et al. Glidden Company v. Zdanok

The workers at the Durkee plant claimed that their seniority rights applied to the new plant that Durkee opened when they closed the one in Elmhurst. From the management's point of view, this was an infringement of their rights, forcing them to hire workers and then to give them seniority rights at the new company. (Seniority rights often apply to other issues besides layoffs, such as choice of vacation dates, choice of shifts, right to have holidays off, etc . . . )

Workers and managers from the Durkee Food Division fought about this issue in the Second Circuit Court of Appeals in New York. That court eventually ruled that the workers did indeed have seniority rights at Durkee's new factory in Bethlehem. However, there was something unusual about the second circuit court at the time. On the bench sat Judge Joseph W. Madden, who was not actually a federal circuit court judge but one from the U.S. Court of Claims.