Molthan v. Temple University—of the Commonwealth System of Higher Education

83 F.R.D. 368, 24 Fair Empl. Prac. Cas. (BNA) 282, 27 Fed. R. Serv. 2d 1242, 1979 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 10859
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Pennsylvania
DecidedJuly 23, 1979
DocketCiv. A. No. 75-1401
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 83 F.R.D. 368 (Molthan v. Temple University—of the Commonwealth System of Higher Education) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Molthan v. Temple University—of the Commonwealth System of Higher Education, 83 F.R.D. 368, 24 Fair Empl. Prac. Cas. (BNA) 282, 27 Fed. R. Serv. 2d 1242, 1979 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 10859 (E.D. Pa. 1979).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM

LUONGO, District Judge.

Plaintiffs Lyndall Molthan, Bernice Torrance, and Rosalie A. Cohen filed the origi-. nal complaint in this civil rights action on May 15, 1975, on behalf of themselves and all others similarly situated. They complained of pervasive gender-based discrimination in the employment practices and policies of defendant Temple University. On December 19, 1977,1 granted Temple’s motion for partial summary judgment on certain of Molthan’s individual claims. See 442 F.Supp. 448 (E.D.Pa.1977). Plaintiffs filed an amended complaint on April 2, 1979, withdrawing certain claims but once again alleging discrimination against women “in the hiring, promotion, tenure, salary and placement of women employed at or applying for faculty, administrative and professional positions within Temple University.” (Document No. 40) ¶ 1. Count I of the amended complaint is based on Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. §§ 2000e to 2000e-17 (1976), while Count II is based on the Civil Rights Act of 1871, 42 U.S.C. § 1983 (1976). Presently before me is plaintiffs’ motion for class action certification. For the reasons hereafter stated, I conclude that Count I of this action may properly be maintained as a class action under Rule 23(b)(2), but that the scope of the class should be somewhat narrower than the broad class that plaintiffs seek to represent.

The factual record here consists of the pleadings, answers to interrogatories, the depositions of the three named plaintiffs, and a number of documents submitted by both sides. In my view, the pleadings alone provide a sufficient basis for determining whether plaintiffs have satisfied the requirements of Rule 23. See Wajda v. Penn Mut. Life Ins. Co., 80 F.R.D. 303, 305 (E.D. Pa.1978).

The amended complaint alleges the following facts with respect to the three named plaintiffs. Lyndall Molthan graduated with honors from Temple University School of Medicine in 1949, and then became one of the first female interns at Temple University Hospital. Amended Complaint ¶ 21. From the early 1950’s through the late 1960’s, she was appointed to progressively higher academic positions within the University, “including a dean’s appointment as an instructor in the Department of Medicine in 1954; a dean’s appoint[371]*371ment as assistant professor in the Department of Medicine in 1959; a dean’s appointment as associate professor in the Department of Medicine in 1965; and a presidential appointment as associate professor in the Department of Medicine in 1966.” Id. ¶22. In May of 1969, shortly after she accepted a consulting position at another institution, Molthan was “demoted” to a non-tenured dean’s appointment as a clinical associate professor. Although her consulting position required only four hours of service per month, so that she continued to work a full 35-hour week at Temple University Hospital after she accepted the outside position, Molthan was made a “clinical,” or part-time, faculty member (thus losing her tenure) “allegedly as a consequence” of accepting that position. Id. ¶¶ 26, 28. These actions were taken although male faculty members earning “comparable and more extensive consultancy salaries” were not demoted to non-tenured positions. Id. ¶ 27. In July of 1971, Molthan “became a full-time employee . . . with fringe benefits, but without correction of her faculty status, and hence with continued loss of tenure.” Id. ¶ 29.

Molthan later complained to the University’s Affirmative Action Committee that she had been underpaid (compared to male employees in comparable positions) because of sex discrimination. Id. ¶ 34. On January 20, 1972, that committee rendered an unfavorable decision. Molthan promptly appealed to the newly-created University Equal Opportunity Employment Council, which held three “extensive hearings” and then rendered a decision in her favor. Id. That body then “forwarded its recommendation to the office of [University] President Paul Anderson, who not only reversed the University Equal Opportunity Employment Council, but disbanded it.” Id. Thus, Mol-than’s case was “the first and only case ever heard” by the Council. Id. Molthan filed complaints in August of 1972 with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and with the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission. Id. ¶35. Finally, it appears that Molthan’s employment at Temple ended in November of 1977, although plaintiffs’ counsel have not seen fit to incorporate this occurrence into the factual record.

Bernice Torrance was hired on August 1, 1969 to serve as a producer-director in Temple’s Office of Television Services. Id. ¶ 38. Although her work was well-received, she was paid less than “males employed in comparable positions” in the same department. Id. ¶41. On June 7, 1971, she was discharged wrongfully and in derogation of the University’s procedures, although her supervisor had never warned her that her work was unsatisfactory and although she had received no outside complaints about her work. Id. ¶¶ 42, 43. On July 7, 1972, Torrance filed a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Id. ¶ 45.

Rosalie A. Cohen was hired in the winter of 1970 as an Associate Professor of Sociology and Foundations of Education. Id. ¶¶47, 49. Under this interdisciplinary appointment, two-thirds of Cohen’s duties were within the Sociology Department of the College of Liberal Arts, and one-third were within the Foundations of Education Department of the College of Education. Id. ¶¶49, 51. Dr. David Berger became Chairman of the Sociology Department in 1971, and immediately recruited a male “sociologist of education” to teach the courses then being taught by Cohen. Id. ¶ 54. Dr. Berger “has [since] attempted to shift the locus of plaintiff’s joint appointment” to a department other than Sociology, “leaving plaintiff without a firm departmental base for purposes of promotions and advancement.” Id. Cohen has also been denied such benefits as the assignment of a graduate research assistant and compliance with her requests to teach courses in her field of expertise. Id. ¶ 57. Finally, her salary is lower than that received by “male colleagues of similar rank, length of service, duties and standing in the Sociology Department.” Id. ¶ 56. Cohén filed a charge of discrimination with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission on June 27, 1974. Id. ¶ 58.

With respect to the unnamed class members, the amended complaint alleges:

[372]*372“14. In regard to promotion, tenure, salary and teaching assignment, defendant has discriminated and continues to discriminate on the basis of sex against women in faculty, administrative and professional positions throughout the University.

15. Women faculty members and administrative and professional personnel in the University generally receive less pay than male faculty members and administrative and professional personnel with [equivalent] training, scholastic qualifications and time in rank.

16. Women faculty members and administrative and professional personnel are appointed to fewer University governing committees than male faculty members and administrative and professional personnel.

17.

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83 F.R.D. 368, 24 Fair Empl. Prac. Cas. (BNA) 282, 27 Fed. R. Serv. 2d 1242, 1979 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 10859, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/molthan-v-temple-universityof-the-commonwealth-system-of-higher-education-paed-1979.