Hodgson v. Schnuck

333 F. Supp. 798, 9 Fair Empl. Prac. Cas. (BNA) 694, 1971 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 11305, 4 Empl. Prac. Dec. (CCH) 7621
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Missouri
DecidedOctober 8, 1971
DocketNo. 71 C 96(1)
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 333 F. Supp. 798 (Hodgson v. Schnuck) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Missouri primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Hodgson v. Schnuck, 333 F. Supp. 798, 9 Fair Empl. Prac. Cas. (BNA) 694, 1971 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 11305, 4 Empl. Prac. Dec. (CCH) 7621 (E.D. Mo. 1971).

Opinion

FINDINGS OF FACT, CONCLUSIONS OF LAW, AND JUDGMENT

MEREDITH, Chief Judge.

The facts set forth below having been stipulated by plaintiff, James D. Hodgson, Secretary of Labor, United States Department of Labor, and defendant Schnuck Markets, Inc., and by plaintiff and defendant Allied Supermarkets, Inc., each defendant stipulating to the facts applicable to it, to be true, they are hereby so found by the Court and adopted as its findings of fact:

1. This is, in pertinent part, an action by the Secretary of Labor to enjoin Schnuck Markets, Inc., a corporation, its president, Edward J. Schnuck, and its vice-president, Donald O. Schnuck, from violating the equal pay and overtime provisions of sections 6(d), 7(a) (1) and 15(a) (2) (including a prayer for back wages), and the record-keeping provisions of sections 11(c) and 15(a) (5), of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, as amended (29 U.S.C. § 201 et seq.), hereinafter called the Act. The action also seeks to enjoin Allied Supermarkets, Inc., hereinafter referred to as “Allied,” from violating the provisions of sections 6(d) and 15(a) (2) (including a prayer for back wages) of the Act. Subsequent to the original filing of this action, pursuant to order of this Court, the complaint in the action was amended and an additional party defendant, Retail Store Employees Union, Local 655, affiliated with the Retail Clerks International Association, AFL-CIO, hereinafter referred to as “Local 655,” was added, the amended complaint adding the allegation that Local 655 caused or attempted to cause the employer-defendants to violate the provisions of sections 6(d) and 15(a) (2) of the Act.

2. Edward J. Schnuck, Route 2, Conway Road, Chesterfield, St. Louis County, Missouri, and Donald O. Schnuck, 20 Countryside Lane, St. Louis County, Missouri, are president and vice-president, respectively, of defendant Schnuck Markets, Inc.

3. Defendant Schnuck Markets, Inc., hereinafter referred to as “Schnuck,” is a Missouri corporation, with its principal office and place of business located at 8590 Page Boulevard, St. Louis, Missouri, within the jurisdiction of this Court, from which central office it directs and controls the activities of various related corporate or other organizational units constituting the retail grocery enterprise hereinafter described, operating retail grocery stores in the St. Louis metropolitan area known variously under the trade names “Foodtown” and “Schnuck Markets,” together with related activities, i. e., a bakery and central warehouse.

[800]*8004. At all times material hereto, substantial quantities of the groceries and other items handled and sold by employees of Schnuck at its aforesaid establishments were originally purchased and delivered from sources outside the State of Missouri.

5. At all times since February 16, 1969, Schnuck’s retail grocery chain has had, and has, an annual gross volume of sales made or business done of not less than $1 million, exclusive of excise taxes at the retail level, separately stated, and the total annual gross volume of goods that move or have moved across State lines (but not in deliveries from reselling establishments), purchased or received for resale by Schnuck, is not less than $250,000.

6. Allied has admitted in its answer that it, a Delaware corporation with its home office located at 8711 Meadowdale, Detroit, Michigan, is a national grocery chain. On or about October 10, 1970, Schnuck purchased from Allied, and subsequent to said purchase operated, Allied’s retail grocery establishments formerly operated by Allied under the names of “Bettendorf Rapp,” “Bettendorfs’,” and “Rapp’s,” located primarily in the St. Louis metropolitan area, and the locations of some of which are named in the complaint herein and in Finding No. 8 below.

7. At all times material to this action, the wages of Schnuck’s and Allied’s grocery clerks have been regulated by wage rate schedules contained in collective bargaining agreements between Schnuck and Local 655 and Allied and Local 655. The schedule in the agreement effective from May 3, 1965, to May 4, 1968, which was negotiated and entered into almost two years subsequent to the enactment of the equal pay provisions of the Act, designated clerks as “male” and “female,” setting lower rates of pay for female clerks than for male clerks. In the agreement effective from May 5, 1968, to April 20, 1971, the contract language in the schedule was changed from “male” and “female” to “light duty” and “heavy duty” clerks, respectively, the so-called “light duty” female clerks continuing to receive lower wages than the so-called “heavy duty” male clerks. The situation remains the same in the current agreement effective from May 1, 1971, to April 30, 1974, except that the “light duty” female rate will become equal to the “heavy duty” male rate on May 1, 1973. Under each of the above agreements part-time clerks have been paid equal rates, whether male or female, except that after the passage of a specified amount of time or the accumulation of a specified number of hours of work, part-time employees, for pay purposes, proceed to the full-time or “regular” rate schedule, and the pay differential with respect to regular full-time clerks is equally applicable to a part-time clerk who has progressed to the full-time or regular wage rate schedule.

8. Both prior and subsequent to the effective date of the equal pay provisions of the Act, Schnuck, at its establishment located at 10760 Sunset Hills Shopping Center, Sunset Hills, Missouri, and Allied, at its establishments located at 10009 Bellfontaine, Bellfontaine Neighbors, St. Louis County, Missouri; 10275 Clayton Road, Ladue, St. Louis County, Missouri; 4437 Natural Bridge, St. Louis, Missouri; 4222 Hampton, St. Louis, Missouri; 7651 Clayton Road, Clayton, St. Louis County, Missouri; 10725 Manchester Road, Kirkwood, St. Louis County, Missouri; 2321 Mc-Causland, St. Louis, Missouri; and 8823 Ladue Road, Ladue, St. Louis County, Missouri, have employed both male and female clerks in stocking work and in checking work (with respect to Allied “cheeking” includes “cashiering”), or combinations thereof, in varying proportions, and has paid male clerks the “heavy duty” higher rate of pay and females the “light duty” lower rate of pay without regard to the proportion of their time spent in checking or stocking by either males or females, resulting in the following situations: one or more male clerks have spent all or substantial amounts of their working time stocking, [801]*801and one or more male clerks have spent all or substantial amounts of their working time checking; the male clerks have always received the “heavy duty” rate of pay whether checking or stocking. Certain female clerks have spent all or substantial amounts of their working time checking; the female clerks have always received the “light duty” rate of pay. Irrespective of the proportions of time male employees or female employees have spent in their various duties, all males were paid the higher “heavy duty” rate and all females were paid- the lower “light duty” rate.

9. During the period involved in this action, at defendant Schnuck’s said establishment and at Allied’s said establishments, the work performed by each of the female clerks was, during their employment, substantially equal in skill, effort, and responsibility to that performed by at least one or more males in the same establishment, and said females were paid less than said males with equal seniority.

10.

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Bluebook (online)
333 F. Supp. 798, 9 Fair Empl. Prac. Cas. (BNA) 694, 1971 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 11305, 4 Empl. Prac. Dec. (CCH) 7621, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hodgson-v-schnuck-moed-1971.