Blount v. Alabama Cooperative Extension Service
| Decision Date | 06 October 1994 |
| Docket Number | Civ. A. No. 92-D-1052-E. |
| Citation | 869 F. Supp. 1543 |
| Parties | Laverne BLOUNT, Plaintiff, v. ALABAMA COOPERATIVE EXTENSION SERVICE, et al., Defendants. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Middle District of Alabama |
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Solomon S. Seay, Jr., Montgomery, AL, for plaintiff.
Jordan Dorman Walker, Jr., John P. Scott, Montgomery, AL, Thomas D. Samford, III, Auburn, AL, for defendant.
De MENT, District Judge.
This matter is now before the court on defendant Alabama Cooperative Extension Service's motion for summary judgment, filed September 10, 1993. The plaintiff Laverne Blount responded on October 1, 1993. Also, before the court is defendant Alabama Cooperative Extension Service's motion to strike, filed October 8, 1993.
The court finds that the defendants' motion to strike is due to be denied. For the reasons explained below, the defendant's motion for summary judgment as to all counts of the complaint is due to be granted.
This court has subject matter jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C.A. § 1331. Personal jurisdiction and venue are uncontested.
Laverne Blount earned a Bachelor of Science degree in vocational home economics from Alabama A & M University in 1965. She was hired by the Alabama Cooperative Extension Service (ACES) on October 21, 1965 as an Extension Home Agent with a salary of $5,340 per year. Blount remained a Extension Home Agent until July 31, 1970 at which time she resigned. She returned to the ACES in 1971 again acting as an Extension Home Agent.
In 1977, the year in which she received a Master of Science degree from Alabama A & M University, Blount was promoted to the position of Associate County Agent. In 1979, she applied for both paid and unpaid leaves from the ACES in order to pursue a doctorate degree at Ohio State University. When the ACES declined to give Blount a leave of absence, she resigned. After completing her course work but not her dissertation, Blount returned to ACES and was reemployed as an Associate County Agent on or about October 1, 1983. Because she was not employed with the ACES during her doctoral studies, she received no tenure credit from the ACES for that time period.
In 1986, Blount became the County Agent of Clarke County, but she left that position to become an Extension Agent on Special Assignment in Auburn, Alabama, where the headquarters of the ACES is located. The special assignment was arranged at Blount's and Extension Assistant Director for Human Resources Dr. James L. Smith's request for the purpose of allowing Blount to complete her Ph.D., which involved the writing of a dissertation. In 1988, Blount received her doctoral degree from Ohio State University. Blount's special assignment was extended until 1991.
In 1991, ACES proceeded to implement a comprehensive reorganization plan for the entire ACES organization. As a part of the reorganization, the state was divided into nine districts, districts which were to be supervised by Extension District Agents (DAs). Of the ten Extension District Agents selected, five were filled by former District Agent Programs (DAPs), which were similar positions of leadership under the 1976 reorganization plan. All of the former DAPs are males.
The following chart illustrates the experience level of the DAPs who were selected as DAs in comparison to Blount's length of service and level of experience while employed by ACES.
Prior Experience of DAPs Compared to Dr. Blount
William Paul Lawrence James Edward Laverne
W. Curtis Waddy S. Hawsey O. Conway J. Coats Blount
(W/Male) (B/Male) (W/Male) (W/Male) (W/Male) (B/Fem.)
Years
ACES
Empl. 27.81 24.90 24.44 22.15 22.93 20.7
Years
County
Level
Exper. 15.33 12.00 11.54 9.25 10.03 20.7
Years
Dist
Level
Exper. 10.90 12.90 12.90 12.90 12.90 -0-
The key determinants of a career ACES employee's salary are length of employment, quality of performance, and relevant educational attainment. Of the three primary qualities, it seems that length of employment is the controlling or most influential factor. Length of employment is critical because performance evaluations and commensurate salary increases rest on years of service. Therefore, in other words, the longer an employee has been employed at a higher level the more the employee's salary will rise. In addition, promotions involving greater responsibility also result in larger base salaries and ultimately, larger raises in pay.
The nine new DAs named after the reorganization in 1991 were William W. Curtis, Paul Waddy, Lawrence S. Hawsey, James O. Conway, Edward J. Coats, LaVerne Blount, Norma McCrory, Rebecca Dollman, Ray Rice, and Wilma Ruffin. Of the nine chosen, six had been employed for a longer period of time than Blount.1 Three, Rebecca Dollman, Ray Rice, and William Ruffin, had worked for ACES fewer years than Blount, but had worked throughout those periods when Blount was not employed by the ACES and were each employed at higher levels than Blount when selected to be a DA. Ms. Norma McCrory, a white female who was also selected to be a DA, had worked for ACES for twenty-eight years, six of those years had been spent as a County Agent Coordinator, the highest county-level position. Before being named a DA, Blount had never risen to the level of County Agent Coordinator.
Furthermore, performance evaluations also factor into the amount that an employee's salary will be raised. The higher the performance evaluation that an employee receives the larger merit raise increase an employee will receive. After Blount's return to ACES in 1983, she received a full merit raise for each year that she was employed. As a result of merit increases and years of service, Blount's salary increased from $22,320 to $37,500 between the years 1983 and 1991.
Lastly, another important factor in determining the amount of an employer's salary is relevant educational attainment. According to the policies of ACES, raises are awarded for educational achievements that are job related, but not for those which are unrelated or irrelevant or beyond the level required for the position. Dr. Blount received an increase in salary when she received a masters degree in a relevant discipline while serving at the county level. However, Blount did not receive an increase in compensation for earning her doctorate, because it was not required or preferred at the county level. Also, there is no requirement that a DA have earned a doctorate, and therefore, Blount was not entitled to a higher salary as a result of her achievement.
Pursuant to a judgment rendered by this court in previous litigation, ACES has analyzed the salary administration of county-level employees to ensure that the salary levels were not influenced by gender or race discrimination. See Strain v. Martin, No. 840-E (M.D.Ala. June 26, 1992). Two regression analysis are performed yearly on each employee's salary level. In one regression analysis, if the employee's salary is more than one standard deviation from the salary predicted by the analysis for the theoretical white male, the employee's salary is increased until it falls within one standard range of error of the regression analysis. If a discrepancy is found in an employee's salary, the employee's salary is increased. If funds are lacking, the inequity is corrected when funds become available, but prior to the next projected pay increase. The practice eliminates improper disparities in pay among county-level employees. The second regression analysis compares each county agent to all other county agents. As is the case with the first regression analysis, salary level corrections are made for all blacks if undue influence is found by the analysis. Dr. Blount's salary was evaluated yearly with each regression analysis to ensure that she was not treated improperly due to her race or gender.
Prior to her selection as a DA, Blount's salary was evaluated pursuant to the regression analysis used normally to check county-level employees, and the results indicated that her salary was $281 less than the standard, which was within the range of error. Dr. Thompson then requested that Blount's salary be evaluated, while giving her full credit for her doctorate degree, even though the ACES was not required to do so. The analysis indicated that Blount's salary, then $37,500, should be $40,827, which was an increase of $3,327. In addition, Dr. Thompson evaluated Blount's salary again while considering performance evaluations and raises given at the county level, which Blount had not received because she was working on special assignment at the headquarters in Auburn. The results indicated that Blount had missed $1,173 in raises received by others at the county level, who performed at an average level. Therefore, before promoting Blount to DA, Dr. Thompson increased Blount's base salary by $4,500 from $37,500 to $42,000, giving Blount every benefit of the doubt to increase her base salary to the highest amount possible. No other such adjustments were made for any of the other employees selected to serve as DAs.
All of the ACES who were employees who were promoted to DA received a base salary increase of $5,000. Blount received the $5,000 raise in addition to the other salary adjustments. Also, DAs who were required to move their offices received a $2,500 increase in their base salary as a result of the relocation. Blount also received a relocation allowance because she was required to move to Selma, Alabama in her new role as DA for that district.
The following is a chart depicting each DAs salary prior to being selected, the increase due to their selection as a DA, and their salary after the promotion.
Salaries Before and After DA Promotions
Base Salary DA & Reloc.
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