Case Name: Mildred Lee ROGERS, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. FRITOLAY, INCORPORATED, Defendant-Appellee. Howard L. MOON, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. ROADWAY EXPRESS, INC., Defendant-Appellee
Court: United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
Jurisdiction: United States
Decision Date: 1980-02-15
Citations: 611 F.2d 1074
Docket Number: Nos. 77-2443, 77-3263
Parties: Mildred Lee ROGERS, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. FRITO-LAY, INCORPORATED, Defendant-Appellee. Howard L. MOON, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. ROADWAY EXPRESS, INC., Defendant-Appellee.
Judges: Before GOLDBERG, FAY and RUBIN, Circuit Judges.
Reporter: Federal Reporter 2d Series
Volume: 611
Pages: 1074–1109

Head Matter:
Mildred Lee ROGERS, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. FRITO-LAY, INCORPORATED, Defendant-Appellee. Howard L. MOON, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. ROADWAY EXPRESS, INC., Defendant-Appellee.
Nos. 77-2443, 77-3263.
United States Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit.
Feb. 15, 1980.
James C. Barber, Dallas, Tex., for plaintiff-appellant in No. 77-2443.
William A. Wright, Susan A. Cahoon, Duane C. Aldrich, Atlanta, Ga., for defendant-appellee in No. 77-2443.
Beverly B. Bates, Atlanta, Ga., for plaintiff-appellant in No. 77-3263.
Brian J. Linn, Staff Atty., Nat. Center for Law and the Handicapped, Inc., for Nat’l Center for Law and the Handicapped, Inc., Kent Hull, Director, South Bend, Ind., amicus curiae in No. 77-3263.
Charles Kelso, Ann Margaret Pointer, Atlanta, Ga., for defendant-appellee in No. 77-3263.
Before GOLDBERG, FAY and RUBIN, Circuit Judges.
. 29 U.S.C. § 793 provides:
§ 793. Employment under Federal contracts (a) Amount of contracts or subcontracts; provision for employment and advancement of qualified handicapped individuals; regulations. Any contract in excess of $2,500 entered into by any Federal department or agency for the procurement of personal property and nonpersonal services (including construction) for the United States shall contain a provision requiring that, in employing persons to carry out such contract the party contracting with the United States shall take affirmative action to employ and advance in employment qualified handicapped individuals as defined in section 7(7) [29 USCS § 706(7)]. The provisions of this section shall apply to any subcontract in excess of $2,500 entered into by a prime contractor in carrying out any contract for the procurement of personal property and nonpersonal services (including construction) for the United States. The President shall implement the provisions of this section by promulgating regulations within ninety days after the date of enactment of this section [enacted Sept. 26, 1973],
(b) Administrative enforcement; complaints; investigations; departmental action. If any handicapped individual believes any contrac- tor has failed or refuses to comply with the provisions of his contract with the United States, relating to employment of handicapped individuals, such individual may file a complaint with the Department of Labor. The Department shall promptly investigate such complaint and shall take such action thereon as the facts and circumstances warrant, consistent with the terms of such contract and the laws and regulations applicable thereto.
This provision is part of the same act as section 504, 29 U.S.C. § 794, but must be distinguished from it. Section 504.provides as follows:
§ 794. Nondiscrimination under Federal grants and programs
No otherwise qualified handicapped individual in the United States, as defined in section 7(7) [29 USCS § 706(7)], shall, solely by reason of his handicap, be excluded from the participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance or under any program or activity conducted by any Executive agency or by the United States Postal Service. The head of each such agency shall promulgate such regulations as may be necessary to carry out the amendments to this section made by the Rehabilitation, Comprehensive Services, and Developmental Disabilities Act of 1978 [Act Nov. 6, 1978; see Amendment note]. Copies of any proposed regulation shall be submitted to appropriate authorizing committees of the Congress, and such regulation may take effect no earlier than the thirtieth day after the date on which such regulation is so submitted to such committees.

Opinion:
ALVIN B. RUBIN, Circuit Judge:
The issue before us can be simply stated: section 503 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 requires every contract in excess of $2,500 with any federal department to "contain a provision requiring that, in employing persons to carry out" the contract, the contracting parties "shall take affirmative action to employ and advance in employment qualified handicapped individuals." 29 U.S.C. § 793. It also provides that any handicapped individual who believes any contractor has failed to comply with this agreement may file a complaint with the Department of Labor. Does this statute also impliedly authorize such an individual to file a civil action in a United States District Court seeking damages for the contractor's failure?
Because each of these cases comes to us on appeal from a judgment of dismissal for failure to state a claim, we assume that, as alleged in the complaints, each of the plaintiffs is a qualified handicapped person and each was discharged because of handicaps. This merely means our inquiry is warranted; it is not decisive, for the heart of the problem is whether Congress intended to benefit the qualified handicapped by giving them a particular right: the right to sue in federal court for relief from the discriminatory conduct of federal contractors.
The Rehabilitation Act of 1973 was adopted after presidential vetoes had stymied two earlier attempts to enhance federal aid to handicapped persons. Most of the controversy surrounding the bill and its predecessors focused on wide ranging programs, to be federally funded, designed to aid handicapped persons in assuming a full role in society, and on the appropriations that would be required if the measure were adopted. Consequently, Congress devoted little of its discussion to its intentions regarding section 503. See Sen.Rep.No. 93-318, 93d Cong., 1st Sess., pp. 12-16 (1973), U.S.Code Cong. & Admin.News, p. 2076. The statute's muteness, therefore, is not given meaning by voices in the legislative background. The plaintiffs ask us to find not only significance in the silence, but also the specific message of intent to bestow a private cause of action.
Federal courts are not common law courts of general jurisdiction. Limited by the express language of the Constitution, and the functional role it allots to the judiciary, we can recognize the cause of action only if it has been created by statute. See Cannon v. University of Chicago, 1979, 441 U.S. 677, 717, 99 S.Ct. 1946, 1968, 60 L.Ed.2d 560, 587 (Rehnquist, J., concurring). Therefore, our answer to the question in this case depends, the authorities and the parties all agree, on whether Congress intended, when this statute was enacted, to create such a method of enforcing the statutory policy. Because Congress did not speak to us unequivocally, either in the statute or in some other authoritative fashion, we must seek an answer in the history of enactment of the statute and in analogies. to what the courts have derived from other statutes.
Having done so, in a manner we describe below, we have concluded that Congress has not authorized a private cause of action.
I.
In two cases decided within the last five years, the Supreme Court, summarizing its reflections in other prior cases, has told us how to seek intimations sufficient to read statutory silence as affirmative or negative. Cort v. Ash, 1975, 422 U.S. 66, 95 S.Ct. 2080, 45 L.Ed.2d 26; Cannon v. University of Chicago, 1979, 441 U.S. 677, 99 S.Ct. 1946, 60 L.Ed.2d 560. We are directed to consider four factors; but we are warned, as we should surely already know, that mechanical adherence to any multiple-part test is injurious and negates the very judgmental wisdom that is sought from courts. See id. at 717, 99 S.Ct. at 1968, 60 L.Ed.2d at 587 (Rehnquist, J., concurring). Our obligation is to determine, to the best of our abilities, whether Congress intended to create the private right of action plaintiffs seek to bring in federal court; even were we satisfied that some of the Cort factors supported implying such a right, we could not do so if unconvinced that Congress intended such a remedy. See Transamerica Mortgage Advisors, Inc. v. Lewis, 1979,-U.S.-, 100 S.Ct. 242, 62 L.Ed.2d 146; Touche Ross & Co. v. Redington, 1979, 442 U.S. 560, 99 S.Ct. 2479, 61 L.Ed.2d 82.
A. Was the plaintiff one of the class for whose especial benefit the statute was enacted?
The statute was intended at the least to direct federal agencies to use their purchasing power so as to improve employment opportunities for "qualified handicapped persons." But it would be facile simply to conclude that, because Congress had handicapped persons in mind when it enacted section 503 and mentioned them in the statute, the first Cort factor is satisfied. What Cort demands is not that we determine whether Congress intended to aid a particular class of persons, but that we ascertain whether Congress intended to "create a federal right in favor of the plaintiff." Cort v. Ash, 1975, 422 U.S. 66, 78, 95 S.Ct. 2080, 2088, 45 L.Ed.2d 26, 36. To this end, "the right— or duty-creating language of the statute has generally been the most accurate indicator of the propriety of implication of a cause of action." Cannon v. University of Chicago, 1979, 441 U.S. 677, 690 n. 13, 99 S.Ct. 1946, 1954 n. 13, 60 L.Ed.2d 560, 571 n. 13.
The words of the statute, which are remarkably plain and jargon-free, do not indicate that it is aimed at overcoming those barriers to the employment of a qualified handicapped person that can be surmounted only by costly action or major programs. What is required of the employer could be as simple as providing a ramp for wheelchairs over a stairway or as complex as installing altered machinery, or it may, of course, be that apparently simple but much more difficult problem of eliminating prejudice, a disease so deep rooted that it caused Clemenceau to say, "a citizen is sometimes called upon to make a greater sacrifice for his country than the sacrifices of his life, namely, to sacrifice his prejudices."
The statutory language does not imply on its face any intention to endow the handicapped with a direct suit after suffering handicap-based discrimination. It merely requires those who give out federal contracts to obligate contractors to take affirmative steps to employ and advance handicapped persons. The duty it directly creates is imposed upon federal departments and agencies, not upon contractors. The statute does not confer a clearly defined right on the benefitted class. There is no intimation that every qualified handicapped person has a right to affirmative action in his particular case; what is apparent is that those who control federal contracts have a duty to make and enforce contracts containing the requisite clause. The handicapped may have simply the right to petition those who administer federal contracts to perform their duty.
The language of the statute is thus unlike those statutes that unequivocally focus on the benefitted class in their right — or duty-creating language. See, e. g., id., 441 U.S. at 681 n. 3, 99 S.Ct. at 1950 n. 3, 60 L.Ed.2d at 567 n. 3 ("No person . . . shall be excluded . . . ." 20 U.S.C. § 1681); Allen v. State Board of Elections, 393 U.S. 544, 554-55, 89 S.Ct. 817, 825-26, 22 L.Ed.2d 1, 11. ("No person shall be denied . . ."). It is, however, not unlike language that the Cannon court indicated would be sterile ground for implying a cause of action: "[t]here would be far less reason to infer a private remedy in favor of individual persons if Congress . . . had written [the statute] simply as a ban on discriminatory conduct by recipients of federal funds or as a prohibition against the disbursement of public funds to . institutions engaged in discriminatory practices." Cannon v. University of Chicago, 1979, 441 U.S. 677, 690-93 and n. 14, 99 S.Ct. 1946,1954-55 and n. 14, 60 L.Ed.2d 560, 571-573 and n. 14 (footnote omitted). Here, that is precisely what Congress did.
The duty-creating phrases are not conclusive, but they make inference of a private cause of action more difficult. When a statute is structured as a directive to federal agencies and does not clearly define a right inhering in individual members of a benefitted class, there must be persuasive evidence in the legislative history that Congress intended to confer such a right before the courts are justified in concluding that one exists. See Transamerica Mortgage Advisors, Inc. v. Lewis, 1979,-U.S. -, 100 S.Ct. 242, 62 L.Ed.2d 146.
B. Is there any indication of legislative intent, explicit or implicit, either to create such a remedy or to deny one?
In trying to learn Congressional intent by examining the legislative history of a statute, we look to the purpose the original enactment served, the discussion of statutory meaning in committee reports, the effect of amendments — whether accepted or rejected — and the remarks in debate preceding passage.
The scant discussion of section 503 that occurred during the process of enactment of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 does not indicate that Congress contemplated a private right of action for handicapped persons. The only explicit statements of Congressional intent are found in connection with later legislation, corollary to section 503. We are urged to find meaning in section 503 as a result of later statutes and of remarks by individual Congressmen made at a later time.
The retroactive wisdom provided by the subsequent speech of a member of Congress stating that yesterday we meant something that we did not say is an ephemeral guide to history. Though even God cannot alter the past, historians can, compare Samuel Butler, Creation Revisited, c. 14, and other mortals are not free from the temptation to endow yesterday with the wisdom found today. What happened after a statute was enacted may be history and it may come from members of the Congress, but it is not part of the legislative history of the original enactment.
Later statutes may provide guidance. The Supreme Court has on occasion referred to the language of a later statutory amendment, whether independent or amendatory, in interpreting an earlier one. When thus utilized, the role of the later statute is not primarily historical: it repeals, modifies, adds to or subtracts from the earlier one by its own force. Its enactment stems from Congressional legislative power to repeal or alter what it has done. When such a statute has been adopted, the question becomes one of interpreting the two enactments together.
The two amendments to Title Y that have been adopted leave the question of individual right to sue almost as murky as did the original text. In 1974 Congress amended the newly enacted Rehabilitation Act. One of the purposes and results of the amendment was to clarify the definition of "handicapped person" under sections 503 and 504 of the Act. Although the adopted amendment did not affect the substance of either section, the legislators utilized the legislative process to express their views on the intended scope of those sections as originally adopted.
The most extensive discussions of the two sections appear in the Senate Conference Committee Report on the amendments. Sen.Conf.Rep.No. 93-1270, 93d Cong., 2d Sess. 25-28 (1974). Even then, little attention was directed to enforcement of section 503, but section 504 enforcement was discussed in detail. The Report equated section 504 to section 601 of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. § 2000d and section 901 of the Education Amendments of 1972, 20 U.S.C. § 1681. Like those sections, the conferees stated, section 504 is to be enforced by administrative and judicial means, including a private judicial remedy for those harmed by violations of the section.
The Committee failed to make similarly explicit any understanding that section 503 would entail a private judicial remedy. It did, however, note the intent that "sections 503 and 504 be administered in such a manner than a consistent, uniform, and effective federal approach to discrimination against handicapped persons would result." Sen.Conf.Rep.No. 93-1270, supra, at 27. This might prompt the conclusion that a private judicial remedy was intended under both sections. But the occasional mentions of section 503 contain no direct statement of an intention to create a private cause of action. Even as straws in the wind, these statements indicate cross currents rather than a stout breeze from one direction.
The appellants find their strongest argument in an implication they seek to draw from enactment in 1978 of an amendment to the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 that added a new section providing for attorney's fees in any action "to enforce or charge a violation of a provision of this subchapter." This undoubtedly authorizes an attorney's fee in actions brought to enforce section 503; but it does not necessarily follow that the amendment is intended to authorize private individuals to file civil actions under that section.
We are aware that the Senate report states: "the availability of attorney's fees should assist in vindicating private rights of action in the case of section 502 and 503 cases, as well as those arising under section 501 and 504," S.Rep.No. 95-890, 95th Cong.2d Sess. 19 (1978), and that the House report contains similar language.
It may, therefore, fairly be said that the 1978 committees of both Houses assumed that a private cause of action had somehow been created in the past. The existence of such a postulate is neither logical nor legislative basis to conclude that the 1973 statute did in fact create the action; and, if the 1973 statute did not authorize the cause of action, the 1978 statute evidences no intention to create one. An assumption is not a law.
A statement indicating that section 503 creates a private cause of action was made by a Senate Committee in 1979. "The Committee" in 1978 or 1979 is not the committee that recommended the legislation enacted in 1974. Had this statement been made in the report of the committee that recommended the legislation, it would indeed be part of the statutory history. When uttered five years later it is mere commentary. Moreover, a committee is not the Congress. It cannot create a Congressional intent that did not exist, or amend a statute by a report. Cf. In re Beef Industry Antitrust Litigation, 5 Cir. 1979, 589 F.2d 786 (opinion of two Congressmen on applicability of House of Representative's rule is not binding on court; rather, court must evaluate rule with attention to practice of entire Congress).
The legislative history of section 503 is void of explanatory statements contemporaneous with its passage. What happened subsequently is either ambiguous, or an assumption not shown to have been warranted; it is also the product of members of a Congress so distant in time from the enacting Congress that we cannot accept their remarks as an accurate expression of the earlier Congress's intent. We must, therefore, rely on whatever may be implicit in the statute.
The strongest argument for implication of a cause of action is that such a right is created by other provisions of the same law. That analogy is false; it attempts to achieve like conclusions from different premises.
The Rehabilitation Act contains both the provision (section 503) requiring federal contracts to obligate contractors to take affirmative action, 29 U.S.C. § 793, and, in the section immediately following, a provision forbidding discrimination in federal grants. The language of the two sections is different:
29 U.S.C. § 793 (§ 503)
Any contract in excess of $2500 entered into by any Federal department . . . for the procurement of personal property and nonpersonal services . . . shall contain a provision requiring that, in employing persons to carry out such contract the party contracting with the United States shall take affirmative action to employ and advance in employment qualified handicapped individuals. . . .
29 U.S.C. § 794 (§ 504) 29 U.S.l
No otherwise qualified individual in the United States shall, solely by reason of his handicap, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any program or activity reviewing No oth< vidual i reason exclude in, be of, or crimina gram or activity reviewing Federal financial assistance
A number of courts have held that section 504 creates a private cause of action in favor of qualified handicapped persons discriminated against in programs that receive federal grants. See, e. g., United Handicapped Federation v. Andre, 8 Cir. 1977, 558 F.2d 413; Kampmeier v. Nyquist, 2 Cir. 1977, 553 F.2d 296, 299; Lloyd v. Regional Transportation Authority, 7 Cir. 1977, 548 F.2d 1277; Davis v. Bucher, E.D.Pa.1978, 451 F.Supp. 791; Doe v. New York University, S.D.N.Y.1978, 442 F.Supp. 522 (dictum); Barnes v. Converse College, D.S.C. 1977, 436 F.Supp. 635; Gurmankin v. Costanzo, E.D.Pa.1976, 411 F.Supp. 982, aff'd, 3 Cir. 1977, 556 F.2d 184. Moreover, in Cannon v. University of Chicago, 1979, 441 U.S. 677, 99 S.Ct. 1946, 60 L.Ed.2d 560, the Supreme Court found an implied cause of action in Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 for violation of § 901(a) which provides, "No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance."
The parallel in construction between Title IX and section 504 is evident. The differences between this common design and the mandate of section 503 are equally clear: section 503 does not outlaw discrimination; it requires affirmative action covenants to be inserted in government contracts.
Section 503 also incorporates a specific method of enforcing the contractual provision; contractors who do not abide by their undertaking may be subjected to sanctions by the Department of Labor. The statute expressly discusses administrative enforcement and the regulations emphasize conciliation and persuasion as methods of dispute resolution. See 41 C.F.R. § 60-741.26(g)(2). Section 504, on the other hand, does not expressly provide for administrative enforcement.
Save for their common endeavor to aid the handicapped, the two sections have little in common. The words of section 503 convey no message that the same remedies should be available as those afforded for violation of section 504.
The type of assistance afforded by section 503 to aid persons whom the government wishes to benefit by its contracting power has been afforded in the past. Both Executive Order 11246, promulgated in 1965, and its predecessor 10925, promulgated in 1961, required government contractors to agree to include nondiscrimination and affirmative action provisions in their contracts with the Government. We have declined to infer a private cause of action under such an executive order containing language similar to that of section 503. See Farkas v. Texas Instruments, Inc., 5 Cir. 1967, 375 F.2d 629, cert. denied, 389 U.S. 977, 88 S.Ct. 480, 19 L.Ed.2d 471 (Exec. Order 10925); see also Farmer v. Philadelphia Electric Co., 3 Cir. 1964, 329 F.2d 3 (Exec. Order 10925 and predecessors); Traylor v. Safeway Stores, Inc., N.D.Cal.1975, 402 F.Supp. 871 (Exec. Order 11246 as amended by 11375). The rationale of these decisions is that litigation would disrupt the administrative scheme established by the order and the supplementing regulations.
These decisions should have given Congress fair grounds to believe that, when it enacted section 503, federal courts would not infer a private cause of action under it and that, if it intended a different result, it should make its mandate explicit. Cf. Cannon v. University of Chicago, 1979, 441 U.S. 696, 698, 99 S.Ct. 1946, 1957-58, 60 L.Ed.2d 575, 576 (uses the interpretation of Title VI at the time Title IX was enacted to divine Congressional intent concerning Title IX). Indeed, the Executive Order is referred to in the scant legislative history of section 503.
Moreover, our court, like others, has generally not inferred private causes of action under statutes regulating employee-employer relationships. See, e. g., Jeter v. St. Regis Paper Co., 5 Cir. 1975, 507 F.2d 973 (no private right of action under Occupational Health and Safety Act, 29 U.S.C. § 651-678); Martinez v. Behring's Bearings Service, Inc., 5 Cir. 1974, 501 F.2d 104 (no private right of action for wrongful death under Fair Labor Standards Act, 29 U.S.C. § 215(a)(3)); Flores v. George Braun Packing Co., 5 Cir. 1973, 482 F.2d 279 (no implied right against employer for deprivation of job based on illegal employment of foreign nationals under Immigration and Nationality Act, 8 U.S.C. § 1101(a)(15) (A)(ii), 1182(9)(14), 1324); Breitwieser v. KMS Industries, Inc., 5 Cir. 1972, 467 F.2d 1391, cert. denied, 1973, 410 U.S. 969, 93 S.Ct. 1445, 35 L.Ed.2d 705, (no implied right of action to bring a wrongful death action under child labor provisions of Fair Labor Standards Act, 29 U.S.C. § 212); United States v. Lovknit Manufacturing Co., 5 Cir. 1951, 189 F.2d 454, cert. denied, 342 U.S. 896, 72 S.Ct. 229, 96 L.Ed. 671 (no implied right of action under Walsh-Healey Act, 41 U.S.C. § 35-45; dictum).
C. Is it consistent with the underlying purposes of the legislative scheme to imply such a remedy for the plaintiff?
As we have already indicated in differentiating section 503 from both section 504 and Title IX, Congress provided a complete administrative scheme to remedy Section 503 violations. The implementing regulations, set forth at length in the footnote, provide explicit details for the operation of that plan. The administrative emphasis is on "conciliation and persuasion" and on "informal means" of resolution. The regulations make no provision for a private cause of action, suggesting that a private judicial remedy may be difficult to harmonize with the administrative enforcement framework. In addition, Title IX contained a provision for the award of attorney's fees, passed contemporaneously with the act, which indicated that the very Congress that passed the law believed a private cause of action existed.. No corresponding reason exists to buttress the thesis that section 503 was intended to authorize private litigation.
The provision of an express administrative remedy for qualified handicapped persons creates at least some basis to conclude that a private right of action would be inconsistent with the purposes of the legislative scheme. As the Supreme Court has noted, "This principle of statutory construction reflects an ancient maxim — expressio unius est exclusio alterius." National Railroad Passenger Corp. v. National Association of Railroad Passengers, 1974, 414 U.S. 453, 458, 94 S.Ct. 690, 693, 38 L.Ed.2d 646, 652. "[W]hen legislation expressly provides a particular remedy or remedies, courts should not expand the coverage of the statute to subsume other remedies," the Court reasoned. Id. For, " '[w]hen a statute limits a thing to be done in a particular mode, it includes the negative of any other mode.' Botany Worsted Mills v. United States, 278 U.S. 282, 289, 49 S.Ct. 129, 132, 73 L.Ed. 379 (1929)." Id. See also Transamerica Mortgage Advisors, Inc. v. Lewis, 1979, - U.S. -, -, 100 S.Ct. 242, 247, 62 L.Ed.2d 146, 155 ("where a statute expressly provides a particular remedy or remedies, a court must be chary of reading others into it.").
To determine the message to be found in the void of express Congressional statement, we resort neither to our own notions of sound policy nor to our concept of what best suits the public weal.
Where there is silence, as Cannon commands, we seek for affirmative evidence of Congressional intent. Silence may indicate only that the question never occurred to Congress at all, or it may reflect mere oversight in failing to deal with a matter intended to be covered, or it may demonstrate deliberate obscurity to avoid controversy that might defeat the passage of legislation, or it may, indeed, be a result merely of an assumption by Congress that the courts would recognize a private cause of action. The issue is not whether, on the merits, balancing on-the-one-hand with on-the-other, advocates of judicial remedies have a better case than opponents, but whether, considering the purpose and function of the statute and its legislative history, we can find a legislative intent to recognize a judicial remedy.
The task does not lend itself to certitude or dogmatism. Yet principle can shed helpful light even if not the clarity necessary for absolute confidence. The standard is that those who contend a statute has endowed them with a cause of action must establish their proposition. The appellants have not shown that section 503 presents the "atypical situation in which all of the circumstances that the Court has previously identified as supportive of an implied remedy are present," Cannon v. University of Chicago, 1979, 441 U.S. 677, 717, 99 S.Ct. 1946,1968, 60 L.Ed.2d 560, 587, or even that sufficient of them attended its enactment to warrant the implication.
For these reasons, we decline to do judicially what Congress has not done legislatively, and we AFFIRM both judgments.
. Both appellants also attempted to allege causes of action arising under section 504 of the Act, 29 U.S.C. § 794, but those claims were abandoned in the district courts in both instances. The appeal here arises solely under the section 503 claim.
We should also note that, while appellant Moon brought his action solely in his own behalf, appellant Rogers brought her action as a class action. Because the district courts dismissed both actions for the reason that they found no private right of action, this difference in status is not significant in our decision.
The Department of Labor's Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) has authority for administration of this section and has promulgated regulations. See 41 C.F.R. § 60-741 (1978).
. Lest this simple statement of the issue appear to provide an ingenuous answer, we note that plaintiffs ask us not to infer a private action to force the inclusion of affirmative action clauses in federal contracts, but to infer a private action to remedy actions of federal contractors that they claim discriminate against the handicapped.
. Because we are satisfied that the fourth factor in Cort is satisfied — this is not a matter traditionally relegated to state law — we do not discuss it. The crucial inquiry is whether Congress intended a private judicial remedy as part of section 503. The most fruitful direction for that inquiry is a focus on the first three factors in Cort. See Touche Ross & Co. v. Redington, 1979, 442 U.S. 560, 575, 99 S.Ct. 2479, 2489, 61 L.Ed.2d 82. Although we conform our analysis to the framework set down in Cort, we must remember that the framework is primarily a guide for the process of statutory construction. See Transamerica Mortgage Advisors, Inc. v. Lewis, 1979, - U.S. -, 100 S.Ct. 242, 62 L.Ed.2d 146. Thus, we are not entitled to infer the presence of a private judicial remedy in the face of Congressional silence if the language and structure of the statute do not support the inference, even though in other circumstances silence would not be dispositive. See id. (discussing Cannon v. University of Chicago, 1979, 441 U.S. 677, 99 S.Ct. 1946, 60 L.Ed.2d 560).
. We are aware that the affirmative action clause inserted in federal contracts pursuant to 29 U.S.C. § 793 bans discrimination on the basis of handicaps. See 41 C.F.R. § 60-741.4 (1978). There is also language in the legislative history indicating that the section has an anti-discrimination component. See Rep.No. 93-318, 93d Cong., 2d Sess. (1973). See generally, Note, Private Rights of Action for Handicapped Persons under Section 503 of the Rehabilitation Act, 13 Val.U.L.Rev. 453 (1979). However, its principal thrust is to ensure that federal contractors will take affirmative steps to employ the handicapped, see S.Rep.No. 93-318, 93d Cong., 2d Sess. (1973); S.Conf.Rep.No. 93-1270, 93d Cong., 2d Sess. (1974), and the legislative history does not provide any basis for defining the nature of the antidiscrimination component we are asked to read into the affirmative action language of the statute.
The plaintiffs do not assert a claim based on putative status as third party beneficiaries of a federal contract, and we do not undertake to discuss the issues, neither briefed nor argued on appeal, whether a federal contract containing provisions required by statute creates a third-party beneficiary relationship, see Restatement of Contracts, § 133-147 (1932), and what would be the jurisdictional basis for a suit by such a third-party beneficiary in a federal court. If the thesis is plausible, we would also need to consider whether implication of a third-party beneficiary claim turns on the same considerations as implication of a private cause of action.
. See Cannon v. University of Chicago, 1979, 441 U.S. 677, 686 n. 7, 99 S.Ct. 1946, 1952 n. 7, 60 L.Ed.2d 560, 569 n. 7. The Cannon court noted, despite its partial reliance on later legislative history, that "we cannot accord these remarks the weight of contemporary legislative history . . . ." Id. In contrast to the situation here, there was in Cannon substantial contemporary legislative history supporting the court's view of the statute, id. at 694, 99 S.Ct. at 1956-57, 60 L.Ed.2d at 574.
. This apparently prompted Senator Robert Stafford, who was not one of the conferees but was a leading advocate of the Rehabilitation Act throughout its consideration, to state that it was intended that enforcement under both sections 503 and 504 would be similar to enforcement under section 601 of the Civil Rights Act and section 901 of the Education Amendments. 120 Cong.Rec. 30551 (1974).
It is noteworthy, however, that immediately following its suggestion that enforcement of sections 503 and 504 should be "uniform," the conference committee indicated that enforcement of the two sections would be handled by separate agencies. Sen.Conf.Rep.No. 93-1270, supra at 27-28. It assigned to the Secretary of HEW "responsibility for coordinating the section 504 enforcement effort" because of that department's experience in combatting discrimination. Of course, that experience includes familiarity with coordinating private causes of action and administrative enforcement. Section 503 enforcement authority was, however, left to the Department of Labor, in response to Executive Order No. 11758, 39 Fed.Reg. 2075 (Jan. 15, 1974), as amended by Executive Order No. 11784, 39 Fed.Reg. 19443 (May 30, 1974). That order allows the Secretary of Labor to proscribe regulations for enforcement of section 503, including regulations providing for the waiver of section 503's requirements. Congress's adoption of the separation of enforcement of the two sections, and its apparent willingness to have enforcement of section 504 only in the hands of the department with expertise in dealing with private lawsuits, suggests that its desire for "uniform" enforcement may not have encompassed enforcement techniques. It is also difficult to believe that Congress intended a private cause of action under section 503 since it failed to comment on an Executive Order which allows contracting departments to exempt contracts from the section's provisions.
. This amendment added a new section, section 505, 29 U.S.C.A. § 794a (West Supp.1979), to the Act, which in relevant part provides:
In any action or proceeding to enforce or charge a violation of a provision of this sub-chapter, the court, in its discretion, may allow the prevailing party, other than the United States, a reasonable attorney's fee as part of the costs.
Section 505(b), 29 U.S.C.A. § 794a(b).
. For instance, the House Report states that this part of the amendments "[p]ermits courts to award attorney's fees to successful parties in judicial actions to enforce the provisions of Title V." H.R.Rep.No.- 95-1149, 95th Cong.2d Sess. (1978), reprinted in [1978] U.S.Code Cong. & Admin.News, pp. 7312, 7313. See also id. at 7332.
. In a report issued September 13, 1979, the Senate Committee on Labor and Human Resources, considering legislation to amend Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to prohibit discrimination against individuals because they are handicapped, stated "the Committee's intent that any handicapped individual aggrieved by a violation of Title V" has the right to proceed in federal court, "and to receive back-pay and attorney's fees if successful." Sen. Rep.No. 96-316, 96th Cong., 1st Sess. 12 — 13 (1979).
. 41 C.F.R. § 60-741-4 provides:
§ 60-741.4 Affirmative action clause.
Each agency and each contractor and subcontractor shall include the following affirmative action clause in each of its covered government contracts or subcontracts (and modifications, renewals, or extensions thereof if not included in the original contract).
AFFIRMATIVE ACTION FOR HANDICAPPED WORKERS
(a) The contractor will not discriminate against any employee or applicant for employment because of physical or mental handicap in regard to any position for which the employee or applicant for employment is qualified. The contractor agrees to take affirmative action to employ, advance in employment and otherwise treat qualified handicapped individuals without discrimination based upon their physical or mental handicap in all employment practices such as the following: employment, upgrading, demotion or transfer, recruitment, advertising, layoff or termination, rates of pay or other forms of compensation, and selection for training, including apprenticeship.
(b) The contractor agrees to comply with the rules, regulations, and relevant orders of the Secretary of Labor issued pursuant to the Act.
(c) In the event of the contractor's noncompliance with the requirements of this clause, actions for noncompliance may be taken in accordance with the rules, regulations and relevant orders of the Secretary of Labor issued pursuant to the Act.
. A strange argument is made by the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs in other cases, and relied upon to some degree by the dissent, that a private cause of action should be implied because the executive branch lacks personnel to perform its duty and that, therefore, the Third Branch should supply the need.