Opinion ID: 425244
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Dr. Wilma Hein

Text: 12 Plaintiff Hein came to OCE in 1973 as an associate professor in the Physical Education Department. At the time of trial, she earned $20,347. Although Dr. Hein had previously coached tennis and bowling at OCE, during the period of comparison with Mr. Boutin, Dr. Hein spent 100% of her time teaching lecture classes. She did not coach at all. 13 The lower court's finding that Dr. Hein and Mr. Boutin performed substantially equal jobs is clearly erroneous. While inconsequential differences in jobs may be disregarded, Hodgson v. Corning Glass Works, 474 F.2d 226, 234 (2d Cir.1973), aff'd sub nom. Corning Glass Works v. Brennan, 417 U.S. 188, 94 S.Ct. 2223, 41 L.Ed.2d 1 (1974), the differences in job content between the positions held by Dr. Hein and Mr. Boutin were not inconsequential. A coaching job plainly requires skills that a noncoaching job does not. Under the Equal Pay Act, jobs requiring different skills are not substantially equal. 14 The district court's error in this regard can be traced to its finding that Dr. Hein's skills are equal to or greater than those of Mr. Boutin. Hein v. Oregon College of Education, Civil No. 79-757, slip op. at 10 (D.Or. Jan. 22, 1982) (hereinafter Slip op.). A prima facie case is not made by showing that the employees of opposite sex possess equivalent skills. The statute explicitly applies to jobs that require equal skills, and not to employees that possess equal skills. See Peltier v. City of Fargo, 533 F.2d 374, 377 (8th Cir.1976). The lower court may have been impressed by Dr. Hein's academic credentials, and considered them as a counterweight to Dr. Hein's lack of coaching duties. This sort of consideration is improper. The only comparison of skills that should be made in a prima facie case is a comparison of skills required by a job. See Salazar v. Marathon Oil Co., 502 F.Supp. 631, 636 (S.D.Tex.1980); 29 C.F.R. Sec. 800.125 (Possession of a skill not needed to meet requirements of the job cannot be considered in making a determination regarding equality of skill.). 3 15 Since the finding that Dr. Hein made out a prima facie case under the Equal Pay Act was clearly erroneous, the judgment in her favor is vacated and the matter remanded for determining whether as to other men in the Physical Education Department Dr. Hein can establish a prima facie case under the Equal Pay Act in accordance with the guidelines we set forth infra in the cases of Dr. Lenore Camplbell and Mrs. Jacquelyn Rice.