Stallings v. Container Corp. of America

75 F.R.D. 511, 1977 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 14961, 15 Empl. Prac. Dec. (CCH) 8003, 17 Fair Empl. Prac. Cas. (BNA) 321
CourtDistrict Court, D. Delaware
DecidedJuly 15, 1977
DocketCiv. A. No. 4646
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 75 F.R.D. 511 (Stallings v. Container Corp. of America) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Delaware primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Stallings v. Container Corp. of America, 75 F.R.D. 511, 1977 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 14961, 15 Empl. Prac. Dec. (CCH) 8003, 17 Fair Empl. Prac. Cas. (BNA) 321 (D. Del. 1977).

Opinion

STAPLETON, District Judge:

The plaintiffs in this case are three blacks who are long-time wage roll employees of defendant Container Corporation of America’s (“Container’s”) Wilmington, Delaware facilities. They charge that they have been passed over for promotion to the level of shift foreman as a result of employment practices of Container which discriminate against people of their race. Two of the plaintiffs, Robertson and Stallings, filed a charge against Container with the EEOC on March 29, 1970, and they ground their suit on Title VII. Plaintiff Tolbert, on the other hand, filed no relevant charge with the EEOC and makes his claim under 42 U.S.C. § 1981. A non-jury trial was held and the following represent the Court’s findings of fact and conclusions of law with respect to the merits of the case.

BACKGROUND

Container’s Wilmington facilities are divided into three parts: (1) the Wilmington Plastics Plant, (2) the Heisler Compounding Division, and (3) the divisional offices of the [514]*514Plastics Division. The plaintiffs’ complaint pertains only to the Plastics Plant and the Heisler Compounding Division.

The Plastics Plant makes plastic into finished articles. Specifically, it manufactures plastic containers from five gallons up to twenty-four hundred gallons. Its functions are divided into six departments: Blow Molding, Tank, Gyro, Material Handling, Maintenance and Quality Control.

Blow Molding is the largest department in the plant (geographically and by population). Blow Molding has its own assembly and material handling and shipping function in addition to the manufacturing or production operations. These functions are analogous to those performed by the Material Handling Department which services the entire plant. A shift foreman in Blow Molding supervises between 12 and 23 hourly employees.

The Tank Department manufactures large plastic containers (55 gals, to 2,500 gals.). It is a small department which has two machines, but the department supervisor acts almost as his own plant manager, handling production, design, and shipping on his own.

The Gyro Department produces polyethylene liners for industrial drums. It is larger than the Tank Department, having six machines. The largest number of people a shift supervisor would supervise in Gyro would be eight or nine.

The Material Handling Department is responsible for the assembling of the Gyro liners and steel drums and for arranging the shipping of those finished products to customers. In this area a shift supervisor would supervise between 12 and 18 individuals.

The Maintenance Department is responsible for all machinery and plant maintenance in the Plastic Plant and the Compounding Division. The work is technical and sophisticated because of the nature- of the machinery which must be maintained and repaired.

The Quality Control Department is responsible for inspecting and testing the finished products to ensure that they meet company standards. It has approximately 18 employees.

The Heisler Compounding Division provides the Plastics Plant with the necessary raw material and is a separate operating division of Container. The personnel at the Plastics Division, however, are responsible for the hiring of wage roll persons at Heis-ler Compounding and for the selection of shift foremen at Heisler. The company has a bidding procedure whereby a person is able to go from a wage roll position in Heisler Compounding to a wage roll opening in Plastics and vice versa. In one instance a shift foreman for Plastics was selected from the wage roll employees at Heisler.

The wage roll employees in Plastics and Heisler Compounding are supervised by shift foremen. This first line supervision is selected from the wage roll ranks unless no qualified candidate is found there in which event management goes outside to fill the post. Shift foremen are supervised by general supervisors who are selected in the first instance from the ranks of shift supervisors.

In 1958, there were between 75 and 80 wage roll employees in the Plastics Plant and Heisler Division. This group was predominantly black. There were five foremen and one general foreman, all of whom were white. By 1964, when Container acquired its Wilmington facilities from Delaware Barrel and Drum, there were approximately 190 to 200 wage roll employees of whom about 40% were black, 40% were of Spanish origin and 20% were white. At this time there were a total of 18 to 20 foremen and general supervisors. Two of the shift foremen were black and the remainder of these supervisory personnel were white.

By 1970, there were approximately 180 wage roll employees of whom 44% were black, 29% Spanish, and 27% white. Of the 14 shift foremen, three were black and 11 white. All five of the general supervisors were white. Finally, by the time of trial in 1976, there were approximately 150 to 160 wage roll employees and the racial mix had [515]*515remained relatively constant. There were 13 shift foremen, of whom 5 were black and the remainder white. The general supervisory staff of 7 remained all white.

LIMITATIONS

We are confronted at the outset by several limitations issues. The positions of the parties with respect to these issues reflect a difference of view that permeates the briefing on almost all issues. Container views the case as one in which three black employees complain of being passed over for promotion on several occasions because of their race. It analyzes the various occasions on which shift foremen openings occurred and points out that, if plaintiffs’ allegations be accepted, there were no pass-overs of plaintiffs Robertson or Stallings within 210 days of the filing of their complaint with the EEOC and no pass-over of plaintiff Tolbert, who filed no EEOC complaint and here presses only a claim under 42 U.S.C. § 1981, within three years prior to the filing of his claim in this Court. Accordingly, Container asserts that Robertson and Stallings are barred by Section 706(d) [now 706(e)] of Title VII, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-5(d) (1964) [now 2000e-5(e)], and that Tol-bert is barred under 10 Del.C. § 8106.1

Plaintiffs do not argue with Container’s factual analysis of available openings or with its calculation of the various limitations periods. They deny, however, that this is “the kind of case where an employee is claiming an individual incident of racial discrimination”.2 Rather, plaintiffs assert that they are here attacking a promotion procedure which has operated to their prejudice in the past and which, unless enjoined by the Court, will continue to operate to their prejudice in the future.

I conclude that the claims which plaintiffs press are not time barred. Plaintiffs have a right to structure their own claims. While it appears that they may be barred from litigating disparate treatment claims relating to individual personnel decisions of Container, this does not mean they have no remedy if their employment condition was affected at the time of the filing of their respective complaints, and continues to be affected, by a promotion procedure which has a disparate impact on people of their race and has no business justification.

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75 F.R.D. 511, 1977 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 14961, 15 Empl. Prac. Dec. (CCH) 8003, 17 Fair Empl. Prac. Cas. (BNA) 321, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/stallings-v-container-corp-of-america-ded-1977.