Opinion ID: 1285977
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: the discriminatory acts

Text: 2. The union generally challenges the sufficiency of the evidence to support the findings of the hearing examiner, and the railroad specifically challenges the findings of discrimination by the hearing examiner. The union argues that it was not guilty of discrimination, since by the terms of the 1946 agreement the classification of Shelby and Walker as porters and, in Shelby's case, as a car cleaner placed them outside the scope of the representation agreement. Thus, the union asserts that it was prohibited by the terms of the agreement from making them members of the union. The railroad argues that it was bound by the terms of the union agreement and had no voice in determining the membership of the union. The hearing examiner found that Shelby and Walker were performing the same work as janitors and, in Shelby's case, as cleaners as defined in the agreement and were entitled to union membership. The hearing examiner rejected the argument of the union and concluded also that the railroad participated in the adoption of the agreements with full knowledge of its job classification system and the membership policies of the union. Discrimination existed in the employment practices of the railroad as all blacks were limited to certain job classifications which the railroad and union specifically excluded from the representation agreement. However, the evidence disclosed that the work performed by the excluded blacks was the same as the work performed by union members. Such discrimination was prohibited by law, yet neither the union nor the railroad took any steps to modify their 1946 agreement. It was only after the employees themselves complained of exclusion and brought it to the attention of the state agency that any attempted correction of the discrimination took place. But again discrimination was to affect Shelby and Walker. The agreement of 1958, which brought Shelby union membership, was negotiated by representatives of the union and the railroad in the presence of the state agency. However, no attempt was made to involve Shelby, the complaining employee, in the settlement proposals. The proposals obviously satisfied the initial request made to the state agency, namely, that the employee be allowed union membership. Yet, an examination of the settlement agreement and of the 1960 agreement covering Walker discloses continuing discrimination. The employees were given union membership but at the price of reduction in pay. Seniority from the date of employment was disallowed and established for each employee as of the date of the pertinent agreement. Finally, a limitation was placed on the seniority established so that if they ever left their job classification, they would lose their entire seniority rights, a situation which did not exist with other members of the union. 3. Each of these discriminatory acts has a continuing effect upon the employees involved. The decrease in pay directly affects their pension benefits at the time of retirement. The order of the hearing examiner, as affirmed by the lower court, requires that pay reimbursements be reported to the Railroad Retirement Board so as to be reflected in the employees' pension benefits. The hearing examiner further found the discrimination in seniority to have a continuing effect, since the establishment date has a direct daily effect upon the employment position of the affected employees. Shelby and Walker were entitled to union membership as of the date they were hired, and their seniority should have been established at that time. To defer their seniority to a later date merely perpetuated the effect of the racial discrimination. The Federal courts, in deciding cases under Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, 42 U.S.C.A. § 2000e et seq., have had occasion to comment on this situation. In United States v. Local 189, United Papermakers & Paperworkers, AFL-CIO, CLC, 282 F.Supp. 39, 44 (E.D.La.1968), the court said:    Where a seniority system has the effect of perpetrating discrimination, and concentrating or `telescoping' the effect of past years of discrimination against Negro employees into the present placement of Negroes in an inferior position for promotion and other purposes, that present result is prohibited, and a seniority system which operates to produce that present result must be replaced with another system. We agree wholeheartedly with the conclusion in Quarles v. Philip Morris, Inc., 279 F.Supp. 505 (E.D.Va.1968), that present discrimination cannot be justified under Title VII simply because Title VII refers to an effective date and because present discrimination is caused by conditions in the past. `Congress did not intend to freeze an entire generation of Negro employees into discriminatory patterns that existed before the act.' Quarles, supra, at 516. The Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, in Local 189, United Papermakers & Paperworkers, AFL-CIO, CLC v. United States, 416 F.2d 980, 988 (5 Cir. 1969), affirmed this decision and added the following statement:    Every time a Negro worker hired under the old segregated system bids against a white worker in his job slot, the old racial classification reasserts itself, and the Negro suffers anew for his employer's previous bias. It is not decisive therefore that a seniority system may appear to be neutral on its face if the inevitable effect of tying the system to the past is to cut into the employees present right not to be discriminated against on the ground of race. Similarly, in United States v. Dillon Supply Co., 429 F.2d 800 (4 Cir. 1970), the court stated that Title VII is not limited to providing a remedy against present acts of racial discrimination. It is applicable on proof of any past specific or general act, practice, policy, or pattern of racial discrimination which has any present discriminatory effect. See, also, Marquez v. Omaha District Sales Office, Ford Division, 440 F.2d 1157 (8 Cir. 1971); Griggs v. Duke Power Co., 420 F.2d 1225 (4 Cir. 1970). Likewise, the ringed-in effect of the settlement agreement has continuing discriminatory effects on the employees involved. A recent Fifth Circuit decision, Franks v. Bowman Transp. Co., 495 F.2d 398, 414 (5 Cir. 1974), most adequately summarizes the problem, the court there saying: When a departmental seniority system perpetuates the effect of past discrimination it is an unlawful employment practice proscribed and remediable under Title VII. E. g., United States v. Bethlehem Steel Corporation, 2nd Cir. 1971, 446 F.2d 652; Robinson v. Lorillard Corp., 4th Cir. 1971, 441 F.2d 791, cert. dismissed 404 U.S. 1006, 92 S.Ct. 573, 30 L.Ed.2d 655; Local 189, United Papermakers and Paperworkers, AFL-CIO, CLC v. United States, supra, 416 F.2d 980; Quarles v. Philip Morris, Inc., E.D.Va.1968, 279 F.Supp. 505. Though not as drastic as a rigid no-transfer rule, a departmental seniority system discourages transfers and thereby locks a discriminatee into his inferior job by threatening him with loss of his accumulated seniority if he should transfer. `In any industry loss of seniority is a critical inhibition to transfer.' United States v. Jacksonville Terminal Co., 5th Cir. 1971, 451 F.2d 418, 453, cert. denied 406 U.S. 906, 92 S.Ct. 1607, 31 L.Ed.2d 815. That the system is racially neutral on its face does not save it under Title VII if its effect is to `cut into the employees' present right not to be discriminated against on the ground of race.' Local 189, supra, 416 F.2d at 988; see also United States v. Jacksonville Terminal Co., supra, 451 F.2d at 451. The federal courts' power to modify or suspend the operation of a discriminatory seniority system is not affected by the fact that the seniority system has been established in a private, collective bargaining agreement. Vogler v. McCarty, Inc., 5th Cir. 1971, 451 F.2d 1236. The only ground upon which a discrimination-perpetuating seniority system may be defended is that of business necessity. `When a policy is demonstrated to have discriminatory effects, it can be justified only by a showing that it is necessary to the safe and efficient operation of the business.' Jones v. Lee Way Motor Freight, 10th Cir. 1970, 431 F.2d 245, 249; see Robinson v. Lorillard Corp., supra, 441 F.2d at 797; Local 189, supra. In this case it is undisputed that the members of class 1 were originally relegated to inferior jobs in the Tire Shop as a result of Bowman's racially discriminatory hiring practices. Further, it is clear that the departmental seniority system has the forbidden effect of locking discriminatees into the pattern thus created. Neither Bowman nor the union has attempted to defend the seniority system as a `business necessity.' As the district court recognized, class 1 members are entitled to relief from the locking-in effect of the departmental seniority system. The question presented is what form the remedy must take and how far it must go. The leading case in this circuit on seniority relief under Title VII is Local 189, United Papermakers and Paperworkers, AFL-CIO, CLC v. United States, 5th Cir. 1969, 416 F.2d 980, cert. denied 1970, 397 U.S. 919, 90 S.Ct. 926, 25 L.Ed.2d 100, aff'g, E.D.La.1969, 301 F.Supp. 906. There, Judge Wisdom endorsed for our Court the `rightful place' approach to seniority problems. A `rightful place' theory stands between a complete purge of `but-for' effects [and] maintenance of the status quo. The Act should be construed to prohibit the future awarding of vacant jobs on the basis of a seniority system that `locks in' prior racial classification. White incumbent workers should not be bumped out of their present positions by Negroes with greater plant seniority; plant seniority should be asserted only with respect to new job openings. This solution accords with the purpose and history of the legislation. Id. at 988. He concluded that the decree entered by the district court in that case accorded with the rightful place interpretation of the Act. That decree `permanently abolished' the offending `job seniority system' and allowed discriminatees to compete for jobs on the basis of `mill seniority,' which was to be computed from the beginning of the employee's service at the mill, regardless of the job slot he occupied, up to the date of his bid. United States v. Local 189, United Papermakers and Paperworkers, AFL-CIO, CLC, E.D.La.1969, 301 F.Supp. 906, 919. Applying these principles, we affirm the holding that the employees' seniority should have been computed as of the date of their employment and that they are entitled to the same seniority rights as other union membersin other words, that they do not lose their plant seniority if they seek a transfer, but they obtain no departmental seniority at any time they seek a transfer into another division. Lastly, the effect of establishing seniority at a later date than that to which the employees were entitled affects their right to retain their positions in the event of a layoff. In common labor relations parlance, the term bumping is used. This allows employees with plant seniority to maintain their employment during adverse economic conditions existing at the place of employment. Such a right is highly important and deserves the protection accorded it by the hearing examiner and the lower court. Further, neither the union nor the railroad advanced any business necessity which required the classification attempted to be imposed upon the employees here involved.