## Facts

- The NFLPA and the NFL Management Council entered a collective bargaining agreement (CBA) for 1993–2000 containing an agency-shop clause requiring players, as a condition of employment “wherever and whenever legal,” to pay union dues or an equivalent service fee, and requiring clubs to suspend non-paying players “wherever and whenever legal.”
- Pro-Football, Inc. (the Washington Redskins) played home games in the District of Columbia but maintained its primary practice facility and substantial operations in Virginia.
- The NFLPA notified the NFL Management Council that player Terry Orr and 36 other Redskins players had not paid required dues or fees and demanded their suspension under the CBA.
- After the club refused, the NFLPA pursued a CBA grievance; the arbitrator concluded the players’ predominant job situs was the District of Columbia and issued an award requiring enforcement of the agency-shop obligation.
- While arbitration was pending, Orr obtained a temporary restraining order in Virginia state court preventing his suspension; the Virginia court treated Virginia as the predominant job situs and indicated the union-security requirement was unlawful under Virginia law.
- The NFLPA filed suit in federal court seeking enforcement of the arbitration award and an injunction compelling the club to suspend non-paying players; the club counterclaimed for a declaration that the award was void and unenforceable.

## Issues

1. Whether the arbitrator correctly treated the District of Columbia as the players’ predominant job situs for determining when the CBA’s agency-shop clause was “legal,” or whether Virginia law governed.
2. Whether enforcing the arbitration award would violate an explicit, well-defined, and dominant public policy reflected in Virginia’s statutory restrictions on compelled union dues/service fees, warranting vacatur of the award.

## Decision

- The court denied the NFLPA’s request to enforce the arbitration award and to obtain injunctive relief compelling player suspensions.
- The court granted summary judgment to Pro-Football, Inc. on its counterclaim and vacated the arbitration award as unenforceable.
- The court held Virginia, not the District of Columbia, was the players’ predominant job situs for purposes of the CBA’s “wherever and whenever legal” limitation.
- The court concluded that, under Virginia law and public policy, compelled dues/service fees as a condition of employment could not be enforced against the players, making the award contrary to public policy.

## Legal Principles

- Federal courts generally defer to labor arbitration awards under a CBA, but may refuse enforcement where the award conflicts with an explicit, well-defined, and dominant public policy.
- When a CBA’s union-security obligation is limited to circumstances “wherever and whenever legal,” enforceability turns on which jurisdiction’s law governs the employees’ predominant job situs.
- If the governing jurisdiction’s employment law prohibits compulsory union dues or equivalent fees as a condition of employment, an award compelling an employer to impose such a requirement (including suspensions for nonpayment) is unenforceable on public-policy grounds.

## Conclusion

The court vacated an arbitration award requiring the Washington Redskins to suspend players who did not pay union dues or service fees, holding that Virginia was the players’ predominant job situs and that enforcing the agency-shop obligation would contravene Virginia’s public policy against compulsory union-security payments.


Nat’l Football League Players Ass’n v. Pro-Football, Inc., 857 F. Supp. 71 (D.D.C. 1994)