Opinion ID: 309662
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: data processing department supervisors

Text: 44 From January 1, 1964 until June 1, 1966, Behrens employed David K. Blavier, a male, as supervisor of its data processing department in the Tyler division. On termination of Blavier's employment in June 1966, Delores Wooley, a female, took charge of the data processing department. The district court found that David Blavier was paid a salary of $435.00 per month, the equivalent of $2.06 per hour, at the time of his resignation. [App. p. 217.] Delores Wooley, on the other hand, was started in the supervisor job at $1.55 an hour, and her employment has continued at rates substantially less than those paid Mr. Blavier at the time of his resignation. 45 Behrens argued at trial that the disparate wage payment between Blavier and Wooley was justified by extra work which Blavier performed while employed as supervisor. The district court rejected Behrens' argument and ruled that, 46 These male and female employees [Blavier and Wooley] during their respective periods of employment were employed to perform equal work on jobs, the performance of which required equal skill, effort and responsibility, and they worked under similar working conditions although their employment was not concurrent. 29 U.S.C. Sec. 206(d). Shultz v. First National Bank of Orange, 61 L.C. 32,269; Wirtz v. Koller Craft Plastic Products, Inc., 58 L.C. 32,07 6 [296 F.Supp. 1195], Department of Labor Regulation, Code of Federal Regulations, Title 29, Part 800, Section 800.114(b) & (c). 47 [App. 223.] 48 Although the Secretary has the burden of proving that the work is equal, Congress in prescribing equal work intended to codify a remedial measure which requires not that jobs be identical, but only that they must be substantially equal. Shultz v. Wheaton Glass Co., supra, 421 F.2d 259, 265, cert. denied 398 U.S. 905, 90 S.Ct. 1696, 26 L.Ed.2d 64; Hodgson v. Brookhaven General Hospital, 5 Cir. 1970, 436 F.2d 719, 725. And the Equal Pay Act applies to jobs held in immediate succession, as well as simultaneously. 11 49 29 U.S.C. Sec. 206(d)(1) requires equal pay for equal work on jobs the performance of which requires equal skill, effort and responsibility and which are performed under similar working conditions. In Hodgson v. Brookhaven General Hospital, supra, this Court surveyed the expanding number of cases wrestling with the critical criterion of equal effort, and described the emerging doctrine as holding that, 50 jobs do not entail equal effort, even though they entail most of the same routine duties, if the more highly paid job involves additional tasks which (1) require extra effort, (2) consume a significant amount of the time of all those whose pay differentials are to be justified in terms of them, and (3) are of an economic value commensurate with the pay differential. 51 436 F.2d at 725. Thus, employers may not be permitted to frustrate the purposes of the Act by calling for extra duty from male employees only occasionally, or by requiring male employees to perform tasks normally done by full-time personnel at a lower rate of pay. 52 The district court found that the primary responsibilities of the data processing room supervisor included: managing the activities of department employees, adjusting malfunctioning data processing machines, and assuming responsibility for departmental errors and priorities. [App. 217.] Both Blavier and Mrs. Wooley performed these functions. 12 53 Blavier testified in the district court that while serving as data processing room supervisor he performed several extra duties in addition to management of the data processing department. He worked several hours on Saturday mornings taking orders and delivering merchandise to customers. [App. 648, 669-671.] He occasionally took telephone orders at the city order desk [App. 648], and he drove a delivery truck, infrequently, when specially requested [App. 664]. In addition, he participated in Sunday sales shows two or three times a year [App. 670]. 54 Behrens contends that Blavier's extra duties, not performed by Mrs. Wooley, entail sufficient extra effort on the part of Blavier to justify his higher wage rate. We disagree. Blavier admitted that his primary and principal responsibility was working in the data processing room. [App. 664.] The extra duties performed by Blavier do not satisfy the three-pronged test for inequality of effort delineated in Hodgson v. Brookhaven General Hospital, supra. Some of the activities Blavier engaged in did not consume a significant amount of time, and those which did, specifically the Saturday morning duties, were ordinarily performed by full-time employees compensated at a lower rate. See Shultz v. Wheaton Glass Co., supra, 421 F.2d at 263. The district court's interpretation of the facts, leading to its conclusion of equality of effort, strongly reinforces this holding. 55 The extra duties performed by Blavier, not only fail to meet the Hodgson v. Brookhaven General Hospital standard, but also take on reduced significance viewed in light of the fact that the majority of those extra duties were performed on the weekend, while the crucial issue is one involving a discriminatory hourly wage rate.
56 The statute of limitations applicable to actions brought under the Equal Pay Act provides that    every such action shall be forever barred unless commenced within two years after the cause of action accrued. 29 U.S.C. Sec. 255(a). Appellant argues that, since Mrs. Wooley began her duties as supervisor on May 6, 1966, and suit was not brought until December 17, 1970, the cause of action accrued in 1966 and the statute bars this suit. We disagree. 57 Sex-based, discriminatory wage payments constitute a continuing violation of the Equal Pay Act. See Shandelman v. Schuman, E.D.Pa.1950, 92 F.Supp. 334, 335, and Mitchell v. Lancaster Milk Co., M.D.Pa.1960, 185 F.Supp. 66, 70, holding that illegal minimum wage and overtime payments constitute continuing violations. The court in Mitchell, quoting Shandelman, stated that, 58 It is well settled that 'A separate cause of action for overtime compensation accrues at each regular payday immediately following the work period during which the services were rendered and for which the overtime compensation is claimed.' 59 To hold otherwise would permit perpetual wage discrimination by an employer whose violation of the Equal Pay Act had already lasted without attack for over two years. 60 Appellant's reliance on Unexcelled Chemical Corp. v. United States, 1953, 345 U.S. 59, 73 S.Ct. 580, 97 L.Ed. 821, and United States v. Lovknit Mfg. Co., 5 Cir. 1951, 189 F.2d 454, cert. denied 342 U.S. 896, 72 S.Ct. 229, 96 L.Ed. 671 (1952), is misguided. Those cases held only that a cause of action accrues, giving rise to liability for liquidated damages under the Walsh-Healey Public Contracts Act when the minor in question is employed. That narrow holding is not relevant here. 61 Behrens' wage discrimination is a continuing violation of the Equal Pay Act, and wages due under the Act for the two years preceding this suit are recoverable.