Gerald Brent Fagan v. National Cash Register Company

481 F.2d 1115, 157 U.S. App. D.C. 15
CourtCourt of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit
DecidedAugust 21, 1973
Docket71-1243
StatusPublished
Cited by76 cases

This text of 481 F.2d 1115 (Gerald Brent Fagan v. National Cash Register Company) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Gerald Brent Fagan v. National Cash Register Company, 481 F.2d 1115, 157 U.S. App. D.C. 15 (D.C. Cir. 1973).

Opinions

DANAHER, Senior Circuit Judge:

This appellant in the district court had alleged that he was the victim of unlawful sex discrimination within the purview of 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-2(a). After a hearing, the district court on March 30, 1971, dismissed1 the complaint as failing to state a claim entitling the appellant to relief and, therefore, did not reach the appellant’s motion for a temporary restraining order. We affirm.

The appellant had submitted on affidavit attached to his complaint: That I wear my hair long, that is below the ears and below the collar in the back and styled in the vogue and fashion of the times in projection of my image of self and consistent with my consciousness of my peer group.2

The appellant was quite aware that, many months before, his employer had issued grooming regulations which, as to employees in its Technical Service Department, applied to haircuts, sideburns, mustaches, beards, suits, shirts, ties and shoes. The section dealing with “Haircuts” provided:

Hair will be neatly trimmed and combed. The length of the hair will taper down the back of the head and terminate above the collar. This eliminates any appearance of long hair.

The appellant’s affidavit was countered, in support of the appellee’s motion to dismiss, by the affidavit of one Richard Paugh, Manager of the Technical Services Branch of the National Cash Register Company which as we now paraphrase it [1117]*1117sets out that Fagan, trained at company expense, had been in the employ of the company since March 1967, had worked in Paugh’s department since January, 1969, that Fagan’s duties included “visiting the offices of customers of National Cash Register, particularly banks, for the purpose of service and repair of National Cash Register equipment, including bank proof machines, accounting machines, cash registers, adding machines and the like.”

The employer in October, 1969, had received complaints from customers regarding the careless grooming of some company representatives, the Paugh affidavit continued. The employer’s policy statement noted the company’s receipt of comments from customers “regarding the extreme manner of dress and carelessness in grooming” which had been observed respecting some employees. “We must do everything we can to create a favorable impression on our customers and prospects. We simply cannot afford to have our employees do otherwise by their personal appearance.” 3

The employer’s policy statement of 1969 was followed in April, 1970, by the adoption of the standards of grooming above noted. In December, 1970, the appellant was told by a superior that his hair style failed to conform to the company’s requirement respecting its length. He was shown, and he also read, the outline of the company’s position, and was then told to cut his hair or not to return to work the following Monday. He had his hair cut.

On March 22, 1971, the appellant was again told to conform to the com-' pany’s position or not to return to work the next day. Following a conference on March 24, 1971, when the company’s memorandum of April, 1970, was again read to him, the appellant telephoned to his attorney from the meeting, and the instant case was filed on March 24, 1971. The following day, March 25, 1971, the appellant met in the Technical Service Department with various officials and was told that he was suspended.

There are some 100 technical service employees in the Washington metropolitan area of whom none are women although there are no restrictions on the employment of both sexes.

So read the Paugh affidavit in substance.

The appellant now argues that the aid of a federal court is his right; indeed he claims he should prevail as a matter of law, and he has moved that summary judgment be entered in his favor. Moreover, he has told us on brief that there is no issue of material fact. Thus, he submits, he is entitled to judgment as he relies upon 42 U.S.C. §§ 1981, 1983, 2000e-2(a) and on the First, Ninth and Fourteenth Amendments to the Constitution of the United States.4

I

Fagan here has insisted upon his claim of right to wear his hair in a self-determined manner, indeed he contends that his employer’s action constitutes an invasion of “liberties and privacy.” To support his position he has cited to.us various cases where some courts have stricken as invalid school board rules prescribing unacceptable hair length for students. Some of such cases have been based upon equal protection grounds, others have viewed “long hair” proscription as a denial of due process. [1118]*1118Yet others have purported to see a deprivation of rights within the ambit of 42 U.S.C. § 1983.5

On the other hand, in yet other cases, no constitutional deprivation has been perceived,6 and no “rights” have been recognized as requiring or even as justifying the interposition of federal courts.

After the District Court in Karr v. Schmidt, 320 F.Supp. 728 (W.D.Tex. 1970), ruled that the local standard hair length regulation violated the due process and equal protection clauses, its judgment was stayed and Justice Black refused to vacate the stay. His memorandum, 401 U.S. 1201, 1202, 91 S.Ct. 592, 27 L.Ed.2d 797 (1971), reflected his view that the federal courts have no constitutional power to interfere with regulations promulgated by a public school system. The Fifth Circuit, en banc, 1972, 460 F.2d 609, not only reversed the District Court, but announced a per se rule directing the district courts thereafter to dismiss, forthwith, for failure to state a valid claim, a complaint which “merely alleges the constitutional invalidity of a high school hair and grooming regulation.” 7

A variant was next considered in Landsdale v. Tyler Jr. College, 470 F.2d 659, where the Fifth Circuit again sat en banc. The Court’s opinion, October 4, 1972, noted that the college was a public institution of the State of Texas, to be sure, but distinguished the Karr holding since the State’s right by regulation to intrude upon a personal liberty to wear long hair “stops at the college gate.” The student is not required to go to college, but until that departure, the State was bound to educate him through high school. The numerous dissenting expressions reiterate previous views.

Chief Judge Brown, concurring in the majority Landsdale opinion, not only cited Judge Tuttle’s memorandum in Sherling, supra, note 7, but emphasized Judge Wisdom’s dissent in Karr, 460 F.2d at 619. There, after a bow in the direction of Mr. Justice Black’s position, 401 U.S. 1201, 1202, 91 S.Ct. 592, 27 L.Ed.2d 797, supra, Judge Wisdom in note 1, expressed himself as “still unwilling to ascribe a similar view to the Supreme Court as a whole.”

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Bluebook (online)
481 F.2d 1115, 157 U.S. App. D.C. 15, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/gerald-brent-fagan-v-national-cash-register-company-cadc-1973.