Hockett v. Administrator of Veterans Affairs

385 F. Supp. 1106, 9 Fair Empl. Prac. Cas. (BNA) 149, 1974 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 7339, 8 Empl. Prac. Dec. (CCH) 9645
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. Ohio
DecidedAugust 1, 1974
DocketCiv. A. No. C 73-977
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 385 F. Supp. 1106 (Hockett v. Administrator of Veterans Affairs) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. Ohio primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Hockett v. Administrator of Veterans Affairs, 385 F. Supp. 1106, 9 Fair Empl. Prac. Cas. (BNA) 149, 1974 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 7339, 8 Empl. Prac. Dec. (CCH) 9645 (N.D. Ohio 1974).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

WILLIAM K. THOMAS, District Judge.

Plaintiff Joyce Hockett brings this action against the Administrator of the United States Veterans Administration and against the Executive Director of the United States Civil Service Commission to enjoin the operation of the Commission’s Veterans .Readjustment Appointment Regulations, 5 C.F.R. § 307.-101 et seq. on the ground that they racially discriminate against the plaintiff in violation of law.

Plaintiff filed her original complaint in this court on September 14, 1973, pursuant to Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Section 717(c), 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-16(c), having exhausted her .administrative remedies as required by the Act, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-16(b), and the regulations promulgated thereunder, 5 C.F.R. §§ 713.211-713.236. Following the filing of defendants’ motion to dismiss or in the alternative for summary judgment, plaintiff filed an amended complaint on February 25, 1974. This amended complaint asks for class relief as well as individual relief, and supplements the original statutory claim with three causes of action arising under the United States Constitution. Plaintiff asserts that the regulations in issue here not only contravene the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as amended, but also violate the D.ue Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment and the constitutional prohibitions against bills of attainder and ex post facto laws. Plaintiff seeks a declaration that the regulations are invalid, an injunction removing those regulations as an obstacle to the employment of plaintiff and her class by agencies of the federal government, an award of back pay and related damages, and an award of attorney fees. The jurisdiction of this court is invoked pursuant to 28 U.S.C. §§ 1331, 1343(4), 2201 and 2202, and 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-5(f) and § 2000e-16(c).

Presented for decision is the defendants’ renewed motion of March 7, 1974 to dismiss or in the alternative for summary judgment as to the amended' complaint. The motion, treated as a motion for summary judgment, is being considered on the pleadings and the administrative record of the Civil Service Commission which has been filed in this case.

I.

Plaintiff’s amended complaint states that

Joyce Hockett is a Negro citizen of the United States and a resident of Cleveland, Ohio. She is a veteran of the United States Army, having served therein from February 9, 1970 until December 1, 1972 at which time she was discharged under “other than honorable conditions.”

The amended complaint further recites that

On February 12, 1973, plaintiff attempted to make an application for a position with the Veterans Admini[1108]*1108stration Hospital, 10701 East Boulevard, Cleveland, Ohio. The position she sought was a “Veterans Readjustment Appointment” authorized by Executive Order No. 11521, 1970 U.S.Cong.Code & Admin.News 6236.
Plaintiff was told by defendants’ agent that such employment was not available to her because of the character of her discharge from military service.
This refusal to employ plaintiff was done pursuant to rules and regulations promulgated by the defendants herein.

Plaintiff contends that

The effect of the rules, regulations and practices of the defendant agencies have been and continue to be to limit, segregate and classify Negro applicants for employment on the basis of race and color in violation of 42 U.S.C. Section 2000e et seq. and Executive Order 11521.

The administrative record contains the report, dated April 23, 1973, of Nathalie S. Boswell, Chairman, Equal Employment Opportunity counselors at the Cleveland VA Hospital. Under date of March 5, 1973, the report states:

I received a phone call from Mr. Brudzynski [plaintiff’s counsel] regarding Joyce Hockett who had applied for a nursing position for RN and was told she would not be hired due to her undesirable discharge.

The report continues:

He told me she had talked with a man in Personnel. He was filing a complaint on her behalf;

On the same day Boswell reported “ . . there was no record of her application, and no man remembered interviewing her.” Boswell talked with Brudzynski again on March 5, and also on March 6, attempting to identify with whom Joyce Hockett had spoken, and whether she had made an application. On March 7, the report of Boswell states

Finally ferretted out Mrs. Pride in Personnel who said a woman had come to' her one day asking for a VRA appointment. The woman never gave her name. When the woman mentioned her undesirable discharge, Mrs. Pride told her she was not eligible for the VRA program with a UD. The woman then asked Mrs. Pride if there was someone in the hospital who could hélp her change her discharge, and she was told to try one of the Contact men. Mrs. Pride never heard anything more about it, nor did the woman ever make out an application.

In a conference on March 8, 1973, between Boswell, Brudzynski, and Hockett, it was disclosed by Hockett that “she was not an RN but because of her service training could be an LPN or lab technician, the latter being what she preferred.” Boswell then explained to them

since Miss HOCKETT had not filed an application, there was nothing I could do for her until she had filed and been rejected.

The entry continues:

I gave Mr. Brudzynski a copy of FPM Letter 713-17 as per his request, and told him to contact me after Miss HOCKETT had filed her application.

The report reflects several later telephone conversations between Boswell and Brudzynski, in the last of which on March 29, Boswell

told him again that since Miss HOCKETT had still not been rejected, she still had no complaint as far as EEO regulations were concerned. . . I again reminded him to contact me when and if Miss HOCKETT was rejected because of her UD [undesirable discharge].

Noting that she had not heard from “either of them,” on April 20 Boswell concludes

Since Miss HOCKETT has shown me no evidence of a case except on hearsay, this is not a legal complaint. When she comes to a counselor saying she has made application and been rejected, then it will be handled in the same manner as any other com[1109]

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385 F. Supp. 1106, 9 Fair Empl. Prac. Cas. (BNA) 149, 1974 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 7339, 8 Empl. Prac. Dec. (CCH) 9645, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hockett-v-administrator-of-veterans-affairs-ohnd-1974.