Opinion ID: 422257
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Discriminatory Application: Fact or Fiction?

Text: 55 The district court made multitudinous findings of subsidiary facts and concluded in a finding of ultimate fact: The defendant applied its law school rule differently to male and female employees. Under Pullman-Standard, supra, unless that ultimate finding is clearly erroneous, we must affirm the legal conclusion of liability. The subsidiary facts detail a plethora of individual instances that each tend to suggest discrimination. Rather than being a single chain, the weakest link of which Liberty Mutual could attack, the subsidiary facts are many threads woven into a strong cord supporting the ultimate finding of discrimination. Liberty Mutual, as it must, attacks each and every thread. However, not many of those threads need remain intact to support the ultimate finding. Rather than enumerating every subsidiary fact and determining whether or not it is clearly erroneous, we need look only until we find enough strands to satisfy United States Gypsum, Pullman-Standard, and A.J. Gerrard. 56 We must review the district court's ultimate finding of discrimination in terms of the four-part test of A.J. Gerrard, supra. It is clear that the plaintiffs are members of a protected group and that there was a company policy or practice concerning the activity for which the plaintiffs were discharged; thus the first two elements of the test are met. It is also clear that minority employees were disciplined without the application of a lenient policy, and in conformity with a strict policy. All women known to violate the law school rule were immediately discharged. Furthermore, even potential violations of the rule by women were investigated promptly. An anonymous letter was sufficient to trigger an investigation of Chescheir, and the fact that Chescheir was attending law school moved the company to interrogate another woman. 57 The only remaining element of the prima facie case under A.J. Gerrard is a finding that male employees either were given the benefit of a lenient company practice or were not held to compliance with a strict company policy. This is the element upon which Liberty Mutual focuses its attack. Recasting Liberty Mutual's argument slightly, it claims that other males were strictly disciplined in accord with the law school rule, and that Liberty Mutual never knew that McCarthy, White, and Ballard were attending law school. Thus, claims Liberty Mutual, the third A.J. Gerrard element was not met. 58 We are not persuaded. First, our review of the record does not disclose any males in the Southwest Division who were discharged because of the law school rule. 1 Second, even were we to accept Liberty Mutual's contention that it did not actually know McCarthy, White, and Ballard were attending law school, we would still affirm the judgment. Under A.J. Gerrard 's third element, the operative question is merely whether Liberty Mutual applied a more liberal standard to male employees. The district court found that there were widespread rumors that McCarthy and Ballard were attending law school. Record at 233, 536, 923. Also, the E.E.O.C. notified Liberty Mutual that a male adjuster was attending law school (Ballard) and requested an explanation. Key managerial employees, at a minimum, suspected McCarthy was attending law school but preferred not to ask and confirm their suspicions. E.g., Record at 233. One male adjustor was told when he was hired that he could attend law school. Record at 287. These factual findings are all fully supported by the record. In contrast to Liberty Mutual's energetic investigation of women it believed might be attending law school, Liberty Mutual never investigated any of these allegations, suspicions, or rumors about male adjustors. The case of Mr. White is even more dramatic. After he expressed a desire to transfer to Houston in order to attend law school, that transfer was granted and he was never told he could not attend law school. Record at 650, 831, 836. 59 These preceding facts are more than enough to support the third leg of A.J. Gerrard --males at Liberty Mutual were subject to lenient enforcement of the law school rule. The district court's ultimate finding of fact--that Liberty Mutual applied its law school rule discriminatorily--finds firm support in the record; all four elements of the prima facie case as enunciated by A.J. Gerrard are present. Reviewing this ultimate finding under the clearly erroneous standard, as we must under Pullman-Standard, we most certainly are not left with a definite and firm conviction that a mistake has been committed. 60 Once Chescheir and O'Connell established a prima facie case of discrimination, the burden shifted to Liberty Mutual to present a justification. McDonnell Douglas Corp. v. Green, 411 U.S. 792, 93 S.Ct. 1817, 36 L.Ed.2d 668 (1973); Chaline v. KCOH, Inc., 693 F.2d 477, 479 (5th Cir.1982). The district court found that Liberty Mutual offered no justification. Liberty Mutual does not seriously dispute that finding nor do we find it to be clearly erroneous. Accordingly, we affirm Liberty Mutual's liability under Title VII.