01-3513 Tice, et al., v. American Airlines, Inc.

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“[T]he question for us is not whether there may be a violation of the age discrimination law lurking somewhere here; the airline’s claim to treat all disqualified captains alike regardless of age is contested, and if it discriminates against captains disqualified by virtue of their age it is violating the law. Trans World Airlines, Inc. v. Thurston, 469 U.S. 111, 120-21 (1985). Rather, the question is whether the plaintiffs’ suit is dependent on their preferred interpretation of the agreement, in which event they should be in arbitration; and the answer to that question is yes. The only basis on which the plaintiffs could be entitled to bump existing holders of the flight-officer positions is if the collective bargaining agreement between the airline and its pilots’ union entitles more senior pilots to bump less senior ones from those positions. In the absence of such a contractual provision, an employer would have no duty to give another job to an employee validly disqualified from holding his present job.”

Modified and remanded.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Kennelly, J., Posner, J.