Phillips v. United Brotherhood of Carpenters & Joiners

598 F. Supp. 40, 37 Fair Empl. Prac. Cas. (BNA) 152, 1984 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 14940, 39 Empl. Prac. Dec. (CCH) 35,949
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Arkansas
DecidedJuly 13, 1984
DocketNo. LR-C-83-569
StatusPublished

This text of 598 F. Supp. 40 (Phillips v. United Brotherhood of Carpenters & Joiners) 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
Phillips v. United Brotherhood of Carpenters & Joiners, 598 F. Supp. 40, 37 Fair Empl. Prac. Cas. (BNA) 152, 1984 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 14940, 39 Empl. Prac. Dec. (CCH) 35,949 (E.D. Ark. 1984).

Opinion

FINDINGS OF FACT AND CONCLUSIONS OF LAW

ROY, District Judge.

FINDINGS OF FACT

1. Plaintiff Wanda Phillips is a white female citizen of the United States and a resident of McNeil, Columbia County, Arkansas.

2. Defendant United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America, AFL-CIO (“UBC”), is a labor union within the meaning of 29 U.S.C. § 101, et seq., and an employer within the meaning of 42 U.S.C. § 2000e(b).

3. Plaintiff filed a timely charge of sex discrimination with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) on November 16, 1982, within the statutory one hundred eighty (180) days of her termination, and she brought this lawsuit on July 1, 1983, within the statutory ninety (90) days from receipt of the Notice of Right to Sue from the EEOC.

4. Plaintiff began her employment with the defendant on January 4, 1981, as an organizer. She was assigned to the Southern States Organizing Office in Atlanta, Georgia, to concentrate on union organizing campaigns in Arkansas.

5. During her employment with the-defendant, plaintiff was the only female union organizer on the Southern States Organizing Office staff, until January, 1982, when Alice Beck was hired. Defendant had a 70,000 membership loss between 1981 and 1982.

6. Plaintiff had done organizing work for the UBC since mid-1979, when she was involved in organizing employees of the Can-Tex plant in Magnolia, Arkansas, after she was terminated from that plant for union activity. Although the organizing work plaintiff performed from mid-1979 to 1981 consisted of voluntary activities undertaken prior to her employment with defendant, she was reimbursed for her expenses in assisting the defendant, from special vouchers filed through the UBC Southern States. Plaintiff testified that she received $50.00 per week and twenty cents on the mile. During this time, plaintiff assisted Ed Fortson, a white male and a UBC organizer in the Southern States region, on several campaigns in Arkansas.

7. After being hired onto the UBC payroll in January, 1981, plaintiff spoke to then Director of the Southern States Office, W.J. Smith, regarding the terms of her employment with the UBC. James A. Parker, Director of Organization for the General President, subsequently confirmed in a letter dated January 8, 1981, that she would be paid from the Southern States’ Temporary Organizers’ Revolving Fund, and would be carried on a probationary status for a period of one year, “during which time you will have an opportunity to see if the work is satisfactory to you and we will have an opportunity to assess your progress and development as an Organizer-Representative.” Mr. J.B. Smith and plaintiff subsequently agreed that plaintiff would be paid $375.00 a week and $50.00 a day per diem and $10.00 a day for miscellaneous expenses.

8. During the course of her employment, plaintiff participated in two successful organizing campaigns which resulted in successful NLRB elections; one at Falcon Products, Inc., in Lewisville, Arkansas, and the other at Klipsch Associates, Inc., in Hope, Arkansas. Plaintiff had also worked on two successful union campaigns prior to going on to the Revolving Fund payroll in Monticello, Arkansas, at MonArk Boat Company, and at Williamette Industries in Emerson, Arkansas. Because Ed Fortson was gone from the Williamette campaign much of the time, there was a period when plaintiff was working the campaign only with the assistance of a fired employee.

9. In January, 1981, plaintiff was assigned to the International Paper campaign in Gurdon, Arkansas, and was ostensibly placed in charge of that campaign. The campaign formally ended in October, 1984, without an election as a direct result of [42]*42large economic layoffs at the plant. W.J. Smith, Director of the Southern States Office, observed plaintiff for one week at the Gurdon plant during June, 1981, and praised her performance on that campaign. Plaintiff received praise on this campaign as late as January, 1982. This favorable comment was confirmed in Earl Hamilton’s letter recommending that plaintiff be placed on permanent staff.

10. During her assignment to the International Paper campaign, plaintiff was also assigned to continue her work at Falcon Products and Klipsch, where she assisted representative Ed Fortson. The International Paper campaign had been in progress when plaintiff was assigned there, and four previously assigned representatives in prior years had been unsuccessful in bringing that campaign to an election. Other than the International Paper assignment, Earl Hamilton gave the plaintiff all of her assignments.

11. Plaintiff testified that during her employment, Earl Hamilton asked her if she would fool around, and asked her if anyone had told her she had “a cute butt.” She also testified that he was always making sexual jokes about different things.

12. On February 8, 1981, UBC General President William Konyha appointed Earl Hamilton Acting Director of the Southern States Organizing Office, effective February 23, 1981.

13. In June, 1981, defendant hired Paul Pinkard, a white male, as an organizer assigned to the Southern States region, to work on organizing campaigns in Arkansas and surrounding southern states along with Ed Fortson and plaintiff.

14. Plaintiff was assigned to travel to Neosha, Missouri, while she was working on the Color Tile campaign in Melbourne, Arkansas. She was told to go and work on the Lazy-Boy campaign with others, to help them out. However, when she arrived, she was asked to go to a picnic the company was having to “go and see what you can find out, see if there’s any kind of company things that you can come back and tell us, if they are hiding anything.” Plaintiff went to the picnic with another gentleman designated by Jake Stewart. The gentleman was a member of the in plant committee. When the gentleman plaintiff accompanied to the picnic became drunk, plaintiff rode back with some other people and was thereafter told by Jake Stewart that “We’re through with you.” Although defendant denies plaintiff was sent there only for a date, the facts clearly indicate that the assignment turned out to be just that.

15. On January 8, 1982, one year after plaintiff’s hire, Regional Director Hamilton wrote to James Parker recommending that plaintiff be assigned to the UBC staff as a regular staff member. In the letter, Hamilton continues to adhere to what he characterizes as an outstanding reference. Furthermore, at a convention in Chicago, attended by plaintiff, Fortson, and Hamilton, Hamilton told Ed Fortson and plaintiff that they were doing real good work and had several wins. At a training seminar held in Houston in January, 1982, Hamilton told plaintiff she was “super-doing a good job.” When Hamilton was asked by plaintiff why he had put the “Fame” campaign in Paul Pinkard’s name instead of plaintiff’s name, Hamilton told plaintiff she didn’t have anything to worry about — “you’re a woman.”

16. Although there is conflicting evidence as to what plaintiff was told when her probationary status was extended in the spring of 1982, the Court finds that the defendant’s account cannot be credited. Defendant contends that plaintiff was told that her probation was extended to allow her an additional opportunity to demonstrate her ability to independently develop a campaign to a successful conclusion.

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598 F. Supp. 40, 37 Fair Empl. Prac. Cas. (BNA) 152, 1984 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 14940, 39 Empl. Prac. Dec. (CCH) 35,949, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/phillips-v-united-brotherhood-of-carpenters-joiners-ared-1984.