Wetzel v. Liberty Mut. Ins. Co.

• Citation: 508 F.2d 239
• Decision Date: 25 February 1975
• Docket Number: No. 74-1515,74-1515
• Parties: 9 Fair Empl.Prac.Cas. 211, 9 Empl. Prac. Dec. P 9931 Sandra WETZEL and Mari Ross, on behalf of themselves and all others similarly situated, Equal Opportunity Commission as amicus curiae v. LIBERTY MUTUAL INSURANCE COMPANY, a corporation, Appellant.
• Court: United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (3rd Circuit)

Page 239

508 F.2d 239

9 Fair Empl.Prac.Cas. 211, 9 Empl. Prac. Dec. P 9931

Sandra WETZEL and Mari Ross, on behalf of themselves and all

others similarly situated, Equal Opportunity

Commission as amicus curiae v. LIBERTY MUTUAL INSURANCE COMPANY, a corporation, Appellant.

No. 74-1515.

United States Court of Appeals, Third Circuit.

Argued Oct. 30, 1974.

Decided Jan. 23, 1975, As Amended Feb. 25, 1975.

Kalvin M. Grove, Paul J. Cherner, Lederer, Fox & Grove, Chicago, Ill., Robert A. Penney, Boston, Mass., Clem R. Kyle, Pittsburgh, Pa., for appellant.

Howard A. Specter, Litman, Litman, Harris & Specter, P.A., Robert F. Stone, Fine, Perlow & Stone, Pittsburgh, Pa., for appellees.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania (D.C. Civil Action No. 72-169).

Before STALEY, ALDISERT and ROSENN, Circuit Judges.

OPINION OF THE COURT

ROSENN, Circuit Judge.

This appeal raises significant questions concerning the management of class actions brought under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. 2000e et seq. (1970), as amended, Equal Employment Opportunity Act of 1972, 42 U.S.C. 2000e et seq. (Supp. II, 1972).

Appellant, Liberty Mutual Insurance Company (Liberty Mutual), is a casualty insurance company with offices throughout the country. Both men and women are employed in the claims department of these offices in what the appellant terms a 'technical' capacity. Within its claims department are adjusters and representatives, each of whose basic function is the application of the necessary technical skills to investigate and bring about the proper disposition of claims against the company. While each is an entry level position open to college graduates, the salary of a claims adjuster is considerably higher than that of a claims representative. The possibilities for promotion are unlimited for the claims adjuster; they are severely limited for the claims representative. Before the filing of charges in this case by the appellees, Sandra Wetzel and Mari Ross, the position of claims adjuster was staffed predominantly by males; the position of claims representatives was staffed predominantly by females. ¹

Wetzel and Ross were employed as claims representatives in the Pittsburgh office of the company. Both desired the higher paying adjuster's position but were informed by the Company that it was not open to women. Dissatisfied with the Company's policies, they filed charges of sex discrimination with the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission (PHRC) on May 11, and with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) on May 14, 1971.

The filing of these charges apparently led the Company to reassess its policies concerning these positions. In August, 1971, the Company decided to recruit women to become claims adjusters and reviewed its roster of claims representatives to ascertain if any such representatives were interested in, and qualified for, the position of claims adjuster. This decision eventually led to the hiring of approximately 10% Of the claims representatives as claims adjusters.

After the filing of the charges with PHRC, the Company offered Wetzel and Ross positions as claims adjusters. Because of information which they had received from PHRC concerning back pay, and because of their belief that the job offer was accompanied by unacceptable conditions, they rejected the offer. Since PHRC had failed to conciliate the parties, Wetzel and Ross were issued right to sue letters by the EEOC. On February 28, 1972, Wetzel and Ross commenced a class action alleging that the Company's hiring and promotion policies and its pregnancy related policies as to the female technical employees in its claims department violated Title VII. They further alleged that the Company's policy of paying higher salaries to claims adjusters than to claims representatives violated the Equal Pay Act of 1963, 29 U.S.C. 206(d) (1970).

In response to Wetzel's and Ross' motions, the district court, on August 16, 1972, ordered that the suit was maintainable as a class action ² under Rule 23(b)(2) and that the class would include 'all present and future female technical employees in the defendant's claim department without limitation to territory in the entire geographical area where defendant does business.' On September 14, 1972, the court refused to require notices to be sent to the proposed nationwide class and declined to maintain the class under Rule 23(b) (3). In its final order of December 6, 1973, the court amended the class to include former, as well as present and future female technical employees, and reaffirmed its determination to maintain the class under Rule 23(b)(2), rather than Rule 23(b)(3). The court acknowledged, however, that the class was maintainable under either subsection. It also saw 'no immediate necessity of the class action notice required of actions proceeding under Fed.R.Civ.P. 23(b) (3).' No notice had been sent to any members of the class as of the date of this appeal.

On March 26, 1973, Wetzel and Ross moved for partial summary judgment. ³ Counsel for both sides agreed that the equal pay claim was not susceptible to summary judgment treatment because disputed issues of fact existed as to whether the work performed by claims representatives was equivalent to that performed by claims adjusters. On January 9, 1974, the court entered an interlocutory order that the pregnancy-related policies of the Compant violate Title VII, 'are continuing violations and are the proper subject of injunctive relief.' On February 20, 1974, the district court rendered final the interlocutory order. A notice of appeal was filed and was docketed at No. 74-1233. That appeal is presently before another panel of this court and the issues in that appeal do not concern us here.

The district court in its interlocutory order of January 9, 1974, also ruled that the hiring and promotion policies of the Company violated Title VII, but denied injunctive relief ⁴ 'because the evidentiary materials show that at certain times subsequent to the filing of the administrative charge or the within Complaint the Defendant has ceased or discontinued the discriminatory practice(s).' ⁵ In an unsuccessful attempt to avoid piecemeal appeals, the court, on March 19, 1974, rendered final this part of the interlocutory order. In this appeal, Liberty Mutual has asked us to review the district court's management of the class action and its granting of summary judgment against the challenged hiring and promotion policies.

I

A. Jurisdiction

Preliminarily, we note that, despite Wetzel's and Ross' contentions, we have jurisdiction to review the class action aspects of this case. The district court, purusant to Rule 54(b), rendered final the partial summary judgment as to the Company's hiring and promotion policies on March 19, 1974. The determination of the class became final for the purposes of 28 U.S.C. 1291 at that time. The notice of appeal, filed April 15, 1974, was timely as to all aspects of that judgment, including the determination of the affected class.

B. Scope of Review

Before examining Liberty Mutual's contentions, we must first decide the appropriate scope of review of the district court's actions. The extent of the scope of review is of the utmost importance for, in some instances, it effectively determines whether the actions of the district court will be sustained. Lengthy deliberations on the subject are not necessary, however, because the question is settled in this circuit by the recent case of Katz v. Carte Blanche Corp., 496 F.2d 747 (3d Cir.) (en banc), cert. denied, 419 U.S. 885, 95 S.Ct. 152, 42 L.Ed.2d 125 (1974), in which Judge Gibbons wrote;

(The scope of review) will depend to some extent upon which facet of the multi-faceted determination is challenged on appeal. The district court must determine if the four prerequisites for a class action listed in rule 23(a) have been met. These are mandatory requirements, and our review decides whether the mandates have been met. The district court must also determine whether the class action is maintainable under rule 23(b)(1) or (2) so that it may proceed without notice to or identification of the class members. Our review will determine whether the court properly classified the type of class action in reaching its decision as to class action treatment.

Id. at 756. Inasmuch as the district court appropriately applied the criteria of Rule 23(a), the scope of our review is whether the trial court did abuse its broad discretion. ⁶

II

The mandatory requirements of Rule 23(a) ⁷ must first be met to maintain a class action. Liberty Mutual has made numerous attacks on the determination made by the district court that the requirements of 23(a) had been met. After careful consideration of its contentions, we need to discuss only two.

First, Liberty Mutual contends taht it was error to include in the class all female technical employees who had been employed since July 1, 1965. It contends that employees whose claims are time barred by the statute of limitations contained in them section 706(d) of Title VII, 42 U.S.C. 2000e-5(d) (1970), should be excluded from the class. ⁸

We agree with Liberty Mutual that such individuals should have been excluded. At the time charges were filed with the EEOC, section 706(d) provided that where, as here, a charging party had instituted proceedings with a state agency which has jurisdiction over discriminatory employment practices, a charge must be filed with the EEOC within 210 days of the occurrence of the alleged unfair practice. ⁹

As stated in Macklin v. Spector Freight Systems, Inc., 156 U.S.App.D.C. 69, 478 F.2d 979, 986 (1973):

Since a suit in court depends on an agency notice to sue letter and since the agency cannot take the case initially unless the timely filing requirements are met, the timely filing requirements with respect to EEOC appears to be a jurisdictional prerequisite to cour...