E.E.O.C. v. American Nat. Bank, 76-2452
| Decision Date | 18 April 1978 |
| Docket Number | No. 76-2452,76-2452 |
| Citation | 574 F.2d 1173 |
| Parties | 17 Fair Empl.Prac.Cas. 213, 16 Empl. Prac. Dec. P 8234 EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY COMMISSION, Appellant, v. AMERICAN NATIONAL BANK, Appellee, Equal Employment Advisory Council, Amicus Curiae. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Fourth Circuit |
William H. Ng, Atty., E. E. O. C., Washington, D. C. (Abner W. Sibal, Gen. Counsel, Joseph T. Eddins, Associate Gen. Counsel, Beatrice Rosenberg, Asst. Gen. Counsel, E. E. O. C., Washington, D. C., on brief), for appellant.
Paul M. Thompson, Washington, D. C. (Jack W. Burtch, Jr., Hunton & Williams, Richmond, Va., on brief), for appellee.
Avrum M. Goldberg and Marc E. Lackritz, Robert E. Nagle, Wald, Harkrader & Ross, Robert E. Williams and Douglas S. McDowell, McGuiness & Williams, Washington, D. C., on brief), for amicus curiae, Equal Employment Advisory Council.
Before WINTER, BUTZNER and RUSSELL, Circuit Judges.
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission brought this suit alleging that since May, 1969, American National Bank has engaged in a pattern and practice of racial discrimination against blacks in violation of § 703 of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-2. On the bank's motion for summary judgment, the district court dismissed the action because of unreasonable delay prejudicing the bank. * Relying largely on Occidental Life Ins. Co. v. EEOC, 432 U.S. 355, 97 S.Ct. 2447, 53 L.Ed.2d 402 (1977), which was decided after the district court acted, we vacate the order of dismissal and remand the case for further proceedings.
Sandra Holland filed a charge with the commission in June, 1969, alleging that she had applied for employment at the Suffolk, Virginia, branch of American National Bank a month earlier and that the bank did not hire her because she is black. The commission did not complete its investigation or determine whether there was reasonable cause for believing the charge, as required by 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-5(b), until March, 1974. In its notice to the bank of its determination of reasonable cause, the commission reported that its investigation disclosed that most of the bank's black employees held menial jobs; that the proportion of white persons employed as tellers and clerks greatly exceeded the proportion of white people in the community; that the bank utilized tests for hiring which discriminated against blacks; that in the absence of business necessity it relied on adverse references without permitting applicants to explain or refute them; and that without showing any business necessity, it utilized credit status as an employment criterion notwithstanding its disproportionate impact on black applicants. In accordance with the statute, the commission attempted to conciliate these charges. After conciliation failed, the commission issued Holland a right to sue letter in August, 1974, but she elected not to proceed.
In January, 1976, nearly seven years after the charge had been filed, the commission brought this action pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-5(f)(1). In its complaint it alleged a pattern and practice of discrimination specifying that the bank had a continuing policy of excluding black persons from employment, used pre-employment selection devices which exclude black applicants, and hired a disproportionately large number of black persons for menial jobs that deny them the opportunity for advancement open to white employees. During pre-trial discovery, the commission claimed 47 persons had been discriminatorily denied employment.
In a deposition taken in June of 1976, Holland testified that she applied for a job at the bank's Suffolk branch in 1965 and 1968, but she could not recall whether she applied there in 1969. She also said that she threw away her records "a long time ago." The manager of the Suffolk branch at the time of Holland's charge is now retired. He testified that the bank's records contain no May, 1969, application from Holland for the Suffolk branch, but that he found an October, 1969, application in which she applied for work at the Portsmouth branch. The bank preserved all of the applications for employment at Suffolk from 1969 to date.
The district court concluded that an affirmative defense in the nature of laches is available to defendants in actions brought by the commission pursuant to Title VII. It held that the elements of this defense are (1) unreasonable or unexplained delay in bringing proceedings and (2) resulting prejudice to the defendant. It found that evidence had been lost and memories dimmed concerning Holland's initial charge, and it...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
E.E.O.C. v. Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Co.
...cannot relieve A & P of the obligation of defending a much broader action on behalf of classes of employees. EEOC v. American National Bank, 574 F.2d 1173, 1175-76 (4th Cir.), cert. denied, 439 U.S. 876, 99 S.Ct. 213, 58 L.Ed.2d 190 We do not hold that delay must invariably be measured from......
-
Equal Emp't Opportunity Comm'n v. Bass Pro Outdoor World, LLC, Case No. 4:11–CV–3425.
...opinion in General Telephone, dissented from denial of certiorari, though without explanation.6 Though the Fourth Circuit in its 1981 American National Bank decision discusses the EEOC's “broad enforcement powers,” it does not make plain that the suit at issue in the case had been filed und......
-
EQUAL EMPLOYMENT, ETC. v. SHEET METAL WKRS. INTERN.
...different posture from Occidental Life Ins. Co. v. EEOC, 432 U.S. 355, 97 S.Ct. 2447, 53 L.Ed.2d 402 (1977), and EEOC v. American National Bank, 574 F.2d 1173 (4th Cir. 1978). In those cases, a long delay between the filing of the administrative charge or the administrative determination an......
-
Equal Emp't Opportunity Comm'n v. PBM Graphics Inc.
...a district court should withhold judgment on prejudice until “after the facts have been fully developed.” E.E.O.C. v. Am. Nat'l Bank, 574 F.2d 1173, 1176 (4th Cir.1978). Prejudice, the court notes, “must arise from and be assessed with respect to the facts of each individual claim.” Chesape......