Opinion ID: 3010901
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Standing of Males to Sue for Sex Discrimination

Text: A party invoking federal jurisdiction must establish that he has standing to sue within the meaning of Article III, section two of the Constitution, which limits the courts to hearing actual cases or controversies.22 Standing is established at the pleading stage by setting forth specific facts that indicate that the party has been injured in fact or that injury is imminent, that the challenged action is causally connected to the actual or imminent injury, and that the injury may be redressed by the cause of action. See, e.g., Lujan v. Defenders of Wildlife, 504 U.S. 555, 56061 (1992); Valley Forge Christian College v. Americans United for Separation of Church and State, Inc., 454 U.S. 464, 473 (1982). Courts assess whether a party has established injury-in-fact, causation, and redressability by considering whether the alleged injury falls within the zone of interests that the statute or constitutional provision at issue was designed to protect; whether the complaint raises concrete questions, rather than abstract ones that are better suited to resolution by the legislative and executive branches; and whether the plaintiff is asserting his own legal rights and interests, as opposed to those of third parties. See, e.g., Lujan, 504 U.S. at 561-62. The requisite injury may be economic or non-economic in nature. United States v. SCRAP, 412 U.S. 669, 686 (1973); Ass'n. of Data Processing Serv. Org., Inc. v. Camp, 397 U.S. 150, 152 _________________________________________________________________ 22. Article III, section 2 of the United States Constitution states, in pertinent part, The judicial Power shall extend to all Cases, in Law or Equity, arising under this Constitution, the Laws of the United States ... --to Controversies ... between Citizens of different States; .... U.S. Const., art. III, sec. 2 22 (1970). The causation element requires that the injury fairly can be traced to the challenged action. Whitmore v. Arkansas, 495 U.S. 149, 155 (1990). The redressability prong of the standing test is meant to ensure that the facts involved in a suit are conducive to judicial resolution and are likely to be resolved by court action. Valley Forge, 454 U.S. at 472. In dismissing the male appellants' sex discrimination claims for lack of standing, the District Court reasoned that, to the extent that discrimination had occurred in the Times' mail room, it had been directed at females; thus, the male workers had not suffered harm and could not assert cognizable claims of sex discrimination. Anjelino, 1993 WL 170209 at -11. This conclusion was predicated upon the court's understanding that, as a general matter, men do not have standing to bring claims of sex discrimination under Title VII. Id. at  (citing Spaulding v. University of Washington, 740 F.2d 686, 709 (9th Cir.), cert. denied, 469 U.S. 1036 (1984)). Relying on two Ninth Circuit cases, the court acknowledged, however, that three exceptions to this rule have been recognized. Anjelino, 1993 WL 170209 at -10 (citing Patee v. Pacific Northwest Bell Tel. Co., 803 F.2d 476, 478 (9th Cir. 1986); Spaulding, 740 F.2d at 709). The court found that a cause of action may lie under Title VII if male employees are subjected to discriminationbecause they are men. Patee, 803 F.2d at 478. Second, reasoning by analogy from the Supreme Court's associational standing precedent in the context of race discrimination, the court concluded that male employees may sue under Title VII if discrimination directed at women results in a loss of interpersonal contacts or associational rights with women. Anjelino, 1993 WL 170209 at  (citing Trafficante v. Metropolitan Life Ins. Co., 409 U.S. 205, 209-10 (1972)). Third, based on a ruling by a federal district court in Indiana, the court concluded that a cause of action may lie if sex-based discrimination results in pecuniary injury to both male and female workers. Anjelino, 1993 WL 170209 at  (citing Allen v. American Home Foods, Inc., 644 F. Supp. 1553, 1557 (N.D. Ind. 1986)). 23 The District Court concluded that the injuries alleged by the male appellants in this action did not fall within any of these three categories. Therefore, the court held that the male appellants lacked standing to assert claims under Title VII and the NJLAD. Anjelino, 1993 WL 170209 at . The court did not, however, analyze appellants' claim that they suffered pecuniary injury because they were numbered on the priority list among women, who were not hired due to sex discrimination because hiring stopped when the women's names were reached. The court simply concluded, without further comment, that the alleged multiple discriminatory acts aimed against women directly were without consequence to the male employees. Id. On appeal, the Times agrees in part with the District Court and argues that it is a well-settled proposition that men do not have standing to sue for discrimination against women. The Times rejects, however, the associational and pecuniary theories of male standing to sue for sex discrimination derived from Trafficante, 409 U.S. at 209-10, and Allen, 644 F. Supp. at 1557, and contends that men may sue for sex discrimination only if they experience discrimination because they are men. The Times argues that it was proper to dismiss the male appellants' claims because these claims are based not on the male appellants' sex but on their membership in a group with low-priority list placement that also included the female appellants and others who are not appellants. The Times does not, however, analyze whether the male appellants could state a colorable claim of injury-in-fact if they were not hired because they were listed among women who were not hired. The appellants argue to the contrary that the male appellants do have standing to sue based on discrimination directed, in the first instance, against female co-workers, because these males would not have been injured but for the Times' discrimination against the women. When the male appellants appeared at daily shapes for hiring, they were sandwiched among the women on the priority list and were not hired if the hiring stopped when the names of women on the priority list were reached. Thus, they suffered from the discrimination as well. 24 Appellants assert that their position on standing is supported by our decision in Hackett v. McGuire Brothers Inc., 445 F.2d 442 (3d Cir. 1971). We agree. In Hackett, the plaintiff, because of his race, had been subjected to a separate seniority and vacation schedule, intimidated, harassed, and ultimately discharged. Id. at 444-45. The District Court dismissed the plaintiff's Title VII claim for lack of standing because he had become a pensioner after being discharged by the defendant-company; thus, he was no longer an employee within the meaning of Title VII. Id. at 445. We reversed and emphasized our obligation to avoid construing the standing doctrine in ways that undermine Congress' objective in enacting Title VII. The national public policy reflected . . . in Title VII . . . may not be frustrated by the development of overly technical judicial doctrines of standing . . .. If the plaintiff is sufficiently aggrieved so that he claims enough injury in fact to present a genuine case or controversy in the Article III sense, then he should have standing to sue in his own right and as a class representative. Id. at 446-47 (emphasis added). In Hackett, we found Article III's case or controversy requirements to have been satisfied by the plaintiff 's allegations that demonstrated that he was a person aggrieved as required by the statute; he wasaggrieved because he alleged that the employer had injured him in violation of Title VII while he was employed there. Id. at 445. We concluded that at the pleading stage nothing beyond a colorable allegation of injury is required of the Title VII plaintiff. In Hackett, where the plaintiff claimed pecuniary loss, it was clear that the plaintiff had met his burden. Id. at 446 (citing Flast v. Cohen, 392 U.S. 83, 101 (1968)). Our decision in Hackett was cited with approval in Trafficante, 409 U.S. at 209, the seminal associational standing case in the race discrimination context. In Trafficante, the Supreme Court found that two tenants who alleged a loss of the social and professional benefits of living in an integrated community, due to landlords' alleged 25 discrimination against racial minorities, had standing to sue under Title VIII of the Civil Rights Act of 1968, 42 U.S.C. S 3610(a).23 Id . at 212. Like our analysis in Hackett, the Trafficante Court's analysis was textual. The Court rejected an interpretation of Title VIII that would limit persons entitled to sue to objects of discriminatory housing practices because it found the definition ofperson aggrieved contained in section 810(a) of Title VIII -- (a)ny person who claims to have been injured by a discriminatory housing practice -- to be broad and inclusive. Id. at 208. Thus, the Court concluded, We can give vitality to [the Act] only by a generous construction which gives standing to sue to all in the same housing unit who are injured by racial discrimination in the management of those facilities within the coverage of the statute. Id. at 212. Subsequently, in Novotny v. Great Am. Fed. Savings & Loan Assn., 584 F.2d 1235 (3d Cir. 1978), rev'd on other grounds, 442 U.S. 366 (1979), we affirmed our view that the statutory language, person claiming to be aggrieved, implied a Congressional intent to be liberal in allowing suits that effectuate the purposes of anti-discrimination statutes. In Novotny, we allowed a male plaintiff, who claimed to have been discharged for failing to adhere to a company policy of sex discrimination against women, to sue under 42 U.S.C. S 1985. Id. at 1240-45. Our holding in Novotny was predicated upon the similarity in purpose and semantic structure between Title VII's enforcement provision and section 1985.24 Many courts have expressly _________________________________________________________________ 23. Title VIII is analogous to Title VII. Title VIII states, in pertinent part, Any person who claims to have been injured by a discriminatory housing practice or who believes that he will be irrevocably injured by a discriminatory housing practice that is about to occur may file a complaint with the Secretary [of Housing and Urban Development]. 42 U.S.C. S 3610(a). 24. Cf. id. at 1244, Section 1985(3) provides for a cause of action in any instance where `in furtherance of the object of' a proscribed conspiracy an act is done `whereby another is injured in his person or property.' By its terms, the statute gives no hint of any requirement that the `other' must have any relationship to the `person or class of persons' which the conspiracy seeks to deprive of equal protection, privileges or immunities, to Hackett, 445 F.2d at 445[Section 706, 42 U.S.C. S 2000e-5] permits `a person claiming to be aggrieved' to file a charge with the Commission. . . . A person claiming to be aggrieved may never have been an employee of the defendant. . . . An aggrieved person obviously is any person aggrieved by any of the forbidden practices. 26 followed our reasoning and/or precedent concerning the significance of the language person aggrieved in construing Title VII's standing requirements in the race discrimination context.25 Our case law also addresses the causation element of standing. In Rosen v. Public Service Elec. and Gas Co., 477 F.2d 90 (3d Cir. 1972), we considered causation in our analysis of standing in a Title VII case. Rosen involved a retiree who challenged his former company's policy of linking an employee's sex with his or her required retirement age for full pension benefits. The trial court had found that when the plaintiff retired, he lost standing. Id. at 92-94. Our standing analysis was based on the plaintiff 's status as an active employee at the time that the suit was commenced, id. at 94, and the pecuniary nature of plaintiff 's alleged injury. We observed that we had to determine whether there is a logical nexus between the status asserted and the claim sought to be adjudicated. Id. (citing Flast, 392 U.S. at 102). Because the plaintiff 's _________________________________________________________________ 25. See EEOC v. Mississippi College, 626 F.2d 477, 482 (5th Cir. 1980), cert. denied, 453 U.S. 912 (1981) (We agree with other circuits that have held that the strong similarities between the language, design, and purposes of Title VII and [Title VIII] require that the phrase `a person claiming to be aggrieved' in [Title VII] must be construed in the same manner Trafficante construed the termaggrieved person' in [Title VIII].); accord Clayton v. White Hall School District, 875 F.2d 676, 679-80 (8th Cir. 1989) (holding that white woman who was not object of discrimination, but who alleged injury because of race discrimination against another, was a person aggrieved within the meaning of Title VII); Stewart v. Hanson, 675 F.2d 846, 850 (7th Cir. 1982) (finding white woman who had been deprived of interracial associations in workplace a person aggrieved within meaning of Title VII); EEOC v. Bailey Co., 563 F.2d 439, 451-54 (6th Cir. 1977), cert. denied, 435 U.S. 915 (1978) (holding that white female had standing under Title VII to challenge her employee's alleged racial discrimination against blacks); Waters v. Heublein, Inc., 547 F.2d 466, 469 (9th Cir. 1976), cert. denied, 433 U.S. 915 (1977) (holding that white woman who sued under Title VII to enjoin racially discriminatory employment practices wasaggrieved person within meaning of the statute); Gray v. Greyhound Lines, East, 545 F.2d 169, 175 (D.C. Cir. 1976) (holding that blacks who were not subjected to racial discrimination had standing under Title VII to sue over discrimination against other blacks). 27 alleged harm from the company's sex-based policies was not theoretical but involved actual economic harm, we concluded that he had been subject to the discriminatory provisions of the pension plans under consideration. He would, therefore, be allowed to assert his claim. Id. In Hospital Council v. City of Pittsburgh, 949 F.2d 83, 87 (3d Cir. 1991), we again discussed causation as a part of our analysis of standing. Hospital Council involved alleged threats by a city and county to discriminate against an association of non-profit, tax-exempt hospitals in matters relating to taxation, zoning, and public contracts if the hospitals did not make voluntary payments in lieu of taxes. 949 F.2d at 85. Although the complaint of the hospitals had alleged past and imminent harm, id ., the District Court dismissed the case for lack of standing on the theory that the alleged harm was not real injury that was fairly traceable to defendants' actions, but purely hypothetical. Id. at 86. We reversed, explaining that The complaint alleged a classic form of qualitatively concrete injury -- direct financial harm. The complaint alleged that members had been subjected to and were threatened with discrimination in the initiation of tax exemption challenges, the handling of zoning matters, and the awarding of public contracts. It is obvious that discrimination of this type is likely to cause direct financial harm to the victims. Id. at 87. Accord Allen, 664 F. Supp. at 1553-57 (finding that males who had been terminated after firm-wide downsizing had standing to sue under Title VII, where they argued that management had closed the facility in question because it primarily employed women, whose jobs were deemed expendable). Because the male appellants here have pled specific facts to demonstrate a concrete injury as well as a nexus between the alleged injury and the sex-based discrimination, even though that discrimination was aimed in the first instance at others, we conclude that they have established standing. Their allegations that sex discrimination adversely affected their being hired as extras, as well as their seniority on the priority list, 28 demonstrate actual injury. We hold that indirect victims of sex-based discrimination have standing to assert claims under Title VII if they allege colorable claims of injury-infact that are fairly traceable to acts or omissions by defendants that are unlawful under the statute. That the injury at issue is characterized as indirect is immaterial, as long as it is traceable to the defendant's unlawful acts or omissions. SCRAP, 412 U.S. at 689 n.14; Hospital Council, 949 F.2d at 87.26 We will, therefore, reverse the District Court'sfinding that the male appellants lack standing to assert their Title VII claims.27 The foregoing analysis is equally applicable to the District Court's dismissal for lack of standing of the male appellants' NJLAD claims. This result is suggested by the substantive law construing various aspects of the NJLAD that has been developed by the New Jersey courts, including the state law on standing. See, e.g., Craig v. Suburban Cablevision, Inc., 660 A.2d 505, 507-09 (N.J. 1995) (holding that relatives and friends of person who brought employment discrimination claim under NJLAD had standing to bring retaliatory discharge claim against their common employer); see also Erickson v. Marsh & McLennan Co., Inc., 569 A.2d 793, 798-99 (N.J. 1990) (explaining that New Jersey supreme court has adopted methodology of proof used in Title VII cases for NJLAD cases); Shaner v. Horizon Bancorp., 561 A.2d 1130, 1132 (N.J. 1989) (noting that LAD standards have been influenced markedly by experience derived from litigation _________________________________________________________________ 26. In fact, Hackett, 445 F.2d at 445-46, Rosen, 477 F.2d at 94, and Hospital Council, 949 F.2d at 87, arguably stand for the proposition that, where the alleged harm is pecuniary, a Title VII action should be characterized as involving direct discrimination, as opposed to indirect discrimination, even if the plaintiffs were not the objects of bias in the first instance. Since other courts have termed such discrimination indirect and we find the terminology irrelevant to our standing analysis, however, we will not base our holding on this reading of our precedent. 27. Because appellants limit their eligibility for standing to the pecuniary harm theory, we will not address the propriety of asserting, in the employment context, an associational claim for standing. 29 under federal anti-discrimination statutes). This result is also suggested by the structural similarities between Title VII and the New Jersey anti-discrimination law, as discussed more fully infra in Section IV.B.