Michele Haydel Gehrke

As an expert on the Railway Labor Act, Gehrke, for the most part, only takes on airlines as clients.

Gehrke handles a range of matters for airlines from minor disputes concerning arbitration processes in negotiating a collective bargaining agreement to major disputes with contract issues.

Practicing for more than 17 years, the bulk of Gehrke’s work lies in navigating the nuances of the Railway Labor Act, which not too many attorneys are familiar with, according to Polsinelli’s traditional labor relations practice chair.

“One of the interesting nuances of the RLA is that you don’t have the equivalent of the National Labor Relations Board,” she said. “There is a national mediation board which handles representation disputes, but no adjudicative bodies that handle practices.”

In a closely watched matter concerning one of the first social media cases being litigated in federal court under the act, Gehrke is lead counsel for Southwest Airlines Co. The plaintiff, a former flight attendant, alleged the airline and her union unjustly terminated her for sending graphic anti-abortion Facebook videos to her union president.

“As we move into the social media era, it would be helpful for airlines and railroads to have some guidance on what they can do on social media accounts,” she said. “No equivalent of National Labor Relations Board to issue memos as to how it should interpret the statutes.”

Because there is no forum to bring her grievances under the act, the plaintiff brought her claim as a grievance, which went to arbitration, and then took a “second bite at the apple” by filing a federal court case.

Although there were no contract terms prohibiting employees from filing a complaint in federal court, Gehrke said it was “inappropriate” because she had the chance to argue her case in arbitration, which upheld her termination.

Gehrke and her team will be seeking complete dismissal of the case. Carter v. Transport Workers Union of America Local 556, 17CV02278 (E.D. Tex., filed Aug. 25, 2017).

— Winston Cho