Source: https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/appellate-courts/F2/660/1116/42037/
Timestamp: 2019-10-17 20:31:02
Document Index: 171221252

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 2000', '§ 703', '§ 2000', '§ 703', '§ 703', '§ 703', '§ 703', '§ 703', '§ 703', '§ 703']

26 Fair Empl.prac.cas. 1695,27 Empl. Prac. Dec. P 32,161lawrence Taylor, Plaintiff-appellant, v. Mueller Co.; International Association of Machinists Andaerospace Workers, Local # 56, Defendants-appellees, 660 F.2d 1116 (6th Cir. 1981) :: Justia
Justia › US Law › Case Law › Federal Courts › Courts of Appeals › Sixth Circuit › 1981 › 26 Fair Empl.prac.cas. 1695,27 Empl. Prac. Dec. P 32,161lawrence Taylor, Plaintiff-appellant, v. Mue...
26 Fair Empl.prac.cas. 1695,27 Empl. Prac. Dec. P 32,161lawrence Taylor, Plaintiff-appellant, v. Mueller Co.; International Association of Machinists Andaerospace Workers, Local # 56, Defendants-appellees, 660 F.2d 1116 (6th Cir. 1981)
US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit - 660 F.2d 1116 (6th Cir. 1981) Argued June 5, 1981. Decided Oct. 5, 1981
It should be borne in mind that this is an individual action in which the plaintiff seeks promotion or pay equalization, back pay and attorney fees. Based upon the conclusions (a) that the present seniority system was not established with an intent to discriminate and (b) that the system has been maintained and operated free of discriminatory purpose, the Court further concludes that the present seniority system is bona fide and that the defendants by establishing and maintaining the system have not violated 42 USC §§ 2000e et seq. See Teamsters v. United States, 431 U.S. 324, 97 S. Ct. 1843, 52 L. Ed. 2d 396 (1977).
Though Title VII proscribes all racial discrimination in employment practices, § 703(h), 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-2(h), permits an employer to establish different employment standards pursuant to a bona fide seniority system.1 This section was dealt with extensively by the Supreme Court in Teamsters v. United States, 431 U.S. 324, 97 S. Ct. 1843, 52 L. Ed. 2d 396 (1977). The seniority system in Teamsters was similar in many respects to the one in effect at the Mueller Co. Benefits were calculated on the basis of company seniority, but seniority within the particular bargaining unit controlled for job bidding and other competitive purposes. It differed from the Mueller system in that upon transfer to a more desirable job in a different unit an employee was forced to forfeit all competitive seniority acquired in his previous unit and start at the bottom of the list in his new unit. This system "locked" all workers into the units where they began employment, but worked most strongly to the disadvantage of minority employees who had been denied the opportunity to acquire the better jobs at the time of hire. The system had the effect of perpetuating past discriminatory practices by discouraging minority employees from transferring to the more desirable jobs even after they were free to make such transfers. The "disincentive" was loss of competitive seniority which they had acquired in their previous units.
The Courts held that except for § 703(h) the seniority system under review in Teamsters would be illegal as a practice "fair in form, but discriminatory in operation" because it perpetuated the effects of prior discrimination. 431 U.S. at 349, 97 S. Ct. at 1861. The Court concluded, however, that Congress intended to extend "a measure of immunity" to seniority systems which had this "freezing effect." Id. at 350, 97 S. Ct. at 1862. The Court rejected the argument that no seniority system which tends to perpetuate pre-Act discrimination can be bona fide:
Id. at 353-54, 97 S. Ct. at 1864.
In concluding that the seniority system in Teamsters was "entirely bona fide," the Court noted a number of its features: it applied equally to all races; to the extent it "locked" employees into less desirable jobs, it did so for all, though the overwhelming majority of those who were discouraged by the system were white; maintaining separate bargaining units was rational and in accord with industry practice. It was conceded by the plaintiffs that the system did not have its genesis in racial discrimination and that it was negotiated and maintained free of any discriminatory purpose. Since the seniority system was bona fide, employees who suffered only pre-Act discrimination were entitled to no relief. Id. at 355-56, 97 S. Ct. at 1864-65.
The Court also dealt with the failure of post-Act discriminatees to apply for one of the more desirable jobs after they were made available. Holding that failure of an incumbent employee to apply for such a job after July 2, 1965 was not "an inexorable bar to an award of retroactive seniority," the Court stated that such persons must be given an opportunity "to undertake their difficult task of proving that they should be treated as applicants." 431 U.S. at 364, 97 S. Ct. at 1869.
The Supreme Court also dealt with § 703(h) in California Brewers Assn. v. Bryant, 444 U.S. 598, 100 S. Ct. 814, 63 L. Ed. 2d 55 (1980), but that decision merely determined that certain provisions of a collective bargaining agreement constituted a seniority system. The case was remanded to give the plaintiff an opportunity to show that "the seniority system established by the Agreement is not 'bona fide' or that the differences in employment conditions that it has produced are 'the result of an intention to discriminate because of race.' " 444 U.S. at 610-11, 100 S. Ct. at 821-822.
In Alexander v. Aero Lodge No. 735, IAM, 565 F.2d 1364 (6th Cir. 1977), cert. denied, 436 U.S. 946, 98 S. Ct. 2849, 56 L. Ed. 2d 787 (1978), this court considered a seniority system which had the effect of perpetuating past discriminatory policies and concluded that it came within the § 703(h) exception. In Alexander this court also held that a black employee who failed to apply for a promotion though he was aware of the bidding requirement was not subjected to discriminatory post-Act practices. 565 F.2d at 1384.
Other courts of appeals have written extensively on § 703(h). In James v. Stockham Valves & Fittings Co., 559 F.2d 310, 352 (5th Cir. 1977), cert. denied, 434 U.S. 1034, 98 S. Ct. 767, 54 L. Ed. 2d 781 (1978), the court identified four factors which the Supreme Court had "focused" on in Teamsters:
The Fifth Circuit has followed the procedures outlined in James in Fisher v. Proctor & Gamble Mfg. Co., 613 F.2d 527 (5th Cir. 1980), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 101 S. Ct. 929, 66 L. Ed. 2d 845 (1981); Swint v. Pullman-Standard, 624 F.2d 525 (5th Cir. 1980), cert. granted, --- U.S. ----, 101 S. Ct. 1972, 68 L. Ed. 2d 293 (1981); United States v. Georgia Power Co., 634 F.2d 929 (5th Cir. 1981), and Terrell v. United States Pipe & Foundry Co., 644 F.2d 1112 (5th Cir. 1981). The Fifth Circuit's analysis was explicitly applied in Sears v. Atchison, T. & S. F. Ry., No. 79-1995/97/98 (10th Cir., March 11, 1981), and was implicitly approved in Younger v. Glamorgan Pipe & Foundry Co., 21 E.P.D. P 30, 406 (W.D. Va. 1979), aff'd per curiam, 621 F.2d 96 (4th Cir. 1980).
Decision of cases involving § 703(h) rests on the facts related to the seniority system under scrutiny; a case by case analysis is required. See James, supra, 559 F.2d at 352. Examining the record before us we must conclude that the seniority system of the Mueller Co. is bona fide when tested by the criteria of Teamsters. There is no doubt that the system tends to perpetuate some of the effects of past discriminatory employment practices. But this fact alone is not enough. Teamsters, supra, 431 U.S. at 353-54, 97 S. Ct. at 1863-64. The system is, and always has been, facially neutral, and prior to 1965 it "locked" white as well as black employees. The fact that the black employees were locked into lower job classifications than their white fellow employees is not sufficient to deprive the system of its § 703(h) immunity.
The fact that the seniority system was adopted at a time when Mueller Co. practiced racial discrimination in its employment practices does not establish that the system had its genesis in racial discrimination. In Teamsters Justice Stewart wrote that decisions holding that seniority systems which had their genesis in racial discrimination are not bona fide "can be viewed as resting upon the proposition that a seniority system that perpetuates the effects of pre-Act discrimination cannot be bona fide if an intent to discriminate entered into its very adoption." 431 U.S. at 346 n. 28, 97 S. Ct. at 1860 n. 28. The evidence in the record does not establish that an intent to discriminate entered into the "very adoption" of the Mueller seniority system. One of its effects was to freeze Negroes into the low paying jobs of the service department. However, it was equally rigid in freezing white employees into their department of entry, and thus had an equally limiting effect on the mobility of all employees in the machine division. In light of the undisputed findings of fact by the district court the Teamsters reading of § 703(h) does not permit us to find that the seniority system is not bona fide on this basis. As stated above, there is no proof that any illegal purpose entered into the negotiation of the seniority system. The district court concluded that the seniority system has been maintained and operated without any intent to discriminate by either the employer or the union.