Stansell v. Sherwin-Williams Company

404 F. Supp. 696, 11 Fair Empl. Prac. Cas. (BNA) 922, 21 Fed. R. Serv. 2d 352, 1975 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 15924, 10 Empl. Prac. Dec. (CCH) 10,592
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. Georgia
DecidedSeptember 30, 1975
DocketC75-379A
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 404 F. Supp. 696 (Stansell v. Sherwin-Williams Company) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. Georgia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Stansell v. Sherwin-Williams Company, 404 F. Supp. 696, 11 Fair Empl. Prac. Cas. (BNA) 922, 21 Fed. R. Serv. 2d 352, 1975 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 15924, 10 Empl. Prac. Dec. (CCH) 10,592 (N.D. Ga. 1975).

Opinion

ORDER OF COURT

MOYE, District Judge.

This is a civil rights class action seeking declaratory, injunctive, and other relief filed by plaintiff, Pamela Ann Stansell, against defendant, the Sherwin-Williams Company, pursuant to Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 as amended, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e, et seq. [hereinafter Title VII], and the Equal Pay Act of 1963, 29 U.S.C. § 206 et seq. [hereinafter the EPA]. The case is presently before the Court on defendant Sherwin-Williams’s motion to dismiss.

Plaintiff Stansell is presently employed by defendant Sherwin-Williams as an assistant buyer. She was originally hired by Sherwin-Williams in 1967 as a Flexowrite Operator and reached her current position through a series of promotions. Her current salary is $745 per month. Plaintiff Stansell was forced by defendant to take maternity leave due to pregnancy on December 1, 1972, which was six days prior to the day-authorized by her physician as being the date she should begin her leave. Plaintiff would have received a $50 per month salary increase had she worked beyond December 1.

*698 Stansell contends that Sherwin-Williams has discriminated against her and the class she represents because of sex in violation of Title VII. Stansell contends that Sherwin-Williams requires its employees who become pregnant to take a forced maternity leave from their employment without regard to their ability to continue working; does not allow such employees to receive benefits including health insurance benefits for pregnancy, delivery, and miscarriages, and the use of sick leave available to male employees who are absent from work because of disabilities or who need to visit a physician; and denies such female employees pay increases as a result of forced maternity leave due to pregnancy. Moreover, Stansell alleges that Sherwin-Williams has refused to hire plaintiff and similarly situated females on an equal basis with males and has otherwise discriminated against such individuals with respect to promotion opportunities, compensation, terms, conditions, and privileges of employment because of sex.

Furthermore, Stansell contends that Sherwin-Williams has wilfully discriminated against her and the class she purports to represent in violation of Section 6(d)(1) of the EPA, 29 U.S.C. § 206, on the basis of sex by paying wages to her and to other females at rates less than the rates at which defendant pays wages to male employees for’ equal work, the performance of which requires equal skill, effort, and responsibility and which are performed under similar working conditions.

Stansell filed an unsworn charge of sex discrimination against Sherwin-Williams on December 7, 1972. On March 12, 1974, Stansell filed an amended charge under oath, making specific reference to the earlier charge. On July 31, 1974, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) issued a determination letter which stated that Stansell’s forced maternity leave was premature, malicious, and due to her sex, and that the defendant’s exclusion of pregnancy as a disability constitutes discrimination because of sex. Furthermore, the EEOC determined that Stan-sell’s allegations regarding unequal compensation between male and female employees was without merit.

By letter dated November 8, 1974, the EEOC notified Sherwin-Williams that the Commission had been unable to obtain voluntary compliance by conciliation, as provided by Section 706(b) of Title VII, and that unless defendant submitted a written request to reopen the conciliation proceedings within five days the Commission would notify Stansell of the failure of conciliation and her right to bring suit. On December 30, 1974, the plaintiff received a notice from the EEOC of her right to sue within 90 days due to the failure of conciliation efforts. Significantly, however, plaintiff’s counsel has discovered that a letter dated November 21, 1974, was sent to plaintiff by the EEOC advising her that conciliation had failed. Plaintiff’s Reply Memorandum to Defendant’s Motion to Dismiss, p. 5. n.4. Plaintiff denies having received this letter. Suit was filed on February 28, 1975.

The issues presently before the Court are the following: first, whether plaintiff Stansell has satisfied the jurisdictional prerequisites under either Title VII or the EPA; second, whether plaintiff Stansell can maintain the present action as a class action; and third, whether defendant’s maternity leave policy and other employment policies are violative of Title VII and the EPA.

Defendant Sherwin-Williams contends that certain jurisdictional prerequisites have not been met by Stansell. Defendant alleges that the Title VII claim filed on March 12, 1974, was filed more than 180 days after December 1, 1972, the date on which the personnel action complained of occurred, and is barred by the statute of limitation established by 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-5(e) (Supp. II 1972) which requires that a charge be filed with the EEOC within 180 days of the alleged discriminatory act. Defendant further alleges that the instant action *699 based upon Title VII was filed more than 90 days after either the November 8 or November 21 letters in which the EEOC notified the plaintiff that conciliation efforts had failed and is therefore barred by the statute of limitation established by 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-5(f) (1) (Supp. II 1972) which requires that suit be filed within 90 days of notice of failure of conciliation. Furthermore, Sherwin-Williams contends that the EPA claim was filed more than two years after December 1, 1972, the date on which the personnel action complained of occurred, and is barred by the statute of limitation established by 29 U.S.C. § 255(a) which requires that an action be commenced within two years after the cause of action occurred for non-wilful violation and three years for wilful violation.

Defendant Sherwin-Williams further asserts that a class action under Title VII cannot be maintained because the plaintiff cannot satisfy the numerosity prerequisite of Fed.R.Civ.P. 23(a)(1), due to the fact that only one to three salaried female employees of defendant have been on maternity leave annually. Inasmuch as 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-5(g) (Supp. II 1972) limits remedial action such as Stansell seeks to two years back from the date of the filing of the charge the class consists of no more than eight to ten employees and such a number, asserts Sherwin-Williams, does not satisfy the numerosity requirement of Rule 23(a)(1). Furthermore, Sherwin-Williams claims that plaintiff cannot maintain a class action under the EPA which is enforced under Section 16(b) of the Fair Labor Standards Act, 29 U.S.C.

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404 F. Supp. 696, 11 Fair Empl. Prac. Cas. (BNA) 922, 21 Fed. R. Serv. 2d 352, 1975 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 15924, 10 Empl. Prac. Dec. (CCH) 10,592, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/stansell-v-sherwin-williams-company-gand-1975.