Hicks v. CROWN ZELLERBACH CORPORATION

321 F. Supp. 1241, 1971 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 15158, 3 Empl. Prac. Dec. (CCH) 8094, 3 Fair Empl. Prac. Cas. (BNA) 90
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Louisiana
DecidedJanuary 7, 1971
DocketCiv. A. 16638
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 321 F. Supp. 1241 (Hicks v. CROWN ZELLERBACH CORPORATION) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Louisiana primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Hicks v. CROWN ZELLERBACH CORPORATION, 321 F. Supp. 1241, 1971 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 15158, 3 Empl. Prac. Dec. (CCH) 8094, 3 Fair Empl. Prac. Cas. (BNA) 90 (E.D. La. 1971).

Opinion

DECREE

HEEBE, District Judge.

This case having come on for a hearing on the merits of the complaint of the plaintiffs, and this Court having previously ordered preliminary and permanent relief with respect to certain aspects of it, and the Court now wishing to issue one complete and comprehensive decree,

It is now the order of the Court that, for the reasons heretofore assigned, the relief sought should be, and the same is hereby, granted as follows.

I. SENIORITY

The defendants, Crown Zellerbach Corporation, Local 362, International Brotherhood of Pulp, Sulphite and Papermill Workers, AFL-CIO, and the International Brotherhood of Pulp, Sulphite and Papermill Workers, AFL-CIO, their officers, agents, employees, servants and all persons and all organizations in active concert or participation with them, are hereby permanently enjoined and restrained from discriminating against the Negro employees of the defendant Crown Zellerbach Corporation’s box plant, grocery bag plant and multiwall bag plant in Bogalusa, Louisiana, in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and in particular, the defendants are hereby Ordered to abolish forthwith the system presently in force at the said box plant, grocery bag plant and multiwall bag plant, by which employees in a position to compete for promotion to vacant job slots in a particular line of progression are awarded promotions on the basis of “job seniority,” and any other seniority system designed to" discriminate against the* Negro employees at said plants'or having the effect of so discriminating, insofar as such “job seniority” or other systems apply to the promotion, demotion or selection for training of Negro employees hired prior to April 7, 1964, in competition with employees of the opposite race; and the said defendants are ordered to establish, with respect to such promotions, demotions and selection for training, and in the place of such “job seniority” or similar systems, a system of “plant seniority” as follows:

(1) Total plant seniority (i. e., the length of continuous service in the box plant, grocery bag plant and multiwall bag plant) alone shall determine who the “senior” bidder or employee is for the purposes of permanent or thirty-day promotions, or for purposes of demotion, in all circumstances in which one or more of the competing employees is a Negro employee hired prior to April 7, 1964; total “plant seniority” will be calculated on the basis of the length of continuous service in the individual plant where the employee is working;

(2) For jobs which operate only one shift per day, promotions or assignments from the unassigned groups to fill casual or vacation vacancies will be made on the same basis as permanent and thirty-day promotions;

(3) For jobs which operate more than one shift per day, promotions because of casual or vacation vacancies, or assignments from the unassigned groups because of casual or vacation vacancies, will be awarded to the senior (as determined in (1) above) qualified man on the shift and/or machine where the vacancy exists;

(4) Waiver provisions of the collective bargaining agreement will continue to apply except that in the case of demotion, if the man in the higher job is senior in terms of mill seniority to the man below him who has previously waived, the employee in the higher job will not be required to demote around the man who waived but will be considered senior where a member of the affected class is involved;

(5) When the employees competing for a vacancy include (a) an employee who has waived and subsequently reinstated and who is senior to the others *1243 competing for the job; and (b) an employee or employees who have established rights around that senior employee; and (c) an employee or employees who are junior to the employee who had waived and reinstated but senior to the employee or employees with the established rights around the previously waived employee, then the senior employee (under mill or job seniority), other than the reinstated employee, is entitled to the promotion;

(6) Qualified employees shall be selected for training on the same basis as for promotion described above; and

(7) The provisions of Section I of this order shall not apply to the Over the Road Trucking Department in the box plant. Ten days after the date of this order, seniority and progression in that Department shall be determined solely by the terms of the applicable collective bargaining agreement.

II. RATE PROTECTION — BOX, GROCERY AND MULTIWALL BAG PLANTS

1. Where a Negro employee in the box plant, grocery bag plant or the multiwall bag plant:

a. Was an employee of the box plant, grocery bag plant or the multiwall bag plant prior to April 7, 1964, and
b. Is the successful bidder for transfer to a permanent opening in the entry job of a line of progression in the plant in which he was an employee prior to April 7, 1964 (for the purposes of this section, the unassigned groups in the box plant shall be considered the entry jobs for those lines leading from those unassigned groups), and
c. Said line contains one or more jobs with a Regular Job Rate (RJR) as defined below, higher than such employee’s RJR, and
d. He accepts such entry job and transfer to that line, and e. His RJR is higher than the RJR of said entry job, and
f. This is the first occasion subsequent to August 1, 1967, that such employee transfers to another line of progression, then he shall be paid his “Red Circle Rate” as defined below, in such new line of progression. This provision is applicable to all temporary positions filled by bid which must be held prior to obtaining the permanent position.

2. Such Red Circle Rate shall continue until such employee:

a. Progresses to a permanent job in the new line with a RJR higher than his Red Circle Rate, or
b. Refuses promotion, temporary or permanent, to a higher job, or
c. Is disqualified for promotion, temporary or permanent, to a higher job to which he would otherwise move, or
d. Chooses a branch of the progression line which will not lead to a job with a RJR higher than his Red Circle Rate, or
e. Requests termination of his Red Circle Rate; at which time said Red Circle Rate shall be terminated and thereafter such employee shall be paid on the regular contract basis for the job he performs.

3. Notwithstanding the provisions of the Labor Agreement, “Regular Job Rate” (RJR) in all cases means the average straight-time hourly earnings paid to the transferring employee in the job slot from which he transfers, as computed by the company and shown on the company’s records for the calendar quarter immediately preceding the calendar quarter of the period in question.

4. “Red Circle Rate” as used herein means the RJR at the time of transfer for the employee’s last permanent position prior to the transfer. Where an employee has *1244

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321 F. Supp. 1241, 1971 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 15158, 3 Empl. Prac. Dec. (CCH) 8094, 3 Fair Empl. Prac. Cas. (BNA) 90, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hicks-v-crown-zellerbach-corporation-laed-1971.