Martin v. Arkansas Arts Center

480 F. Supp. 156, 21 Fair Empl. Prac. Cas. (BNA) 560, 1979 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 8609, 21 Empl. Prac. Dec. (CCH) 30,557
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Arkansas
DecidedNovember 9, 1979
DocketNo. LR-C-77-05
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 480 F. Supp. 156 (Martin v. Arkansas Arts Center) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Arkansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Martin v. Arkansas Arts Center, 480 F. Supp. 156, 21 Fair Empl. Prac. Cas. (BNA) 560, 1979 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 8609, 21 Empl. Prac. Dec. (CCH) 30,557 (E.D. Ark. 1979).

Opinion

[157]*157MEMORANDUM OPINION

ROY, District Judge.

This action is brought by plaintiff, Delois Martin, a black female, pursuant to the provisions of 28 U.S.C. § 1343(4), 42 U.S.C. § 1981 and 42 U.S.C. § 2000e et seq. The plaintiff, a former employee of the Arkansas Arts Center, challenges the entire spectrum of employment practices and policies of the defendant on the ground that the policies and practices are racially discriminatory. The plaintiff petitioned for relief not only for her individual claims of discrimination, but for those of all blacks who have sought employment with, who are employed by, or who might seek employment with the defendant. The plaintiff requested that the action be maintained as a class action pursuant to the provisions of Rule 23(b)(2) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. The motion for class certification was denied and the court filed a Memorandum Opinion and Order on June 20, 1979 detailing the reason for denial of the motion.

The court has jurisdiction in this case pursuant to the above cited statutes and on July 2, 3, 5 and 6, 1979 the case proceeded to trial before the court on the individual allegations of the complaint. The trial was adjourned without an announcement of judgment and the court took the matter under advisement pending receipt of briefs. Counsel for both parties have filed excellent proposed findings and briefs in support of their positions,1 which have proved ■ helpful in determining the issues herein.

The plaintiff, Delois Martin, is a college graduate and holds a B.A. Degree in Business Education. The defendant, Arkansas Arts Center, is a non-profit corporation organized under the statutes of the State of Arkansas whose principle place of business is Little Rock, Arkansas. The Arkansas Arts Center receives funds from various contributors and grantors, both public and private, including funds from the Federal Government through several on-going programs subsidized by CETA, and by the Neighborhood Arts Program, formerly Model Cities. The Arkansas Arts Center operates on a budget of approximately one million dollars annually.

On or about July 1, 1974 the plaintiff applied for the position of full charge bookkeeper which she had been advised by the Arkansas Employment Security Division was available and paying a salary of $7,800.00 annually. After submitting her application for employment, the plaintiff was interviewed by both Mr. Townsend Wolfe, Director, and Mr. Leon Kaplan, Assistant Director.

Delois Martin was hired June 11, 1974. On that date Mr. Wolfe informed the plaintiff that although the stated salary for the position was to have been $7,800, Ms. Jacquelyn Simmons, the retiring full charge bookkeeper whom the plaintiff was hired to replace, had decided to remain in the employ of the Arkansas Arts Center and work two or three days per week until the plaintiff was situated and had become acquainted with people. She was further requested to accept a reduced salary of $6,000 for a sixty-day probationary period since only one salary for the position of full charge bookkeeper had been budgeted and no funds had been provided to pay Ms. Simmons during her extended period of employment. Upon the promise of Director Townsend Wolfe that her salary would be increased to the level originally promised, Ms. Martin accepted the modification in salary.

Ms. Martin was supervised by Ms. Simmons during her probationary period. While Ms. Martin worked with supervision during her probationary period, her job performance appeared satisfactory. While Ms. Simmons was on a two-week vacation in September Ms. Martin was found to have successfully completed her probationary period. Ms. Martin inquired of Mr. Wolfe when she would receive the promised pay increase. When reminded of the initial agreement, Mr. Wolfe authorized Ms. Martin to adjust her salary to reflect her increase to $7,800 per year.

[158]*158The salary of Ms. Simmons, who had thirteen years prior satisfactory experience as full charge bookkeeper with the Arts Center, was also increased to $7,800 per year when she returned from vacation. Ms. Simmons continued to provide on-the-job training and supervision to Ms. Martin. Throughout the period from late September through December, Ms. Simmons'noted frequent and repeated errors on the part of Ms. Martin including filing errors which resulted in duplicate payment of invoices, duplicate numbered checks, inability to balance the Arts Center’s books without supervision, inability to independently prepare a financial statement and to reconcile the bank statement. Because of his concern that Ms. Martin was not yet capable of assuming the responsibility of full charge bookkeeper, without supervision, Mr. Wolfe requested Ms. Simmons to remain at the Arts Center beyond her originally scheduled retirement date of December 31, 1974. Ms. Simmons agreed to stay on in order to continue her efforts to train Ms. Martin.

In March of 1975 Mr. Wolfe became concerned that Ms. Martin was not progressing in that her bookkeeping errors continued to be frequent and excessive. In order to better appraise the situation, Mr. Wolfe requested Mr. Kaplan to prepare a memorandum detailing the nature and extent of Ms. Martin’s bookkeeping errors. Mr. Wolfe received a memorandum from Mr. Kaplan dated March 6, 1975 which Mr. Wolfe reviewed with Ms. Martin. The errors listed in the memorandum ranged from relatively minor to major, including errors on the financial statement as large as $8,000 on two separate occasions, errors in the posting and payment of checks, payroll errors, bank reconciliation errors as large as $9,900, and other miscellaneous errors.

When the frequency of Ms. Martin’s errors did not decrease, Mr. Wolfe became more apprehensive concerning Ms. Martin’s qualifications to assume total responsibility of the full 'charge bookkeeper position. Mr. Wolfe offered Ms. Simmons a salary increase to $10,000 per year and the title of Business Manager as an inducement for her to remain at the Arts Center so the work could be kept up-to-date.

The court finds credible Mr. Wolfe’s testimony that he was pleased when Ms. Martin applied for the position and that he wanted to make every effort to train and retain her services in the business office. Mr. Wolfe recognized that the Arts Center needed to recruit more blacks for the better positions. The Center had for some period of time, almost since its inception, in return for certain funds, agreed to pursue an affirmative action program. This program had met with very little success, and the Director knew it was essential to the affirmative action program that he retain and recruit more employees from the minorities. Mr. Wolfe testified that in the hope Ms. Martin would eventually be capable of assuming the duties of full charge bookkeeper, he offered her the position of assistant bookkeeper, a position created solely in order to enable Ms. Martin to remain in the employ of the Arts Center. Ms. Martin continued to receive a salary of $7,800 throughout the period of time that she was assistant bookkeeper and assistant bookkeeper with cashier duties.

In January of 1976 Ms. Simmons expressed her intention to retire effective March 31, 1976.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Moncravie v. Dennis
89 F.R.D. 440 (W.D. Arkansas, 1981)
Miller v. Coca Cola Bottling Co.
496 F. Supp. 1168 (E.D. Arkansas, 1980)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
480 F. Supp. 156, 21 Fair Empl. Prac. Cas. (BNA) 560, 1979 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 8609, 21 Empl. Prac. Dec. (CCH) 30,557, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/martin-v-arkansas-arts-center-ared-1979.