Burwell v. Eastern Airlines, Inc.

68 F.R.D. 495, 12 Fair Empl. Prac. Cas. (BNA) 215, 20 Fed. R. Serv. 2d 1226, 1975 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 15811
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Virginia
DecidedOctober 9, 1975
DocketCiv. A. No. 74-0418-R
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 68 F.R.D. 495 (Burwell v. Eastern Airlines, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Virginia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Burwell v. Eastern Airlines, Inc., 68 F.R.D. 495, 12 Fair Empl. Prac. Cas. (BNA) 215, 20 Fed. R. Serv. 2d 1226, 1975 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 15811 (E.D. Va. 1975).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM

MERHIGE, District Judge.

Plaintiffs, flight attendants employed by defendant Eastern Airlines, Inc., bring this action pursuant to Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (42 U.S. C. 2000e et seq.) in which they challenge the maternity policies of Eastern as applied to female employees. Plaintiffs seek injunctive and declaratory relief, back pay, court costs and attorney’s fees. Defendants Transport Workers’ Union of America, Locals 550 and 553 (Union), are the labor unions which negotiated' the contested maternity policies with defendant Eastern. Jurisdiction is invoked pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-5(f). The matter is presently before the Court on Eastern’s motion to certify a class action.

Both plaintiffs and defendants concur that a class action is appropriate, although they differ as to the appropriate class definition as well as whether notice is required. The class as proposed by either side satisfies the numerosity requirement of Rule 23(a), Fed.R. Civ.P., as a minimum of three thousand five hundred plaintiffs are involved. Moreover, a common question of law is raised by the complaint that pertains to the validity of the maternity leave and benefits policies negotiated by Eastern and the Union. Thus, the second requirement of Rule 23(a), Fed.R.Civ.P. is met. The claims of the class representatives and their requested relief are typical of those of the class as a whole. Additionally, there is no dispute that the interests of each proposed class are concordant with those of the representatives and will be fairly and adequately protected by the vigorous pursuit of this action by the class representatives. Rule 23(a), Fed.R.Civ.P. Litigation on behalf of a national class over a nationally employed policy affecting all class members in a similar fashion is well suited to class action adjudication. Gilbert v. General Electric Co., 519 F.2d 661 (4th Cir. 1975); Wetzel v. Liberty Mutual Ins. Co., 508 F.2d 239 (3d Cir. 1975).

Plaintiffs seek to include both flight attendants and ground employees in the class, while Eastern would include only the flight attendants. While Eastern’s maternity policies, in many respects, apply equally to both ground and flight employees, the justifications for those policies concerning flight personnel raise issues peculiar to the environment in which flight attendants work. Moreover, certain contested policies apply differently to flight attendants and ground attendants. It would appear that the ultimate conclusion reached in the litigation concerning flight attend[498]*498ants may well depend upon medical and scientific testimony concerning the effects of altitude changes and lower oxygen levels on pregnant women, the types of work-related injuries suffered by flight attendants, and the ability of female flight attendants to safely and competently perform their duties during pregnancy. These issues are not applicable to ground employees. In short, in this Court’s view, the claims of the ground personnel may be better presented in an action not burdened by the complexity of issues presented by flight attendants. See Newmon v. Delta Airlines, 374 F.Supp. 238 (N.D.Ga.1973), aff’d. 475 F.2d 768 (5th Cir. 1973). While this factor alone, perhaps, would not justify limiting the class to flight attendants, two additional considerations compel such a conclusion. A part of the relief sought by plaintiffs includes a transfer of pregnant flight attendants to available ground jobs. Such a transfer may and likely would conflict with the interests of ground personnel in job security. It is elementary that if one group’s interests are antagonistic to or potentially conflicting with the interest of another, the former cannot represent the latter in a class action suit. Daye v. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, 344 F. Supp. 1337 (E.D.Pa.1972), aff’d. 483 F. 2d 294 (3d Cir. 1972), cert. den. Meyers v. Pennsylvania, 416 U.S. 946, 94 S.Ct. 1956, 40 L.Ed.2d 298 (1974); Air Line Stewards and Stewardesses Ass’n, Local 550, TWU, AFL-CIO v. American Airlines, Inc., 490 F.2d 636 (7th Cir. 1973); Phillips v. Klassen, 163 U.S.App.D.C. 360, 502 F.2d 362 (1974). More importantly, it appears that the validity of Eastern’s maternity policies for ground personnel is presently pending before the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas, in an action styled Marik v. Eastern Airlines, Inc. filed by two ground employees prior to the institution of this suit. Where, as here, the issues to be litigated by flight attendants will differ in complexity and detail from those of ground employees, and the interests of the two groups potentially conflict, and a prior suit has been instituted by several ground employees, the scope of the class in the instant suit is best limited to flight attendants.

A further point of controversy centers upon the cut-off date for membership in the class. Eastern proposes to restrict the membership of the class to those persons who were in a position to file a timely charge of sex discrimination at the time Ms. Burwell filed her charge under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The cut-off date thus computed would be 300 days prior to the filing of a charge with the EEOC — i.e. October 27, 1972. Eastern, then, would exclude from the class those persons whose claim would be time barred' by the statute of limitations contained in 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-5(g). Plaintiffs, on the other hand, would define the class in terms of the effective date of Title VII, July 2, 1965.

The Court, as Eastern urges, is of the view that individuals whose claims are time barred pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-5(g), should be excluded from the class. It is settled that timely compliance with administrative procedures are jurisdictional prerequisites for maintaining a civil action under Title VII. Alexander v. Gardner-Denver Co., 415 U.S. 36, 47, 94 S.Ct. 1011, 39 L.Ed. 2d 147 (1974); Johnson v. Seaboard Air Line Railroad Co., 405 F.2d 645 (4th Cir. 1964); Mickel v. South Carolina State Employment Service, 377 F.2d 239 (4th Cir. 1967). Compliance with these procedures requires that a charge of discrimination be filed within one hundred eighty days of the alleged unlawful practice or within three hundred days if the aggrieved person has instituted state or local proceedings on the matter. 42 U. S.C.

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68 F.R.D. 495, 12 Fair Empl. Prac. Cas. (BNA) 215, 20 Fed. R. Serv. 2d 1226, 1975 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 15811, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/burwell-v-eastern-airlines-inc-vaed-1975.