Reeb v. Ohio Department of Rehabilitation & Correction

81 F. App'x 550
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
DecidedNovember 18, 2003
Docket02-3105
StatusPublished
Cited by19 cases

This text of 81 F. App'x 550 (Reeb v. Ohio Department of Rehabilitation & Correction) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Reeb v. Ohio Department of Rehabilitation & Correction, 81 F. App'x 550 (6th Cir. 2003).

Opinion

KENNEDY, Circuit Judge.

Plaintiffs Rachel Reeb, Verna Brown, Glenna Mackey, and Jill Beabout, employees of defendant Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction, Belmont Correctional Institution (BeCI), filed this class action complaint against their employer alleging gender discrimination in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, 42 U.S.C. §§ 2000e — 20006-15.1 Defendant BeCI appeals from the district court’s order certifying a class action under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23(b)(2). For the reasons explained below, we remand to the district court for it to conduct a “rigorous analysis” as to whether plaintiffs have demonstrated that the action meets all of the requirements of Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23(a) and (b)(2).

I. Background

BeCI is a prison operated by the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections. It employs approximately 528 people, some of whose positions are covered by Ohio’s civil service laws while others are covered by collective bargaining agreements with three distinct unions, District 1199, OCSEA, and OEA. One Hundred Forty-One of BeCI’s employees are female-some unknown number of whom are OCSEA members. The district court certified a class of all female employees who belong to or were members of OCSEA in the preceding five years.

Plaintiffs Reeb and Brown, members of OCSEA, work as female corrections officers at BeCI. Plaintiff Mackey, a member of OCSEA, also works as a corrections officer at BeCI; yet, for some period of time starting on May 18, 2000, Mackey worked as a secretary in a Temporary Work Level. Plaintiff Beabout, a member of OCSEA, began working at BeCI in 1995 as a corrections officer; on January 16, 2000, Beabout received a promotion to records officer on a permanent basis after holding that position on a Temporary Work Level as of December 1,1999.

Plaintiffs’ complaint alleges that: 1) plaintiffs “have been treated differently, [552]*552held to a different standard, and given different duties ... [than] similarly situated male corrections officers”; 2) plaintiffs “are frequently required to perform undesirable positions at BeCI ... [while] similarly situated male employees are not assigned to such duties”; 3) plaintiffs “are routinely pulled off of their posts and replaced with male [ojfficers because [plaintiffs are not seen as able to handle difficult situations that may arise with inmates”; 4) plaintiffs “are routinely denied leave and/or overtime, despite having valid excuses or reasons, while similarly situated male [ojfficers are granted leave and/or overtime for much less valid excuses”; 5) plaintiffs are “routinely written up for alleged infractions or rule violations ... while similarly situated males are not disciplined for the same or more severe infractions”; 6) plaintiffs “have been denied training for various reasons ... [while] similarly situated male employees have not been denied such training for the same or any reasons”; 7) those female employees who “claimed to have had [sexual] relations with the [w]arden ... and other supervisors” are “treated substantially better than the rest of the class”; 8) plaintiffs are not promoted while less qualified male officers are promoted because such officers socialize with and bestow various gifts or services upon the warden; 9) plaintiffs have been retaliated against “in the form of increased scrutiny on their behavior and more disparate treatment” because they filed “numerous grievances and complaints regarding such discriminatory treatment” and, subsequently, hired legal counsel; 10) “[m]ale officers routinely allow the male inmates to harass, intimidate, and threaten [plaintiffs”; 11) the warden “has interfered with the methods and developed processes” that are to protect employees such that plaintiffs have been unable to obtain relief with BeCI; and 12) plaintiffs “have routinely been denied promotions ... over less qualified, similarly situated male correction^] officers” such that males hold seventeen out of eighteen captain and lieutenant positions. Regarding this last allegation, plaintiffs further allege that BeCI “circumvents the [usual] requirements of posting and interviewing for a [promotion] position” by routinely using “a ‘temporary position’ to place hand-selected males into a promotion position over more qualified females” and later making such “temporary positions” permanent so as to prevent plaintiffs “from even applying for such positions.”

The complaint seeks $2 million in compensatory damages, $3 million in punitive damages, attorneys’ fees and costs, and declaratory relief. The complaint explicitly seeks neither injunctive relief nor a preliminary injunction. Plaintiffs assert that their request “[t]hat the rights of class members to the relief sought herein be adjudicated and declared” is sufficient to state a claim for injunctive relief. In their motion for class certification, plaintiffs expressly state that, among other relief, they seek injunctive relief. Plaintiffs do not specify what that injunctive relief would entail.

Plaintiffs moved to certify their suit as a class action under Federal Rules of Civil Procedure 23(a) and either Rule 23(b)(2) or Rule 23(b)(3). While identifying the common question of law as “whether the defendant disparately treated female correctional officers in violation of Title VII,” the district court refused to certify a 23(b)(3) class on the grounds that individualized issues regarding claims and defenses would predominate and, thus, that class litigation would not be the superior method to litigate plaintiffs’ claims.2 In partic[553]*553ular, the court noted that defendant would likely “come forward with individualized legitimate, non-discriminatory reasons for the actions as to each plaintiff,” and that each plaintiff would have to prove compensatory damages. After re-defining the proposed class, such as by limiting it to female members of OCSEA, the district court granted plaintiffs’ motion for class certification under Rule 28(b)(2),3 also holding that plaintiffs satisfied all of the requirements of Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23(a).

Pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23(f), this court granted defendant BeCI leave to take an interlocutory appeal of the district court’s class certification. In particular, we did so on the ground that defendant’s challenge to the standard that the district court used in certifying the class under Rule 23(b)(2) and its resultant determination that plaintiffs’ requested injunctive relief predominates their requested monetary relief in Title VII cases after 1991 is a matter of first impression in this circuit and one concerning which our sister circuits disagree.

Prior to 1991, courts routinely certified civil rights class actions under Rule 23(b)(2). Under Title VII, as originally enacted, plaintiffs could obtain only equitable relief, which courts found to include both front and back pay.

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Bluebook (online)
81 F. App'x 550, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/reeb-v-ohio-department-of-rehabilitation-correction-ca6-2003.