Kennerly v. ARO, Inc.

447 F. Supp. 1090, 22 Fair Empl. Prac. Cas. (BNA) 916, 1977 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 13769
District Court, E.D. Tennessee·Decided September 28, 1977·No. No. CIV-4-76-19·Published·Cited by 2 cases

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION

NEESE, District Judge.

This is an action by the plaintiff Mr. James N. Kennerly for damages (i. e., back pay) and injunctive relief for the deprivation of his civil rights in the form of alleged racial discrimination by the defendant ARO, Inc. (ARO) in his employment. A bench trial was conducted by the Court on July 13-14, 1977. From the evidence adduced thereat and the entire record, the Court makes the following

FINDINGS OF FACT.

1. The plaintiff is a black male person resident within this district. He applied to ARO for employment in September, 1963, was employed, and remained thus employed after February 13, 1964 until he became absent with leave (on July 18, 1977).

2. ARO is a Tennessee corporation which is engaged by contract in the operation and maintenance of the Arnold Air Engineering Development Center, a sophisticated wind-tunnel and testing facility related primarily to the aerospace industry, and maintains the pertinent records herein at Arnold Air Force Station, Tennessee, within this district, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-5(f)(3).

3. The plaintiff’s first job with ARO was in the classification of janitor-cleaner. He remained in this classification for approximately 6 months, cleaning a portion of ARO’s premises. Thereafter, he was promoted by ARO to to the classification of laborer, in which capacity he has worked, and works, continuing to clean a portion of ARO’s premises.

4. (a) Mr. Kennerly was and is a member of the Laborers’ International Union of North America, which is one of 13 labor organizations comprising a collective bargaining unit which is represented by the Air Engineering Metal Trades Council (AEMTC).

(b) At all pertinent times since 1964, ARO maintained bargaining agreements with the AEMTC, governing the terms and conditions of employment of those employees in the bargaining unit represented by AEMTC.

5. Pursuant to the provisions of the aforementioned agreement, notice of all job vacancies in ARO’s operation at such facility is posted for bidding by its employees. Those employees, who lodge with their supervisors bids for such vacancies must possess the minimum qualifications listed in the job description therefor for the vacant position before they will be considered by ARO to fill such vacancy. The initial determination as to whether such a bidder possesses such qualifications is made by the supervisor of ARO’s compensation group in the personnel relations branch of its administrative services division.

6. (a) Such bidders, thus determined to be qualified, if not applying as trainees, are then referred for personal interview to the supervisor of that part of the ARO operation in which the unfilled position exists.

(b) Such bidders, thus determined to be qualified, if applying as trainees, are then referred to a joint training committee, which consists of two representatives of ARO and two representatives of the AEMTC. Selections for trainee-positions are made by such committee pursuant to a rating system adopted in May 1971.

7. (a) It was agreed by ARO and the AEMTC that promotions of ARO’s employees would be made “ * * * on the basis of the necessary qualifications to perform [1096]*1096the work [in the position to which the employee was to be promoted] and seniority. * * * ” It was agreed also that, where the qualifications of the bidders were deemed equal, “ * * * the senior employee [would be] given preference. * * * ”

(b) ARO promoted employees on the basis of ratings of each bidder in accordance with a predetermined point system, the promotion being awarded to the bidder with the highest number of such points. No consideration was given in such selection to the relative seniority of the bidders by ARO unless two or more bidders were deemed equally qualified, in which event the senior employee of such bidders was given preference.

(c) Under the provisions of the aforementioned agreement of the parties, an unsuccessful bidder could file a grievance through the AEMTC over his or her failure of selection.

8. (a) On September 29,1971, the Secretary of Labor ordered ARO within 30 days to

permit Negro employees in the * * * laborer job classification * who are on the payroll to compete for any job vacancy to be filled (including those vacancies to which employees would otherwise have recall or return rights) on the basis [sic: bases] of qualifications to perform the job and seniority. The qualifications of any Negro employee in the * * * laborer job classification * who bids shall be considered equal to the qualifications of other bidders if said employee is presently qualified or can be qualified for the job within a reasonable period of time (three months). * * *

(b) Personnel of ARO conducted personal interviews with all its black and other non-black female employees in 1971, in which there was opportunity for discussion of such employees’ qualifications and any desire by them for higher classifications of employment.

(c) Such an interview was conducted with Mr. Kennerly on June 8, 1971.

(d) ARO instituted also at such facility a further joint-training program in the effort to provide by affirmative action equal opportunity for employment to black and non-black female bidders.

9. ARO segregated its black employees by classification in such a way that deprived, or tended to deprive, them of individual employment opportunities because of their race.

As of February 1, 1976:

(a) 29 of 40 janitor-cleaners of ARO were black;

(b) 2 of 2 of ARO’s janitor-leadermen were black;

(c) 29 of 63 laborers of ARO were black;

(d) 2 of 2 of ARO’s track-laborers were black;

(e) 0 of 15 ARO chief-storekeepers were black;

(f) 2 of ARO’s 44 storekeepers were black; while,

(g) all 45 of ARO’s machinists were white;

(h) all 174 of ARO’s outside-machinists were white; and,

(i) excepting the electrician-trainee positions, 217 of 218 of ARO’s electrical-group employees were white.

10. (a) For more than a decade after his employment with ARO, Mr. Kennerly followed a consistent pattern of bidding for promotions into vacant jobs and for vacancies as a trainee.

(b) As to some of such bids, the plaintiff was determined preliminarily to be not qualified (NQ), and such a bid was considered no further.

(c) As to others of such bids, Mr. Kennerly was determined preliminarily to be apparently qualified (AQ), but he was never the successful bidder on any job (after his aforementioned initial promotion).

(d) ARO posted a notice of vacancies in the position of storekeeper as job no. 4443 on July 24, 1973. Mr. Kennerly bid thereon on the same date and was determined preliminarily to be AQ. He was notified on [1097]*1097August 30, 1973 that a “ * * * better qualified employee was selected * * * ” for one of those positions. (ARO made no showing that seniority, as well as the necessary qualifications to perform the work of storekeeper, was taken into account in such selection.) The successful bidder was Mr. L. L. McKinney, a white person. As between Messrs. McKinney and Kennerly, Mr.

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Kennerly v. ARO, Inc., 447 F. Supp. 1090, 22 Fair Empl. Prac. Cas. (BNA) 916, 1977 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 13769 (E.D. Tenn. 1977).

447 F. Supp. 1090 (Kennerly v. ARO, Inc.) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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