Quarles v. Philip Morris, Incorporated

Decision Date04 January 1968
Docket NumberCiv. A. No. 4544.
CourtU.S. District Court — Eastern District of Virginia
PartiesDouglas QUARLES and Ephriam Briggs v. PHILIP MORRIS, INCORPORATED, a Virginia corporation, Local 203 of the Tobacco Workers International Union, an unincorporated association, Wallace Mergler, President of Local 203 of the Tobacco Workers International Union, Defendants.

Henry L. Marsh, III, Hill, Tucker & Marsh, Richmond, Va., Jack Greenberg, Leroy D. Clark, New York City, for plaintiffs.

Edward F. Butler, Conboy, Hewitt, O'Brien & Boardman, New York City, Lewis T. Booker, Hunton, Williams, Gay, Powell & Gibson, Richmond, Va., for Philip Morris, Incorporated.

Beecher E. Stallard, Richmond, Va., for Local 203 of the Tobacco Workers International Union.

Kenneth F. Holbert, Acting Gen. Counsel, Russell Specter, David R. Cashdan, Washington, D. C., Attys., for Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, amicus curiae.

MEMORANDUM OF THE COURT

BUTZNER, Circuit Judge (by designation).

Douglas H. Quarles, plaintiff, and Ephriam Briggs intervening plaintiff, Negro employees of Philip Morris, Inc., and members of Local 203 of the Tobacco Workers International Union, brought this action on their own behalf and on behalf of other Negroes similarly situated, against the company, the union and the president of the union, to enjoin them from violating Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (42 U.S.C. § 2000e et seq.). Quarles sued the company; upon Briggs' intervention, the union and its president were joined as defendants.

The plaintiffs alleged that the defendants by their employment practices and collective bargaining agreement refused to hire, promote to supervisory positions, pay, advance and transfer Negro employees on the same basis as white employees. The plaintiffs do not seek back wages.

The court previously ruled that the plaintiffs, having stated a cause of action that met the prerequisites of Fed. R.Civ.P. 23(a), could maintain this suit as a class action, and that the parties opposing the class have acted or refused to act on grounds generally applicable to the class, making relief appropriate to the class Fed.R.Civ.P. 23(b) (2). The effect of the court's ruling was to hold that each member of the class was not required to pursue administrative relief for the correction of the same employment practices.

The court also denied the defendants' motion to dismiss on the ground that the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission did not endeavor to conciliate the claim of the individual plaintiffs prior to the institution of the suit. The court found that Quarles made complaint against the company to the commission, and Briggs complained against the company and the union. They were notified the conciliation efforts of the commission had not achieved compliance with the act. The court ruled that Quarles and Briggs had done all within their power to exhaust administrative remedies. Quarles v. Philip Morris, Inc., 271 F.Supp. 842 (E.D.Va.1967). See Stebbins v. Nationwide Mutual Ins. Co., 382 F.2d 267, 268 (4th Cir. 1967); Mickel v. South Carolina State Employment Service, 377 F.2d 239, 242 (dictum) (4th Cir. 1967). Quarles made no complaint against the union, but the omission is not fatal. The main thrust of his case is against the employment practices of the company. Briggs complained against the company and the union, thus making proper the joinder of the union as a defendant. The plaintiffs have not stated, or proved, a cause of action against Wallace A. Mergler, President of Local 203. He will be dismissed.

Upon the merits of the case the court holds:

I. The company has not engaged in discriminatory hiring practices since January 1, 1966, and consequently, the plaintiffs are not entitled to relief on this issue;

II. The company has not discriminated on racial grounds with respect to employment and promotion of supervisory personnel;

III. The company has discriminated on the grounds of race with respect to the pay of two employees, Ephriam Briggs and Mrs. Lillie J. Oatney; the plaintiffs have failed to establish discrimination against Negroes as a class with respect to pay;

IV. The defendants have discriminated against Douglas R. Quarles and the class consisting of Negro employees who were hired in the prefabrication department before January 1, 1966, with respect to advancement, transfer, and seniority. The plaintiffs are entitled to relief correcting this discrimination.

I.

The company's cigarette and tobacco manufacturing operations in Richmond, are divided into four general departments: (1) green leaf stemmery, a seasonal operation; (2) prefabrication; (3) fabrication; and (4) warehouse shipping and receiving. (A fifth department —gum—presents no issues.) Before 1955, with a minor exception, Philip Morris employed Negro and white persons on a segregated basis. Negroes only were employed in the stemmery and prefabrication departments. White persons only were employed in the fabrication department. The warehouse shipping and receiving department was predominantly white with a few Negroes. In 1955, as a result of a Presidential Executive Order prohibiting discrimination by government contractors, the company assigned thirteen Negro employees to the fabrication department.

On May 1, 1961 the company established a "Factories Employment Policy" to comply with a Presidential Executive Order requiring employment and promotion without regard to race. The policy achieved only token employment of Negroes in the fabrication and warehouse shipping and receiving departments. The stemmery and prefabrication departments remained predominantly Negro.

During the years 1961-1965, the company's total work force exceeded 2,000 persons, of which Negroes constituted 25 to 31 per cent. In 1961 and 1962 no Negroes were hired in the fabrication department. Negroes constituted 1.9 per cent of the persons hired in that department in 1963, 6.5 per cent in 1964, and 4.1 per cent in 1965. The pattern of hiring in the warehouse shipping and receiving department was substantially the same. Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 became effective July 2, 1965. The company, however, did not significantly change its hiring practices. For example, of those employees remaining on the payroll as of April 30, 1967, 41 of the 43 persons hired in the fabrication department from July 2, 1965 to November 8, 1965 were white.

In sharp contrast to the token hiring of Negroes in fabrication for 1965 and prior years, Negroes constituted 32.6 per cent of the persons hired in this department in 1966 and 29.5 per cent through the first four months of 1967. As of April 1967, 14 per cent of the employees in the fabrication department were Negroes, 12.9 per cent in the warehouse shipping and receiving department were Negroes, and the percentage of Negroes in the stemmery and prefabrication departments, while still large, had been reduced.

The court holds that since January 1, 1966, the company has not discriminated on the grounds of race in its hiring policy. The court concludes, regardless of practices before January 1, 1966, that relief on this issue is not now appropriate.

II.

The plaintiffs failed to introduce evidence proving their allegation that the company discriminated on racial grounds with respect to employment and promotion of supervisory personnel. The plaintiffs point to the small number of Negro supervisory employees in comparison with the large number of white supervisors. (7 Negroes, 243 white, as of February 9, 1967). But the plaintiffs have not shown any instance of a qualified Negro being denied employment or promotion to a supervisory position.

Negroes have been appointed foremen in the stemmery, the blended leaf section, the wrapping section and the storage and dressing section of the company's 20th Street plant. Other Negroes have been placed as an export superintendent and in the quality control sections. The company has recruited Negroes from colleges to enter its management trainee program. Negroes are employed at the executive level in the sales organization.

The court concludes that relief on this issue is not appropriate.

III.

Racially segregated local unions formerly were bargaining agents for the employees. Local 203 had exclusive jurisdiction over the jobs in the fabrication and warehouse shipping and receiving departments. Its membership consisted of white employees. Local 209, the bargaining agent for the Negro employees, had exclusive jurisdiction over jobs in the prefabrication department and stemmery. These local unions merged in September 1963 to comply with a Presidential Executive Order. Local 203 now represents all employees. Its present bargaining committee includes both white and Negro employees.

Before 1957 the wage rates the company negotiated with each local were unequal for the same work performed. Generally Negroes' wages were lower. For example, Negro elevator operators in the prefabrication department were paid less than white elevator operators in the fabrication department. These wages were equalized in 1959. In the warehouse shipping and receiving department, which was under the jurisdiction of Local 203, the white union, rates for entry level jobs were lower for the few Negro employees than for white employees. These rates were equalized in 1957.

Long ago there appears to have been one wage rate for employees in the prefabrication department. For many years, however, the company has recognized that certain jobs require more skill and responsibility than others. These were called key jobs, and the employees who filled them were paid $2.37 or $2.42 an hour as distinguished from the general labor rate of $2.22. In prefabrication there are approximately 47 key jobs. Since prefabrication was a Negro operation at the time the key jobs were established, the key jobholders were Negroes. Negroes who checked receipt of raw materials and delivery of supplies and products in...

To continue reading

Request your trial
128 cases
  • Dobbins v. Local 212, International Bro. of Elec. Wkrs.
    • United States
    • U.S. District Court — Southern District of Ohio
    • October 10, 1968
    ...race. United States by Clark v. Local 189, United Papermakers and Paperworkers, 282 F.Supp. 39 (D.C.La., 1968); Quarles v. Philip Morris, Inc., 279 F.Supp. 505 (D.C.Va., 1968). While such a practice may also be within the jurisdiction of the N.L.R.B. and, from the point of view of the Labor......
  • Denberg v. U.S. R.R. Retirement Bd.
    • United States
    • U.S. Court of Appeals — Seventh Circuit
    • May 10, 1983
    ...Express, Inc., 485 F.2d 441 (5th Cir.1973); Foster v. City of Detroit, 405 F.2d 138 (6th Cir.1968); see also Quarles v. Philip Morris, Inc., 279 F.Supp. 505 (E.D.Va.1968). Therefore, any individual who did not respond to the court's notice by the deadline should be barred from recovery as a......
  • Guardians Ass'n of NY City v. CIVIL SERV. COM'N
    • United States
    • U.S. District Court — Southern District of New York
    • March 17, 1977
    ...the fair employment practices legislation. Griggs v. Duke Power Co., supra, 401 U.S. at 429-30, 91 S.Ct. 849; Quarles v. Philip Morris, Inc., 279 F.Supp. 505, 516 (E.D.Va.1968). b. Title VII Standard In Griggs v. Duke Power Co., supra, the Supreme Court held that Title VII forbids the use o......
  • Nance v. Union Carbide Corp., Consumer Prod. Div.
    • United States
    • U.S. District Court — Western District of North Carolina
    • April 28, 1975
    ...(7th Cir. 1969) and 489 F.2d 896 (7th Cir. 1973); Danner v. Phillips Petroleum Co., 447 F.2d 159 (5th Cir. 1971); Quarles v. Philip Morris, Inc., 279 F. Supp. 505 (E.D.Va.1968). 9. Where, as in this case, a company has in the past operated a sexually segregated system of employment in which......
  • Request a trial to view additional results
2 books & journal articles
  • THROUGH A GLASS, DARKLY: SYSTEMIC RACISM, AFFIRMATIVE ACTION, AND DISPROPORTIONATE MINORITY CONTACT.
    • United States
    • Michigan Law Review Vol. 120 No. 3, December 2021
    • December 1, 2021
    ...S. Ct. 2198 (2016). (263.) See, e.g., United Steelworkers v. Weber, 443 U.S. 193, 204-07 (1979). (264.) Quarles v. Philip Morris, Inc., 279 F. Supp. 505,516 (E.D. Va. (265.) Weiner v. Cuyahoga Cmty. Coll. Dist., 238 N.E.2d 839, 844 (Ohio Ct. C.P. Cuyahoga Cnty. 1968). (266.) Carter v. Galla......
  • Race, Labor, and the Twentieth-Century American State
    • United States
    • Politics & Society No. 32-4, December 2004
    • December 1, 2004
    ...“From Group Rights,” 64.141. 442 F.2d159 (3d Cir., 1971). The Supreme Court case was TeamstersLocal 357 v.NLRB, 365 U.S. 667 (1961).142. 279 F.Supp. 505, 515 (E.D. VA, 1968).143. 473 F.2d 471, 477 (8th Cir., 1973).PAUL FRYMER 507 144. Hearings before the Subcommittee on Labor of the Committ......

VLEX uses login cookies to provide you with a better browsing experience. If you click on 'Accept' or continue browsing this site we consider that you accept our cookie policy. ACCEPT