Opinion ID: 390862
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: the district court's opinion and the issues on appeal

Text: 19 On November 7, 1978, the district court issued its opinion. After reviewing the Board's pre-1973 maternity and sick leave policies and noting the difficulties encountered by the Board in implementing its faculty desegregation plan in the face of declining student enrollment, the district court addressed the merits of the teachers' claims. First, finding that all of the teachers' claims flowed from implementation of the Board's pre-1973 policy, the district court refused to rule on the legality of the post-1973 policy. Second, the district court dismissed the teachers' claim of sex discrimination under 42 U.S.C. § 1981 on the basis that § 1981 does not apply to claims of gender discrimination. Third, the district court found that it had jurisdiction of the teachers' claims under Title VII, but rejected the claims on the merits, holding that the teachers had failed to prove that the maternity leave regulations discriminated on the basis of gender. Fourth, the district court addressed the § 1983 claims. It found that there was no actionable sex discrimination, and that the June 1st deadline for notification of intent to return to teaching was not only reasonable but essential to establishing a firm schedule for the teachers as well as the students. The court also found, however, that the Board's mandatory maternity leave policy established a conclusive and irrebutable (sic) presumption that between the sixth month of pregnancy and the end of the third school semester following birth, the teacher was physically incapable of performing her teaching function. Finding that this presumption was applied routinely despite medical evidence to the contrary, and that the policy failed to advance any valid state interest, the court, relying on Cleveland Board of Education v. LaFleur, 414 U.S. 632, 94 S.Ct. 791, 39 L.Ed.2d 52 (1974), held that the commencement and return provisions of the maternity leave policy violated the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. Although it found that the Board had acted in good faith in carrying out the desegregation program and in implementing the maternity leave policy, the court held that the lack of vacancies brought about by the faculty desegregation program did not constitute a defense to the violation of the teachers' constitutional rights. Fifth, the district court imposed liability on the individual defendants, rejecting their defense of qualified immunity on the ground that while they acted in good faith to execute the Board policy, they nevertheless should have known that the official actions taken would violate the constitutional rights of the teachers. 20 The district court then turned to the issue of appropriate relief. Since the maternity leave policy adopted by the Board on January 9, 1973 was substantially different from the pre-1973 policy, the court dismissed the teachers' requests for injunctive and declaratory relief as moot. After reviewing the facts surrounding the maternity leave of each teacher, the district court found that five of the eight teachers Barbara Clinton, Verna Jones, Yvette Monette, Kathleen Wooten and Zeola Kelly had given timely notice of intent to return to teaching and were entitled to backpay from the date upon which they were willing and fit to work until the date of their reinstatement. The district court dismissed the claims of the three remaining teachers Marion Davis, Carolyn Streams and Annie Davis primarily on the basis that their notification of intent to return was untimely and that no teacher vacancies were available on the dates they wished to return. In addition, the district court held that none of the teachers who claimed backpay for mandatory early commencement of leave had proved that she was capable of working beyond the date she was placed on leave. 21 Further, on April 9, 1979, after considering the briefs of the parties and hearing argument on the issue of attorneys' fees, the district court ordered the Board and the individual defendants to pay a total of $25,680.47 with interest for attorneys' fees and out-of-pocket expenses.
22 The Board and the individual defendants appealed the award of backpay and attorneys' fees to this court. Because the three teachers whose claims were dismissed did not appeal, and because the five teachers who prevailed did not cross appeal on the claims upon which they did not prevail, including their request for class certification, we need consider only the validity of the district court's ruling on the individual claims of the five teachers who prevailed below. Moreover, since the judgment for backpay in favor of the five teachers was based solely on the return to work provisions of the Board's maternity leave policy, the return provisions are the only aspect of the policy at issue on appeal. Therefore, we are faced with only three issues in this case: (1) whether the district court erred in imposing backpay liability on the Board based on the illegality of the maternity leave return provisions; (2) whether the district court erred in imposing backpay liability on the individual defendants; and (3) whether the district court erred in its award of attorneys' fees against the Board and the individual defendants. We now consider each issue in turn.