De Souza Silva v. Pioneer Janitorial Services

Pricilla de Souza Silva (plaintiff) was employed by Pioneer Janitorial Services, Inc. (Pioneer) (defendant) and a member of the Service Employees International Union (union) (plaintiff). Silva’s supervisor allegedly sexually harassed Silva on a regular basis for multiple years. Silva filed a grievance report with the union, alleging the harassment under the collective-bargaining agreement (CBA) between the union and Pioneer. The CBA prohibited discrimination based on sex and allowed employees to pursue claims through the CBA’s grievance and arbitration procedure or any other legal forum. However, once an employee submitted a claim through a forum, that forum would be the sole and exclusive forum for the claim. The grievance procedure required three steps involving a series of written notifications and answers, as well as requested hearings. If the issue was not resolved by the third step, the union had exclusive power to refer the matter to arbitration. Neither Pioneer nor the union responded to Silva’s grievance in accordance with the grievance procedure. No hearing occurred on the sexual-harassment claims, and the union did not pursue the matter into arbitration. Silva filed suit in Massachusetts state court, and Pioneer removed the case to federal court. The union intervened as a plaintiff. Pioneer moved to dismiss the case, arguing that Silva waived her right to sue by filing a grievance and electing to proceed under the CBA’s grievance procedure instead of litigation.