266
Opinion of the Court
cutting the RLA's prohibition "against unilateral imposition of new contractual terms," id., at 306, the Court held that a dispute would be deemed minor only if there was a sincere, nonfrivolous argument that it turned on the application of the existing agreement, that is, if it was "arguably justified" by that agreement. Obviously, this test said nothing about the threshold question whether the dispute was subject to the RLA in the first place.
III
Returning to the action before us, the question under Lingle is whether respondent's state-law wrongful-discharge claims are independent of the CBA. Petitioners argue that resort to the CBA is necessary to determine whether respondent, in fact, was discharged. This argument is fore-closed by Lingle itself. Lingle teaches that the issue to be decided in this action—whether the employer's actions make out the element of discharge under Hawaii law—is a "purely factual questio[n]." 486 U. S., at 407.
Nor are we persuaded by petitioners' contention that the state tort claims require a determination whether the discharge, if any, was justified by respondent's failure to sign the maintenance record, as the CBA required him to do. Although such a determination would be required with regard to respondent's separate allegation of discharge in violation of the CBA, the District Court dismissed that count as preempted by the RLA, and respondent does not challenge that dismissal. The state tort claims, by contrast, require only the purely factual inquiry into any retaliatory motive of the employer.
Accordingly, we agree with the Supreme Court of Hawaii that respondent's claims for discharge in violation of public policy and in violation of the Hawaii Whistleblower Protection Act are not pre-empted by the RLA, and we affirm that court's judgment.
It is so ordered.
Page: Index Previous 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21Last modified: October 4, 2007