Marshall v. Magnavox Co.

494 F. Supp. 1, 24 Fair Empl. Prac. Cas. (BNA) 1507, 24 Wage & Hour Cas. (BNA) 83, 1977 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 13033
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Tennessee
DecidedNovember 9, 1977
DocketNo. CIV-2-75-104
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 494 F. Supp. 1 (Marshall v. Magnavox Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Tennessee primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Marshall v. Magnavox Co., 494 F. Supp. 1, 24 Fair Empl. Prac. Cas. (BNA) 1507, 24 Wage & Hour Cas. (BNA) 83, 1977 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 13033 (E.D. Tenn. 1977).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION

NEESE, District Judge.

The plaintiff served and filed written objections to the proposed findings of fact and recommendation of October 3, 1977 of the magistrate herein. 28 U.S.C. § 636(b)(1). After considering each such objection de novo, idem., the undersigned judge hereby ACCEPTS such findings and recommendations made by such magistrate in so far as they relate to the objections of the plaintiff. Idem.

The defendant served and filed written objections to such proposed findings of fact, to the extent that such did not include two findings proposed by it. After considering each of such objections de novo, idem., the undersigned judge hereby MODIFIES such findings so as to include substantially, as further modified by the undersigned, such findings, idem.

Following all which, the Court makes the following

FINDINGS OF FACT.

1. The defendant The Magnavox Company of Tennessee (Magnavox) is a Tennessee corporation with its principal office and place of business located on Snapps Ferry Road, Greeneville, Greene County, Tennessee.

2. At all times relevant to this proceeding, the defendant engaged in the manufacture of, among other things, radios and television sets, a substantial number of which are shipped, delivered, or-sold in interstate commerce.

3. The defendant is an employer having employees subject to the provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act, 29 U.S.C. §§ 201, et seq.

4. (a) The defendant is an enterprise within the meaning of 29 U.S.C. §§ 203(r), (s).

(b) As such an enterprise, the defendant is and has been subject to the provisions of 29 U.S.C. § 206, which includes the equal-pay provisions.

5. The defendant’s Greeneville, Tennessee operations are divided into a number of divisions; only activities in the radio-TV division and the maintenance division are relevant to this action.

6. Prior to the negotiation of the first collective bargaining agreement in 1954, the defendant’s management established a job classification system in which all hourly-rated jobs were placed in a series of labor grades, ranging from labor grade 2 (the lowest-paying) through labor grade 10 (the highest-paying).

7. This proceeding involves employees employed in the radio-TV and maintenance divisions in labor grades 2 and 4. The specific job codes, which form the basis for the instant proceeding, include job code 2000, assembly operator, second class, labor grade 2 in the radio-TV division and job code 303, janitress-matron, labor grade 2, in the maintenance division of Magnavox. The labor grade 4 positions, with which each is being compared are, respectively, job code 4000, assembly operator, first class, radio-TV division, and job code 302, janitor, labor grade 4, maintenance division.

8. (a) In December, 1954, the International Union of Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers (Union) was certified by the National Labor Relations Board as the statutory collective bargaining agent for all hourly employees of Magnavox at its [3]*3Greeneville location. Effective May 1, 1955, a collective bargaining agreement, governing wages, hours, and working conditions of Magnavox wage-earners, was entered into by Magnavox and the Union. In this agreement, there was a differentiation in the definition of upgraded jobs for women and men. This agreement provided for a beginning wage-differential of 5-cents per hour and a maximum differential of 12-cents per hour between labor grades 2 and 4. Subsequent agreements of Magnavox and the Union continued the practice of compensating labor grade 4 employees at a slightly higher rate than labor grade 2 employees, so that, at all times material to the issues presented in this action, employees performing as assemblers first class were compensated at approximately 6-cents more per hour than employees working as assemblers second class.

(b) In these agreements, Magnavox was accorded the right to transfer its employees from any assembler first class task to any other assembler first class task.

9. The hourly-wage differential between labor grade 2 and labor grade 4 was eliminated on July 1, 1974, under the provisions of a new collective bargain agreement which raised all labor grade 2 employees to labor grade 4 for pay purposes.

10. As to the functions of assemblers first class and assemblers second class:

(a) The mental effort required of a second class assembler is comparable to that required of a first class assembler. Both first class assemblers and second class assemblers are unskilled laborers: neither job requires a great deal of thought.

(b) The environmental conditions in which a second class assembler works are comparable to those in which a first class assembler works.

(c) There are hundreds of separate and distinct assembly operations requiring varying degrees of effort performed within both first and second class assembly classifications, with each operator’s performing a slightly different function. Because it was impractical to compensate each of the hundreds of different assembly operators at different rates, the defendant created broad groupings of assembly operations within the two job classifications of first and second class assemblers.

(d) The assembler operations can be arranged according to physical effort required, ranging from the heaviest position in the first class assembly classification to the lightest position in the second class assembly classification. In making the broad groupings of assembler operations for placement within the two classifications, the defendant drew a line between what should constitute first class assembly and what should constitute second class assembly. The defendant exercised its best business judgment in drawing this line, on the basis of the difference in physical effort required by the two classifications. Although the few operations immediately adjacent to the line which the defendant drew are similar, the majority of first class assembly operations clearly require substantially more physical effort than any second class assembly operation. The plaintiff did not show by a preponderance of the evidence that the job of assembler second class required effort equal to the job of assembler first class.

(e) Physical effort required by a position includes the comparison of such factors as the amount of weight lifted, the amount of weight pushed, the body movements (bending, stooping, and twisting) required, the weight of tools used, and the number of times the operation must be repeated in the course of a workday.

(f) No second class assembler position requires the repeated lifting of as much weight as first class assembler operations.

(g) The second class assemblers on the board and chassis lines use primarily counter-balanced tools in which the weight factor has been eliminated.

(h) The first class assemblers use primarily tools which are not counter-balanced and which are heavier than the tools used by second class assemblers.

[4]

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494 F. Supp. 1, 24 Fair Empl. Prac. Cas. (BNA) 1507, 24 Wage & Hour Cas. (BNA) 83, 1977 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 13033, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/marshall-v-magnavox-co-tned-1977.