Forsberg v. Pacific Northwest Bell Telephone Co.

840 F.2d 1409, 1988 WL 7507
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
DecidedFebruary 8, 1988
DocketNos. 86-4054, 86-4144 and 87-3536
StatusPublished
Cited by209 cases

This text of 840 F.2d 1409 (Forsberg v. Pacific Northwest Bell Telephone Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Forsberg v. Pacific Northwest Bell Telephone Co., 840 F.2d 1409, 1988 WL 7507 (9th Cir. 1988).

Opinions

WALLACE, Circuit Judge:

Stephanie Forsberg, on behalf of all similarly situated past, present, and future females employed as “Maintenance Administrators” (MAs) by Pacific Northwest Bell Telephone Company (the company) since March 7, 1983, appeals the district court’s orders denying class certification and granting summary judgment to the company on a variety of state and federal sex discrimination claims. Forsberg sought monetary and injunctive relief. The district court had jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1331, 29 U.S.C. § 216(b), and 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-5(f)(3) on the federal claims and exercised pendent jurisdiction over one of the state claims. We have jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1291. We affirm.

I

In 1979, the company employed both men and women as test desk technicians (TDTs). The majority of TDTs were men. The TDTs used a manual testing device located on a testboard in order to diagnose malfunctions in customer telephone lines. A TDT would receive a “trouble ticket”, containing a clerk’s description of a customer’s complaint. The TDT would then perform a series of manual tests on the testboard, which contained a complex panel of switches and keys. The TDT would use these switches and keys to diagnose a malfunction. The TDT would then analyze the results and dispatch a crew to solve the problem. TDTs performed this function in forty-one different repair service bureaus throughout the Northwest. The collective bargaining agreement, which the American Telephone and Telegraph Company (AT & T) and the Communication Workers of America (union) negotiated, classified the TDT position as a “craft” level position.

In 1980, AT & T (then the parent telephone company) introduced a computerized testing device known as MLT-1 (mechanized loop testing). The MLT system uses computer terminals and keyboards, instead of a manually operated testboard, to analyze customer complaints about malfunctioning telephone lines. In light of the MLT-1 system, AT & T and the union [1412]*1412entered collective bargaining negotiations in 1980 and created the MA position. The negotiating parties did not classify the MAs as “craft” level employees. Instead, they agreed that they would classify the MAs as G-5 clerks, but would pay the MAs at the G — 8 rate. In order gradually to fill the MA positions over the ensuing two years, the company promoted clerks who the company would have otherwise terminated. Most of these clerks were women who previously performed manual record keeping functions. Although some TDTs continued to function, the MAs who used the MLT-1 system performed about seventy-five percent of the work that TDTs formerly performed and nearly all of the manual record keeping that the MAs had formerly performed as clerks.

In 1982, AT & T introduced MLT-2, an improved MLT system. The company retrained the MAs who had been operating the MLT-1 system. By January 1983, these retrained MAs were using the MLT-2 system to perform all of the testing that the TDTs formerly performed manually. As a result, the company phased out the TDT position. In addition, by introducing the MLT-2 system, the company centralized the testing facilities into fifteen maintenance centers, rather than operating forty-one repair service bureaus which it had when it used TDTs to diagnose telephone line malfunctions.

Under the MLT-2 system, an MA uses a computerized testing device consisting of a keyboard and a computer screen. Unlike the TDT, the MA does not receive a narrative slip with a customer complaint and then conduct a series of tests to identify the malfunction. Instead, when the company receives a complaint, a message clerk enters the customer’s complaint into the MLT-2 system. The MLT-2 then automatically conducts a series of tests on the customer’s telephone lines. The MLT-2 then electronically produces a report that identifies the problem and suggests a solution. It is through this report that an MA first learns that a customer is having trouble with his or her telephone line. The MA then analyzes the report and assesses the MLT-2’s recommendation.

In some cases, the MA must use the MLT-2 to perform additional verification tests. This is done by “telling” the MLT-2 to conduct certain tests by entering certain simple keystrokes. For example, to determine whether there is a foreign current on a certain line, an MA types the customer’s telephone number into the computer and presses “F.” The MA then presses the send/receive button on the keyboard. Within one minute, the MLT-2 completes the appropriate test and the results appear on the screen. The MLT-2 provides a diagnosed solution. The MA then relays the diagnosis to a technician to cure the problem.

In 1983, AT & T and the union negotiated another collective bargaining agreement. The 1983 agreement retained the MA job classification and title and continued the G-8 pay rate.

The company has employed Forsberg as an MA at least since March 7, 1983. On November 16, 1984, Forsberg sued the company, on behalf of all similarly situated past, present, and future females that the company has employed as MAs since March 7, 1983. Forsberg’s complaint alleged that wages were low because the company discriminated against women in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e (Title VII), the federal Equal Pay Act (EPA), 29 U.S.C. § 206, the Oregon Fair Employment Practices Act (Oregon FEPA), Or.Rev.Stat. § 659.030, the Oregon Equal Pay Act, Or.Rev.Stat. § 652.220, and the Oregon Wage Claim Statute, Or.Rev.Stat. § 652.355. She claimed that: (1) there was substantial disparity in pay rates between the MAs, a predominantly female group, and the former TDTs, a predominantly male group, and (2) the work done by the MAs and TDTs was “substantially equal.” Fors-berg, the purported class, and approximately 80 federal EPA opt-in plaintiffs sought monetary and injunctive relief.

The company moved to join the union and Locals 9201, 9204, 9206, and 9208 of the union as defendants, on the grounds that the union had bargained for and agreed to [1413]*1413the wage rates that the MAs alleged to be discriminatory. The company argued that if Forsberg and the class proved the alleged pay discrimination, then the union could be liable for the discrimination. In addition, the company argued that if Fors-berg received the relief sought, such relief would necessarily affect the terms of the union contract. Finally, the company maintained that the district court should decline to assert pendent jurisdiction over Fors-berg’s state law claims.

The district judge joined the union and the union locals as defendants under Fed. R.Civ.P.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
840 F.2d 1409, 1988 WL 7507, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/forsberg-v-pacific-northwest-bell-telephone-co-ca9-1988.