Rogers v. Laird

319 F. Supp. 1, 1970 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 10267
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Virginia
DecidedSeptember 14, 1970
DocketCiv. A. No. 6440
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 319 F. Supp. 1 (Rogers v. Laird) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Virginia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Rogers v. Laird, 319 F. Supp. 1, 1970 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 10267 (E.D. Va. 1970).

Opinion

OPINION AND ORDER

KELLAM, District Judge.

Plaintiffs are blue-collar supervisors employed by the United States at the Norfolk Naval Shipyard (Shipyard). They instituted this class action on behalf of themselves and all members of the National Association of Supervisors, Chapter 3, seeking money and injunctive relief. They contend that the provisions of the statutes under which wage rates are established for Navy blue-collar employees have not been complied with.

The interpretation and application of the statutes is the question. Title 10, § 7474 U.S.C.A., effective prior to September 1966, provided:

The Secretary of the Navy shall establish rates of wages for employees of each naval activity where the rates are not established by other provisions of law to conform, as nearly as is consistent with the public interest, with those of private establishments in the immediate vicinity.

The pertinent part of Title 5, § 5341, effective since September 1966, provides :

(a) The pay of employees excepted from Chapter 51 of this title by section 5102(c) (7) of this title shall be fixed and adjusted from time to time as nearly as is consistent with the public interest in accordance with prevailing rates. Subject to section 213(f) of title 29, the rates may not be less than the appropriate rates provided for by section 206(a) (1) of title 29.

To comply with the statutes, the Navy initiated “wage surveys” under regulations and procedures formulated by it. Plaintiffs say the surveys were improper in that they did not (a) review or compile the wages of persons doing substantially the same work or having the same responsibilities as plaintiffs; (b) the surveys were not taken in similar industries1; and (c) the Navy set an arbitrary differential in determining the pay of plaintiffs over the tradesmen they supervise. Plaintiffs further complain that supervisory personnel were not utilized in making the wage survey.

The fixing of a supervisory pay schedule was a source of difficulty with the Navy. It had for many years ' been based on a “cents-per-hour” differential, which decreased in percentage as the mechanic’s hourly rate increased. After a rather exhaustive study of the Navy’s prior practices, studies made of private industry, and surveys then conducted by the Navy, it was determined that the fair and proper system to be used was a self adjusting type system. Under such a system it would not be necessary to continually “change the differentials.” These studies led to the determination that the “first level of supervisory differential should be 25 per cent,” and then it “built the rest of the structure on that.” Such a plan was adopted about 1952. The National Association of Supervisors was consulted about the plan, and were generally “favorably disposed toward it.” The self adjusting feature “was a great improvement over the”straight cents-per-hour system.” In the study in 1952 and subsequent there[3]*3to, the Navy has found it most difficult to obtain pay rate information of comparable supervisory jobs. The tables of organization of the Navy and private industry were and are quite different. Hence the Navy took its differential established for the first level and built upon that. The validity of the percentages differential is checked periodically and altered or changed following surveys and studies. Since the supervisor’s pay is based on a percentage of pay of the persons he supervises, the pay of all supervisors is not the same. That is, a supervisor of machinists makes more than a supervisor of laborers. His training, knowledge, experience and work is quite different, and while his percentage of differential is the same, the pay is different because a machinist earns more than a laborer.

The classification of employees at the Navy Yard is rather detailed. For instance, within the supervisory levels there are three step ranges, and in the ranking of trades for mechanics there is a level system extending from 1 to 15 based on skill and responsibility.

Mechanics’ wages are set by local wage surveys in each area in which the Navy has employee population. In collecting wage information, surveys are made of (a) “major competitors for that classification of people,” and (b) “jobs in which there is a heavy representation in private industry.” In such surveys, selections are made of 25 to 35 jobs which are “representative of a community’s wage structure,” and of companies that are essentially the same kind of industry as the Navy. A full scale survey is conducted every three years, and a wage-change survey conducted every year between. Such surveys have resulted in an annual increase in wages for the past twenty-five years. Such plan is Navy-wide throughout the United States, affecting some 200,000 blue-collar workers. The plan used by the Navy is used by others. In the Tidewater Area it is used by the Shipyard, Naval Air Rework Facility, Naval Station, Naval Amphibious Base, Naval Ammunition Facility at Yorktown, St. Julien’s Creek, Naval Supply Center, Public Works Center, Naval Hospital, and all the activities in the area. It is necessary to prevent competition between activities. A differential in machinists’ pay at the Shipyard and at the Air Rework Facility would bring about difficulty. In all probability the machinist would want to transfer to the facility with the highest pay, depriving the lower pay facility of its needed employees.

While wage surveys were successful in getting information on non-supervisory rates, because they were often the subject of collective bargaining agreeménts, difficulty was experienced in obtaining information on supervisory rates. In fact the Navy has had little success in obtaining this information from Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Corporation (Newport News Ship), the largest private shipbuilder in the Tidewater Area.

The expert witness, Dr. Gordon, who testified for plaintiff, says that fixing pay of supervisory personnel at a percentage above the pay of the people he supervises is used in industry, but he says it is not the best practice. Mr. Gerow, the expert for defendant, says such a system is widely used in industry, and is an accepted practice. Mr. Gerow’s experience, training and knowledge are extensive. His reasoning was sound. I prefer to accept his opinion on the issue.

A classification of positions, responsibilities, and number of persons supervised by the Shipyard is attached as Appendix “A”, and a similar chart for the Newport News Ship is attached as Appendix “B”. From these it will be seen that the table of organization for each facility is quite different. An attempted comparison is difficult, and would be of little help.

The wage rates for supervisors are no longer set by the Navy. The Civil Service Commission now has general authority for establishing guidelines and proce[4]*4dure to be used in wage fixing under the Coordinated Federal Wage System. The purpose is to establish a single wage system for ungraded employees of the government. The plan has been given great study over a long period. The coordinated pay system will use a percentage differential system in paying Navy blue-collar supervisors.

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

Related

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
319 F. Supp. 1, 1970 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 10267, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/rogers-v-laird-vaed-1970.