’s Employee Retirement Income Security Act lawsuit.

The “mere fact that Plaintiffs purport to bring a claim under ...