Sobel v. Yeshiva University

566 F. Supp. 1166, 32 Fair Empl. Prac. Cas. (BNA) 154, 4 Employee Benefits Cas. (BNA) 1897, 1983 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 15992, 33 Empl. Prac. Dec. (CCH) 34,030
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. New York
DecidedJune 24, 1983
Docket75 Civ. 2232 (GLG)
StatusPublished
Cited by14 cases

This text of 566 F. Supp. 1166 (Sobel v. Yeshiva University) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Sobel v. Yeshiva University, 566 F. Supp. 1166, 32 Fair Empl. Prac. Cas. (BNA) 154, 4 Employee Benefits Cas. (BNA) 1897, 1983 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 15992, 33 Empl. Prac. Dec. (CCH) 34,030 (S.D.N.Y. 1983).

Opinion

AMENDED OPINION *

GOETTEL, District Judge:

Mark Twain supposedly once said that there are three kinds of lies: lies, damned *1168 lies, and statistics. Though perhaps hyperbolic, this declaration of distrust aptly warns that any conclusion based on statistics may be unsound. It is most unfortunate, therefore, that the evidence in this case is almost completely statistical.

From December 20, 1974, to October 15, 1979 (the “relevant time period”), the named plaintiffs in this class action, Edna H. Sobel and Bella C. Clutario, were medical doctors employed by defendant Yeshiva University (“Yeshiva”) as full-time faculty members of its medical school, the Albert Einstein College of Medicine (“Einstein”), which is located in New York City. The class which Sobel and Clutario represent consists of all female physicians who, at some point during the relevant time period, were employed as full-time members of Einstein’s faculty. 1 At trial, the plaintiffs claimed that during the relevant time period the defendant discriminated against them with respect to both salaries and pensions. For reasons discussed below, however, the Court has concluded that the plaintiffs have failed to prove both of these claims, except to the extént that they have established that Yeshiva’s pension plan is illegally premised upon gender-based actuarial tables.

I. PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

In their original complaint, filed on May 9, 1975, Sobel and Clutario claimed that Yeshiva, through Einstein, was intentionally discriminating, with regard to salaries and other terms of employment, against female faculty members who held M.D. degrees and worked in the Pediatrics Department. Believing themselves to be the victims of illegal sexual discrimination, the plaintiffs sought back pay 2 and other forms of relief authorized under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e et seq. (1976 & Supp. V 1981). 3

On June 18, 1975, plaintiff Sobel filed her charge of discrimination with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (the “EEOC”), alleging gender-based discrimination in pay and in the amount of Yeshiva’s contributions to her pension plan due to such lower pay. On the same date, plaintiff Clutario filed a similar charge with the EEOC.

After June 1975, the plaintiffs’ claims in this action were substantially altered by a number of events. The EEOC issued “right to sue” letters to the plaintiffs on March 19, 1976. The plaintiffs amended their complaint on June 16, 1976, to include as defendants the chairpersons of certain departments at Einstein. Also, by virtue of that amended complaint, the class grew to include all female physicians who were employed by Yeshiva at any time during the relevant time period and who held the rank of instructor, assistant professor, associate professor, or full professor, whether in a full-time or part-time capacity. 4 Claims of gender-based discrimination in pay, promotion, and other terms and conditions of employment were alleged on behalf of the class. Later, on May 31, 1977, the Court *1169 granted the EEOC’s motion to intervene as plaintiff, in the belief that the EEOC might be more experienced than the individual plaintiffs in the use of statistics to prove gender-based discrimination in a professional education setting.

Although these events bespoke a general tendency to add, or attempt to add, 5 issues and parties, the case was ultimately greatly simplified before trial. The group to be analyzed was limited to full-time faculty members of Einstein. 6 The claims against all individual department heads were dropped and Yeshiva became the sole defendant. The claims of discrimination in promotion and tenure were withdrawn and those concerning other more amorphous conditions of employment were not pursued. Thus, the case was ultimately reduced to the relatively narrow issue of whether, with respect to pay and pension benefits, Yeshiva had discriminated against the full-time female doctor-professors of Einstein.

Despite the narrowness of the issue and the fact that only the question of liability was tried (the question of damages having been reserved for the second part of these bifurcated proceedings), the trial lasted approximately three weeks and involved voluminous submissions by both parties. Throughout most of the trial, the plaintiffs continued their long-held strategy of trying to prove their pay claims under the theory of “disparate treatment.” Thus, they attempted to show that Yeshiva and Einstein (hereinafter used somewhat interchangeably) intentionally engaged in a pattern or practice of discriminatory treatment during the relevant time period and that such treatment constituted the standard operating procedure at the college. As the trial continued and the evidence developed, however, the plaintiffs felt compelled to resort to a theory of “disparate impact” as well. Under this second theory, they attempted to prove that, while the procedure at Einstein might appear neutral on its face, it in fact had an unjustifiably harsh and discriminatory impact on the plaintiffs. See Teamsters v. United States, 431 U.S. 324, 335-36 n. 15, 97 S.Ct. 1843, 1854-55 n. 15, 52 L.Ed.2d 396 (1977) (contrasting disparate treatment and disparate impact). The procedural propriety of this shift in theories, as well as the merits of the plaintiffs’ claims, cannot be discussed, however, until after a few basic facts have been set forth.

II. THE FACTS

A. The Organization of the College

The complex nature of Einstein’s organization made statistical analysis of its employment practices difficult. Einstein’s faculty during the relevant time period was extremely large and included approximately 1330 individuals with M.D. degrees 7 . Many of them either worked part-time or were actually staff members of affiliated hospitals and were therefore designated as part of Einstein’s faculty even though the college did not pay them. Those faculty members who were paid by the defendant included 626 physicians. Of this latter group, 316 men and 95 women were full-time faculty members. 8 However, these *1170 numbers included everyone who worked at any time during the relevant time period. 9 The number of full-time faculty members with M.D. degrees in any given year ranged between 204 and 295, of whom 49 to 60 were women.

Even more impressive than the size of Einstein’s faculty, however, was the complexity of its finances.

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566 F. Supp. 1166, 32 Fair Empl. Prac. Cas. (BNA) 154, 4 Employee Benefits Cas. (BNA) 1897, 1983 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 15992, 33 Empl. Prac. Dec. (CCH) 34,030, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/sobel-v-yeshiva-university-nysd-1983.