Opinion ID: 439951
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Pre-Act Longevity

Text: 123 In calculating the amount of backpay due for NWA's post-Act wage violations, the district court held that the women should receive credit only for stewardess service performed subsequent to the Act under which they were recovering. The district court reasoned that the Supreme Court's decisions in United Air Lines, Inc. v. Evans, 431 U.S. 553, 97 S.Ct. 1885, 52 L.Ed.2d 571 (1977), and International Brotherhood of Teamsters v. United States, 431 U.S. 324, 97 S.Ct. 1843, 52 L.Ed.2d 396 (1977), precluded crediting the women with pre-Act longevity. Because we find that the district court improperly applied these decisions, we reverse. 124 The back-pay recovery period covers the years 1967 through 1976. During that time NWA had a pay ladder for pursers such that salary rose with increased years of service or longevity. Under this policy a man hired as a purser in 1957 would have accumulated ten years' longevity by 1967 and would have been paid accordingly. The issue facing the district court was whether, for purposes of computing backpay, a woman who had also been hired in 1957 as a cabin attendant and who had worked continuously as such until 1967 should be credited with the same longevity in determining her 1967 salary. Under the district court's holding, the woman in this example would be entitled only to the pay of a purser with three years' longevity if she were recovering under the Equal Pay Act. She would be entitled only to the pay received by a purser with two years' longevity if she were recovering under Title VII. 125 We think that a woman hired in 1957 should today be credited with the same longevity as a man hired in that year. This does not involve finding that discrimination prior to the passage of the Act was somehow illegal. The stewardesses claim no damages for pre-Act pay differentials, nor could they. Their claim is that their current status be the same as that of men who have the same job characteristics, including job longevity. That claim of equal treatment seems to us required by the law. Indeed, the only case authority we have found dealing expressly with this subject holds squarely that a back-pay award should take into account the length of service of the employees, including years of service prior to the effective date of Title VII. Sears v. Atchison, T. & S.F. Ry., 645 F.2d 1365, 1378 (10th Cir.1981), cert. denied, 456 U.S. 964, 102 S.Ct. 2045, 72 L.Ed.2d 490 (1982). 126 United Air Lines, Inc. v. Evans and Teamsters v. United States are not to the contrary. In these cases the Supreme Court held that bona fide seniority systems do not violate Title VII even where they perpetuate the effects of prior discrimination. The Court based its decisions on section 703(h) of that Act, which provides that it shall not be an unlawful employment practice for an employer to apply different standards of compensation, or different terms, conditions, or privileges of employment pursuant to a bona fide seniority or merit system ... provided that such differences are not the result of an intention to discriminate because of race, color, religion, sex, or national origin .... Section 703(h), 42 U.S.C. Sec. 2000e-2(h) (1976). These decisions do not apply to cases, such as the present one, where there is no allegation that a seniority system violates Title VII, but only a claim for an appropriate remedy. 51 The distinction between a remedy issue and a violation issue under Title VII was explained in Franks v. Bowman Transportation Co., 424 U.S. 747, 96 S.Ct. 1251, 47 L.Ed.2d 444 (1976), and repeated in United Air Lines, Inc. v. Evans, 431 U.S. at 559, 97 S.Ct. at 1889-1890. In Evans the Court stated: 127 The difference between a remedy issue and a violation issue is highlighted by the analysis of Sec. 703(h) of Title VII in Franks. As we held in that case, by its terms that section does not bar the award of retroactive seniority after a violation has been proved. Rather, Sec. 703(h) delineates which employment practices are illegal and thereby prohibited and which are not. 424 U.S. at 758 [96 S.Ct. at 1261]. 128 431 U.S. at 559, 97 S.Ct. at 1889-1890 (footnote omitted) (emphasis added). Clearly, section 703(h) does not preclude the crediting of retroactive pre-Act longevity in the present case. Indeed, Franks v. Bowman Transportation highlights this point by stating: 129 There is no indication in the legislative materials that Sec. 703(h) was intended to modify or restrict relief otherwise appropriate once an illegal discriminatory practice occurring after the effective date of the Act is proved .... 130 424 U.S. at 761-62, 96 S.Ct. at 1262-1263. 131 Having demonstrated that the district court's holding was not required by Evans and Teamsters, we turn to the affirmative reasons for according pre-Act longevity. To deny women longevity credit for their pre-Act service, when men were given such credit for doing what the court has held to be the same work, would differentiat[e] between similarly situated males and females on the basis of sex. Evans, 431 U.S. at 558, 97 S.Ct. at 1889. If NWA unilaterally computed the backpay in this way, its action would violate Title VII; a fortiori, such a method of calculation is not permissible as part of a judicial remedy. Moreover, such a limited remedy would run counter to the make whole purpose of Title VII. Albemarle Paper Co. v. Moody, 422 U.S. 405, 419, 421, 95 S.Ct. 2362, 2372, 2373, 45 L.Ed.2d 280 (1975). The Supreme Court has stated that Congress' purpose in vesting discretionary powers in the courts to provide relief under Title VII was to make possible the 'fashion[ing] [of] the most complete relief possible.'  Albemarle Paper Co., 422 U.S. at 421, 95 S.Ct. at 2373 (quoting section-by-section analysis accompanying Conference Committee Report on the Equal Employment Opportunity Act of 1972). We therefore reverse the district court's ruling on this issue and instruct the court to credit plaintiffs' pre-Act longevity in calculating backpay for the relevant, post-Act time periods.