not the court, who has the responsibility to interpret the labor contract in the first instance," Lueck, 471 U.S. at 220.
Kobold v. Good Samaritan Reg’l Med. Ctr., 832 F.3d 1024, 1033 (9th Cir. 2016). Masserant’s claim implicates neither of the aforementioned concerns: she does not claim under the guise of a tort lawsuit that Alaska Airlines breached its contract with her, nor does she ask the court to interpret her CBA.
A. Masserant’s complaint with the Department of Labor & Industries involves a right that exists, if at all, by virtue of state law.
Burnside made clear that the operative inquiry at the first step of this preemption analysis is whether the right at issue is conferred by state law or by the CBA. See Burnside, 491 F.3d at 1059. "[T]o determine whether a particular right inheres in state law," courts "consider 'the legal character of [the] claim, as independent of rights under the collectivebargaining agreement [and] not whether a grievance arising from precisely the same set of facts could be pursued.'" Id. at 1060 (second alteration in original) (quoting Livadas, 512 U.S. at 123).
It is easy to imagine another similarly situated flight attendant who might be bound to arbitration, such as an employee who contests whether she had accrued the leave at issue. Because the CBA determines how available leave should be calculated, this hypothetical flight attendant’s asserted right would arise from the CBA, and, at step one our analysis would end. See Burnside, 491 F.3d at 1059. Masserant’s claim is different because she asserts a different
