Bowe v. Colgate-Palmolive Company

• Decision Date: 12 September 1967
• Docket Number: No. NA 66-C-20.,NA 66-C-20.
• Citation: 272 F. Supp. 332
• Parties: Thelma BOWE et al., Plaintiffs, v. COLGATE-PALMOLIVE COMPANY et al., Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Southern District of Indiana

272 F. Supp. 332

Thelma BOWE et al., Plaintiffs, v. COLGATE-PALMOLIVE COMPANY et al., Defendants.

No. NA 66-C-20.

United States District Court S. D. Indiana, New Albany Division.

June 30, 1967.

Supplemental Finding of Fact and Judgment September 12, 1967.

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David L. Gittleman, Louisville, Ky., Daniel B. Burke, Jr., New Albany, Ind., for plaintiffs.

Hubert T. Willis, Middleton, Seelbach, Wolford, Willis & Cochran, Louisville, Ky., Richard C. O'Connor, Telford B. Orbison, Orbison, Rudy & O'Connor, New Albany, Ind., Thomas C. Galligan, Associate Gen. Counsel, Colgate-Palmolive Co., New York City, for Colgate-Palmolive Co.

Herbert L. Segal, Louisville, Ky., David E. Feller, Washington, D. C., Max F. Page, Indianapolis, Ind., for Union.

MEMORANDUM DECISION

STECKLER, Chief Judge.

The Pleadings

Complaint was filed in this cause on March 30, 1966, by certain named female employees of the Colgate-Palmolive Company's Jeffersonville, Indiana,¹ plant on behalf of themselves and on behalf of the class consisting of all females employed at the Jeffersonville plant. For brevity the defendant Colgate-Palmolive Company hereafter will be referred to as the "Company" or "Colgate." Joined as defendant was International Chemical Workers Union, Local #15, hereafter called the "Union," against which, however, plaintiffs sought no relief. The term "employees" will be used hereafter to refer to those employees of Colgate who are members of the bargaining unit at the Company's Jeffersonville plant.

The complaint as amended alleged that Colgate's operations at the plant were within the purview of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and, more particularly, Title VII thereof, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e et seq. The complaint charged that Colgate intentionally discriminated against female employees at its Jeffersonville plant by a system of segregation and classification by sex whereunder females were deprived of certain employment opportunities in some job classifications, and that layoffs occurring during 1965 were discriminatory to females because such layoffs were made from separate male and female seniority lists. The complaint further alleged that the plaintiffs had filed charges with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, hereafter referred to as the "EEOC," prior to instituting suit and that plaintiffs had been advised of the EEOC's inability to resolve these charges. Jurisdiction of this court was predicated on Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-5(f). The complaint also claimed that the defendant Union had participated in the discriminatory acts charged against Colgate.

The original complaint was amended on April 22, 1966, to allege that the plaintiffs received notification from the EEOC on or about April 5, 1966, of their right to institute action in court under the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and to place in the pleadings a copy of an EEOC decision relating to sex discrimination charges filed against the Company by employee Verner Boothe. On September 20, 1966, the plaintiffs moved to amend to allege that Colgate's acts of sex discrimination were continuing and that Colgate, with the complicity of the Indiana State Employment Service, was hiring only male employees and refusing to hire women because of their sex. This motion coming on the day of trial was denied.

On April 28, 1966, a motion to intervene and intervening complaint was filed by fifteen additional female employees. The intervening complaint contained essentially the same allegations against Colgate and the Union as the original complaint. The Court granted the motion to intervene on April 28, 1966. On May 2, 1966, defendant Colgate filed objections to plaintiffs' motion to file the amended complaint of April 28, 1966, to the intervention of the fifteen additional plaintiffs and to the filing of the intervening complaint. Defendant Colgate's objections were subsequently overruled on September 1, 1966.

On May 17, 1966, defendant Colgate filed various motions attacking the original complaint, the amended complaint, and the intervening complaint. Colgate's motions sought dismissal of the complaints on the grounds of failure to exhaust contractual remedies, failure to exhaust administrative remedies, failure of the EEOC to attempt resolution of the alleged discriminatory practices by the methods of persuasion and conciliation set forth in the Civil Rights Act of 1964, misjoinder of parties plaintiff, improper class action, that the cause was not a proper one for injunction, dismissal of any claims asserted which arose prior to July 2, 1965—the effective date of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, failure to join indispensable parties, and on the ground that some of defendant Colgate's actions complained of were barred by the limitation provision of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-5. These motions were disposed of by the Court on September 1, 1966, as will appear later.

In their original complaint, plaintiffs sought to enjoin defendant Colgate from engaging in the claimed unlawful employment practices. On June 3, 1966, plaintiffs moved for a preliminary injunction restraining defendant Colgate from, inter alia, restricting General Labor jobs to males, transferring females with seniority out of their regular department absent a crew reduction and to require Colgate to accord females the same privileges as males in exercising their seniority on open jobs in the plant. Colgate immediately filed an objection to the plaintiffs' motion for preliminary injunction, as did the defendant Union.

On June 28, 1966, the Court heard arguments of the parties on the defendant Colgate's pending motion to dismiss on the ground that the plaintiffs had failed to exhaust the grievance and arbitration procedures available to them through the collective bargaining contract between defendant Union and Colgate.

On July 19, 1966, the Court heard further argument on the defendant Colgate's motions to dismiss for failure to exhaust contractual remedies and on plaintiffs' motions for a preliminary injunction. The Court denied relief by way of preliminary injunction at this time and reserved ruling on defendant Colgate's motions until the pretrial conference on September 1, 1966. The case was assigned for trial on September 20, 1966.

On August 1, 1966, defendant Colgate filed a motion to stay pending arbitration under the authority of the United States Arbitration Act, 9 U.S.C. § 3. In the interim between July 19th and the pretrial conference four more Colgate female employees filed a motion to intervene as plaintiffs and an intervening complaint. This intervening complaint essentially reiterated the allegations of the original and first intervening complaints, except part of the relief demanded as to these complainants was rehire since they had been permanently laid off on April 2, 1965. Colgate objected to the application of the four above-mentioned females for intervention and also to the second intervening complaint filed in their behalf. Defendant Union took no position on the motion to intervene, but did file an answer to the second intervening complaint.

Defendant Colgate on August 5, 1966, moved the Court to view each of its defensive motions previously filed as two motions, one for the purpose of dismissal in so far as they related to plaintiffs' claims for money damages and the other, in so far as they related to the demands for injunctive relief.

On September 1, Colgate filed a motion to require plaintiffs to elect whether they desired to pursue their remedy against the Company in the suit or through the grievance and arbitration machinery of the collective bargaining agreement. In connection with the motion for election Colgate sought to enjoin the plaintiffs from proceeding both in this cause and under the arbitration provisions of the collective bargaining agreement as to any particular alleged act of discrimination.

On September 1, 1966, defendant Colgate filed a cross-claim against the defendant Union for indemnity and contribution in the event any liability was imposed on Colgate for the alleged discriminatory employment practices.

Pretrial conference was held on September 1, 1966. At the conference the Court denied plaintiffs' motion for a preliminary injunction. The Court also overruled for lack of merit Colgate's motion to set aside the Court's entries of April 28, 1966, and May 6, 1966, which permitted the intervention of the additional plaintiffs, and also permitted the filing of the first and second intervening complaints and the first amended and supplemental complaint.

Disposition of Defensive Motions

The Court took up Colgate's defensive motions and disposed of them as follows:

1. The Court overruled Colgate's motion to dismiss the complaints on the ground that each of the plaintiffs failed to exhaust her remedies under the grievance and arbitration provisions of the collective bargaining agreement between Colgate and the defendant Union. Defendant Colgate asserted, in support of this motion, that Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was part of the fabric of our national labor laws and policy, and, as such, was subject to the principles developed under the national labor laws. In particular, Colgate claimed that the holding of Republic Steel Corp. v. Maddox, 379 U.S. 650, 85 S.Ct. 614, 13 L.Ed.2d 580 (1965), and other cases of similar import, which compel an employee to exhaust the remedies of grievance and arbitration provided by a collective bargaining contract between his union and his employer before filing suit to vindicate a claimed injustice, controlled in this case. The Court disagrees. The Court finds a fundamental difference between a claim for the violation of a collective bargaining agreement and a claim for the violation of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The latter is a statutory embodiment of constitutional rights that all persons are entitled to enjoy,...