Alleman v. TRW, INC.

419 F. Supp. 625, 13 Fair Empl. Prac. Cas. (BNA) 986
CourtDistrict Court, M.D. Pennsylvania
DecidedSeptember 9, 1976
DocketCiv. No. 73-721
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 419 F. Supp. 625 (Alleman v. TRW, INC.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, M.D. Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Alleman v. TRW, INC., 419 F. Supp. 625, 13 Fair Empl. Prac. Cas. (BNA) 986 (M.D. Pa. 1976).

Opinion

419 F.Supp. 625 (1976)

Elizabeth ALLEMAN, on her own behalf and on behalf of all others similarly situated, Plaintiff,
v.
T. R. W., INC., Defendant.

Civ. No. 73-721.

United States District Court, M. D. Pennsylvania.

September 9, 1976.

*626 Arnold Levin, Freedman, Borowsky & Lorry, Philadelphia, Pa., Walter W. Wilt, Hepford, Zimmerman & Swartz, Harrisburg, Pa., for plaintiff.

H. Lee Roussel, McNees, Wallace & Nurick, Harrisburg, Pa., for defendant.

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

HERMAN, District Judge.

We have before us at this time defendant's motion for summary judgment, which will be granted.

This case involves an alleged discrimination on account of sex by the defendant, T.R.W., Inc., in the company's seniority system.

After considerable briefing and oral argument by the parties on defendant's motion to dismiss, this court, on December 17, 1974, in denying the motion found that "the plaintiff has nowhere to date alleged any affirmative conduct by the defendant which occurred in the 180 days preceding February 28, 1973 [the date she filed a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission]."[1] While it is true that the complaint does charge in a conclusory way that the defendant's allegedly discriminatory conduct affected "hiring, seniority, layoff [and] recall" rights,[2] the last affirmative conduct directed toward the plaintiff was the March 1971 layoff which occurred two years prior to the filing of the complaint.

We then concluded that while plaintiff's allegations of "layoff" and "recall" were conclusory and not sufficient to relieve the plaintiff from eventually establishing that a discriminatory recall actually occurred within the 180 day period, such allegations appeared sufficient to justify a denial of a motion to dismiss. See, Cox v. United States Gypsum Co., 409 F.2d 289 (7th Cir. 1969).

We emphasized, however, that plaintiff would be required to show at least one discriminatory recall within 180 days prior to February 28, 1973, such an event being a jurisdictional prerequisite, and that if discovery revealed no such recall, a motion to dismiss (or a motion for summary judgment) might be appropriate.

As we pointed out in our unreported memorandum of December 17, 1974, Elizabeth Alleman, the plaintiff, alleged inter alia:

(a) She was hired by T.R.W. in March 1967 under a seniority system that wrongly discriminated in favor of male employees;
(b) She was "laid off" by T.R.W. in November 1968 based on the discriminatory seniority system under which she was *627 hired. As part of the allegations, the plaintiff expressly contends that men with less actual time as T.R.W. employees who did the same work as she were nevertheless retained during the layoff;
(c) She was recalled to work in May 1969, still under the discriminatory seniority system, but in an even worse relative position because of the seniority she lost during the layoff;
(d) On March 12, 1971 she was again laid off by T.R.W., based again on the discriminatory seniority system;
(e) She was never recalled to work;
(f) On February 28, 1973, she filed a complaint with the EEOC.

It is on the basis of these facts that plaintiff contends that defendant has violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Equal Employment Opportunities, 42 U.S.C. §§ 2000e, et seq., and by way of the principle of pendent jurisdiction contends that defendant violated the Pennsylvania Human Relations Act, 43 P.S. §§ 951, et seq.[3]

In January of 1975 the Third Circuit Court of Appeals decided the case of Jersey Central Power & Light Co. v. Local Union 327, Etc. of I.B.E.W., 508 F.2d 687 which concerned among other things a plant-wide seniority system comparable to the system contained in the collective bargaining agreements in effect at T.R.W. during the periods in question in the instant case.[4] The Third Circuit held, inter alia, that "[A] seniority clause providing for layoffs by reverse order of seniority is not contrary to public policy and welfare and consequently is not subject to modification by court decree." (p. 705) The court further held that evidence that the plant-wide seniority system discriminated in the past and thus carried into the future the effects of such discrimination should not be permitted.

The Supreme Court granted certiorari and remanded the case to the circuit for further consideration in light of Franks v. Bowman Transportation Co., 424 U.S. 747, 96 S.Ct. 1251, 47 L.Ed.2d 444 (1976), and so we must consider the holding in the Franks case.

Part I of the Opinion in Franks deals with the question of mootness. The question which concerns us in Alleman is discussed in Part II.

At the outset the Court states the problem in these words:

"As respects unnamed members of class 3—nonemployee black applicants who applied for and were denied OTR [over-the-road] prior to January 1, 1972—the Court of Appeals affirmed the District Court's denial of any form of seniority relief. Only this last aspect of the Court of Appeals' judgment is before us for review under our grant of the petition for certiorari. . . ." 424 U.S., at 752, 96 S.Ct., at 1258, 47 L.Ed.2d, at 454.

So it would seem that it is the form of relief only that is here being considered.

The Court of Appeals had held that § 703(h) of Title VII, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-2(h) barred the seniority relief but the Supreme Court disagreed with this holding and reversed and remanded to the District Court for further proceedings.

Section 703(h) provides, in pertinent part:

"Notwithstanding any other provision of this subchapter, 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 . . .."

The Court points out that here (in Franks v. Bowman) the underlying wrong affecting plaintiff is not the alleged operation of a racially discriminatory seniority system, but of a racially discriminatory hiring system.

*628 The Supreme Court then points out that it is within that context that the meaning of § 703(h) must be determined. In making its determination, the Court finds 703(h) to be on its face merely a definition of what is not an illegal employment practice and thus not prohibited by the act; and further, that 703(h) "certainly does not expressly purport to qualify or proscribe relief otherwise appropriate under the remedial provisions . . . [of the act] in circumstances

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444 F. Supp. 344 (E.D. Pennsylvania, 1977)

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Bluebook (online)
419 F. Supp. 625, 13 Fair Empl. Prac. Cas. (BNA) 986, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/alleman-v-trw-inc-pamd-1976.