Kinsey v. Legg, Mason & Co.

60 F.R.D. 91, 17 Fed. R. Serv. 2d 857, 1973 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 12833, 6 Empl. Prac. Dec. (CCH) 8708, 6 Fair Empl. Prac. Cas. (BNA) 194
CourtDistrict Court, District of Columbia
DecidedJuly 5, 1973
DocketCiv. A. No. 1338-71
StatusPublished
Cited by51 cases

This text of 60 F.R.D. 91 (Kinsey v. Legg, Mason & Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, District of Columbia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Kinsey v. Legg, Mason & Co., 60 F.R.D. 91, 17 Fed. R. Serv. 2d 857, 1973 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 12833, 6 Empl. Prac. Dec. (CCH) 8708, 6 Fair Empl. Prac. Cas. (BNA) 194 (D.D.C. 1973).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM

GASCH, District Judge.

This matter came on for consideration of the motion of defendant Legg, Mason & Company, Inc., to dismiss certain claims and to dismiss this action as a class action. The record discloses that in late 1968, the plaintiff, Thomas Edward Kinsey, sought employment with Legg, Mason as a retail securities salesman through an employment agency. Legg, Mason interviewed Kinsey and administered to him certain tests that were furnished by third-party defendants, The Klein Institute for Aptitude Testing, Inc., and The Psychological Corporation. Kinsey was not hired because, in Legg, Mason’s view: (1) Kinsey did not have sufficient sales experience, (2) Kinsey had not done sufficiently well on the tests to warrant Legg, Mason taking the financial risk in hiring him in light of his lack of sales experience, and (3) Legg, Mason was not actively seeking to hire securities salesmen-trainees in early 1969 due to the general decline of activity in the securities market.1

On February 28, 1969, the plaintiff filed a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) in which he alleged that he was not hired by Legg, Mason because of his race (Negro). After conducting its statutory investigation pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-5, the EEOC issued its decision dated December 28, 1970, holding that:

Reasonable cause exists to believe that Respondent is engaging in unlawful employment practices in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 by administering unvalidated employment tests which systematically exclude Negroes, including Charging Party, and other minorities from equal employment opportunities.
Reasonable cause exists to believe that Respondent is engaging in unlawful employment practices in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 by implementing hiring and recruitment policies which systematically exclude Negroes and other minorities from equal employment opportunities.2

Thereafter, on June 9, 1971, the EEOC issued its “thirty day letter” to Kinsey informing him of his right to sue in U. S. District Court. On July 7, 1971, Kinsey filed the instant action seeking damages, declaratory judgment and injunctive relief under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e et seq. (hereafter referred to as “Title VII”). In his complaint, plaintiff seeks to represent a class composed of “Black persons who might be employed by Legg, Mason at its investment offices located in Virginia, New York, Maryland, and the District of Columbia, who [94]*94have been and continue to be or might be adversely affected by the practices complained of herein.”3 However, in his answer to the third set of interrogatories propounded by defendant Legg, Mason, the plaintiff apparently seeks to expand the putative class to include Orientals, American Indians, women, Spanish-surnamed and Black persons: (a) who have applied for jobs at Legg, Mason and have not been hired; (b) who have applied for jobs at Legg, Mason, have been given employment tests and have been hired; (c) who have applied for jobs at Legg, Mason, have been hired but left their employment at Legg, Mason as a consequence of their discriminatory treatment in the terms and conditions of employment; (d) currently employed by Legg, Mason who are presently being subjected to discriminatory treatment in the terms and conditions of employment; and (e) who would have applied for jobs at Legg, Mason but did not because of the failure by Legg, Mason to recruit Black and other minorities on a non-discriminatory basis.

Defendant Legg, Mason has moved to dismiss the class action aspect of this case on the grounds that it is not properly maintainable as a class action under Rule 23 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure; or alternatively, that this action proceed as an action for an individual claim for money damages and a claim for declaratory judgment and injunction with regard to prospective Black retail securities sales applicants at Legg, Mason’s Virginia, Maryland, and District of Columbia offices. In addition, Legg, Mason contends that the claims of discriminatory practices alleged by Kinsey which go beyond the EEOC decision should be dismissed; that Kinsey’s claims under 42 U.S.C. § 1981 be limited to the issues which the Court may consider under Title VII; and that the claims asserted under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, and under the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution should be dismissed because of the absence of state or federal action. Since plaintiff has no objection to the dismissal of the claims grounded upon 42 U.S.C. § 1983 and the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments, this Court orders that those claims are hereby dismissed. However, the other contentions of Legg, Mason are opposed by plaintiff and a proper resolution of those questions requires some discussion of the facts and applicable legal principles.

As noted earlier, plaintiff evidently seeks to represent members of minority groups who might be employed in Legg, Mason’s Virginia, Maryland, District of Columbia, and New York offices, and also seeks declaratory and injunctive relief for “employees” with respect to their “compensation, terms, conditions and privileges of employment.” In addition, plaintiff alleges in his complaint that Legg, Mason has engaged in discriminatory practices by “limiting, segregating, and classifying employees” in ways which deprive them of equal employment opportunities. Thus, it appears that plaintiff would like to represent all members of minority groups employed at the above offices of Legg, Mason in every job category with respect to each of the previously mentioned incidents of employment, even though his EEOC complaint4 and the EEOC decision contain no reference to compensation, terms, conditions and privileges of employment, or to limiting, segregating and classifying employees. Defendant Legg, Mason argues that the claims of plaintiff which go beyond the allegations of recruitment, testing and hiring discrimination should be dismissed because they were not raised during the administrative proceedings and therefore not [95]*95the subject of EEOC conciliation efforts.

The pertinent statutory provisions contained in 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-5(a) read as follows:

Whenever it is charged in writing under oath by a person claiming to be aggrieved . . . that an employer . has engaged in an unlawful employment practice, the Commission shall furnish such employer . (hereinafter referred to as the ‘respondent’) with a copy of such charge and shall make an investigation of such charge, provided that such charge shall not be made public by the Commission.

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60 F.R.D. 91, 17 Fed. R. Serv. 2d 857, 1973 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 12833, 6 Empl. Prac. Dec. (CCH) 8708, 6 Fair Empl. Prac. Cas. (BNA) 194, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/kinsey-v-legg-mason-co-dcd-1973.