Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v. Liberty Mutual Insurance

346 F. Supp. 675, 1972 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 12789, 5 Empl. Prac. Dec. (CCH) 7982, 4 Fair Empl. Prac. Cas. (BNA) 989
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. Georgia
DecidedJuly 12, 1972
DocketCiv. A. 16590
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 346 F. Supp. 675 (Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v. Liberty Mutual Insurance) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. Georgia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v. Liberty Mutual Insurance, 346 F. Supp. 675, 1972 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 12789, 5 Empl. Prac. Dec. (CCH) 7982, 4 Fair Empl. Prac. Cas. (BNA) 989 (N.D. Ga. 1972).

Opinion

ORDER

FREEMAN, District Judge.

This action came on for hearing on plaintiff’s motion for a preliminary injunction on May 30 and 31, 1972. At the close of the hearing the court orally entered a preliminary injunction. This order making findings of fact and conclusions of law is issued in connection therewith.

FINDINGS OF FACT

1. This action was brought by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission pursuant to § 706(f) (2), Title VII, Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-5, as amended by Public Law 92-261, 86 Stat. 103 (March 24, 1972).

2. Plaintiff is an agency of the United States Government, charged with responsibility, inter alia, for receiving and investigating charges of discrimination in employment filed by or on behalf of aggrieved persons; for attempting to eliminate any such discrimination by informal methods of persuasion, and, in appropriate cases, for bringing suit to end such discriminatory employment practices.

3. The defendant is a corporation doing business in the State of Georgia and in the City of Atlanta.

4. Sandra Jane Drew was hired on September 13, 1971, as a Claims Representative in the Claims Department of the defendant’s Atlanta City Office. The uniform appraisal of Drew’s job performance by management, her supervisors and co-workers is that she was an above average employee.

5. The Claims Department of the Atlanta City Office consists of technical and clerical employees. The technical employees are divided into two groups, Claims Representatives and Claims Adjusters. The Claims Representatives are all female; indeed, all of the 75 Claims Representatives in the nine state Southern Division are female. The Claims Adjusters classification is a predominantly male classification; until 1971 no female had ever been hired or promoted into the Claims Adjuster classification. The starting salary for Claims Representatives is $5300 annually while Adjusters begin at $7500 a year.

6. On August 26, 1970, a “technical claims person” was appointed to be in charge of handling all automobile total loss claims, and a male Adjuster was selected to fill the position. Prior thereto the total loss responsibility had been distributed among the Claims Representatives. The position was held continuously by a male Adjuster until February 7, 1972, when Sandra Drew assumed the position.

7. On February 1, 1972, Drew was called into the office of Mr. Wilsie Hutts, Manager of the Claims Department and told that she had been selected to fill the position at the total loss desk. Drew was advised at this time by Mr. Hutts that she would not receive the same salary, fringe benefits nor all the responsibilities that had been associated with the job when held by an Adjuster.

8. On April 6, 1972, Drew filed a charge of discrimination with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, charging defendant with sex discrimination in employment.

9. On the following day, April 7 1972, Mr. Joseph S. Raine, Jr., Assistant Claims Manager, took Drew to see Mr. Orland Krug, Division Claims Manager, who told her that he had learned that she disagreed with company policy. Krug would not accept Drew’s offer to discuss their differences. He told her that she had the option of either terminating her employment voluntarily or of being discharged. She chose the latter and was immediately discharged. The *677 reason given by Krug at the May 30-31, 1972 hearing in this case was that she had disagreed with company policy by insisting on being paid the same salary as her predecessors and because of her “poor attitude.” Drew was given no notices, warnings or indication prior to her meeting with Krug that her conduct was unacceptable.

10. Drew was the first employee ever discharged in the Southern Division for opposing company policy. The only other instance in which an employee was discharged without notice occurred some 10 years earlier when an employee was found to have misappropriated company funds.

11. Drew is the sole breadwinner for her family, as her husband is a full-time student.

12. Cheryl Goldberg was hired in August, 1971, as a Claims Representative in the Claims Department of the defendant’s Atlanta City Office.

13. Prior to May 5, 1972, agents of defendant reviewed the work performance of Cheryl Goldberg and found it to be deficient.

14. On May 5, 1972, Cheryl Goldberg was discharged by defendant. On May 22, 1972, she commenced work at another job.

15. The defendant has no standards, written or otherwise, with respect to its discharge and disciplinary policies. Employees are given no indication as to which offenses may result in immediate discharge, nor are they told how many warnings or notices may be given in different situations.

16. On May 16, 1972, a meeting was held by defendant at which Raine advised the Claims Representatives that they need not fear retaliation for cooperating with the EEOC. An EEOC investigator, present at the meeting, told Mr. Raine that he was satisfied with the assurances given.

CONCLUSIONS OF LAW

1. The court has jurisdiction of this action pursuant to § 706(f) (3) of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as amended by the Equal Employment Opportunity Act of 1972.

2. Defendant Liberty Mutual Insurance Company is an employer engaged in an industry affecting commerce within the meaning of § 701(b) of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e(b), as amended.

3. There is not a likelihood that Cheryl Goldberg will prevail on the merits of her charge that she was terminated from employment by defendant because she had opposed the discharge of Sandra Drew or because she had assisted the EEOC in its investigation of Sandra Drew’s charge of sex discrimination.

4. There is a likelihood that Sandra Drew will prevail on the merits of her charge that she was terminated from her employment by defendant because of opposition to unlawful employment practices and/or because she filed a charge with the EEOC in which she alleged that defendant practiced sex discrimination in its employment practices.

5. Until reinstated to the job which she held prior to termination, Sandra Drew was suffering, and would have continued to suffer, irreparable harm.

6. The reinstatement of Sandra Drew to her former position pending the EEOC’s disposition of her charge of discrimination will not substantially harm defendant.

7. The action of the defendant in making known to its employees that they may cooperate with the EEOC in its investigation of the charges filed by Sandra Drew and Cheryl Goldberg and in the investigation of any other charge without fear of loss of employment or benefits obviates the need for any injunction regarding this aspect of the action.

Accordingly, defendant is hereby ordered to reinstate Sandra Drew to her former position at the Total Loss Desk, with all the responsibilities and duties which were formerly assigned to that position.

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346 F. Supp. 675, 1972 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 12789, 5 Empl. Prac. Dec. (CCH) 7982, 4 Fair Empl. Prac. Cas. (BNA) 989, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/equal-employment-opportunity-commission-v-liberty-mutual-insurance-gand-1972.