Brunetti v. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.

• Decision Date: 23 November 1981
• Docket Number: No. J-C-79-67.,J-C-79-67.
• Citation: 525 F. Supp. 1363
• Parties: Barbara J. BRUNETTI, Plaintiff, v. WAL-MART STORES, INC., Defendant.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Eastern District of Arkansas

525 F. Supp. 1363

Barbara J. BRUNETTI, Plaintiff, v. WAL-MART STORES, INC., Defendant.

No. J-C-79-67.

United States District Court, E. D. Arkansas, Jonesboro Division.

November 23, 1981.

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Elizabeth McKanna and G. Philip Arnold, Ratner & Sugarmon, Memphis, Tenn., Marc Baretz, West Memphis, Ark., for plaintiff.

William H. Bruckner, Houston, Tex., for defendant.

MEMORANDUM OPINION

ROY, District Judge.

Plaintiff Barbara J. Brunetti brought this cause pursuant to Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e, et seq., seeking injunctive, declaratory and monetary relief against defendant Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (hereinafter referred to as "Wal-Mart"). Plaintiff has alleged that defendant discriminated against her in terms of compensation because of her sex. As a result of this alleged discrimination, plaintiff filed a charge of discrimination with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) on or about August 9, 1978. Approximately seven months later, on March 3, 1979, plaintiff was discharged by defendant. Plaintiff has alleged that her termination by defendant was in retaliation for her filing the charge of discrimination the previous August.

The case was tried to the Court without a jury on May 7 and 8, 1981, in Jonesboro, Arkansas. Proposed findings of fact and conclusions of law and written argument have been received from both parties. Therefore, the Court now makes these findings of fact and conclusions of law.

FINDINGS OF FACT

Plaintiff is a caucasian female who resides in Hughes, Arkansas. She was employed by Wal-Mart in its West Memphis, Arkansas, store from August 20, 1977, until her termination on March 3, 1979.

Defendant is a corporation with its principal office in Bentonville, Arkansas. It is engaged in the sale of merchandise at retail stores located in several states. The store that is the subject of this proceeding is located in West Memphis, Arkansas, and is designated as Store No. 70. Defendant is an employer within the meaning of Title VII.

A. Unequal Pay

Ms. Brunetti was hired by Wal-Mart on or about August 20, 1977, as a cashier, receiving $2.75 per hour in pay. Prior to working at Wal-Mart, Ms. Brunetti had several years of experience in the retail business, including stocking shelves and working with customers at Walgreens and Sears in Pine Bluff, Arkansas, and working as a cashier, bookkeeper and general merchandise manager at Winn Dixie Stores, Inc., in Miami, Florida, and Charlotte, North Carolina. At Winn Dixie Stores Ms. Brunetti also helped prepare orders for the entire store and stock shelves. In addition, Ms. Brunetti had received training at the VoTech Trade School in Pine Bluff.

In early September 1977 Ms. Brunetti was moved to the automotive department of Wal-Mart as manager, which position she held for approximately six months. Around the middle of March 1978, Bruce McCaleb, the sporting goods department head, walked off the job leaving no manager in that area. From that day forward Ms. Brunetti assumed the responsibilities of automotive and sporting goods manager. Her rate of pay was increased by $0.15 per hour at this time. Then, in late July 1978, she received a $0.25 per hour raise, thus putting her salary at $3.15 per hour.

Defendant denies that Ms. Brunetti was actually the department manager of automotives and sporting goods during the period of March 1978 — September 1978. Rather, defendant contends that she was in the position of "manager trainee." It is the finding of the Court, however, that Ms. Brunetti both performed the functions and held the title of manager of both departments from the time Bruce McCaleb left his employ in March 1978.

The evidence at trial showed that each department either had a manager or was grouped with another department over which one manager served as supervisor. No other employee was identified as manager of automotives or sporting goods during the time in question. Around the middle of April 1978 Ms. Brunetti received an identification tag indicating she was the department manager from assistant store manager, Jessie Manley. Receiving this tag was considered by Ms. Brunetti to be official notification of her appointment as department manager of automotives and sporting goods. Although Ms. Manley does not recall giving the plaintiff this badge, Mr. Johnson, the store manager at that time, testified that Ms. Manley was doing a lot of the interviewing and hiring during his tenure as manager and he stated, "If Barbara needed a manager's badge, I'm sure Jessie would give her one."

At least three evaluations of Ms. Brunetti's performance were prepared between March and September 1978, all of which refer to her as department manager. The first one, prepared by the district sporting goods manager on May 26, 1978, lists Barbara Brunetti as the section head, evaluates her as the department manager, and has her signature as department manager at the end of the report. A second similar evaluation was prepared on July 6, 1978. It also identifies Ms. Brunetti as department manager in each of the categories cited above. The third evaluation, prepared by Mr. Johnson on August 14, 1978, describes Ms. Brunetti's ability "to run both sporting goods and automotives." Another section of this evaluation rated Ms. Brunetti's potential for further advancement in management. Mr. Johnson testified that he did not consider Barbara for any management position beyond that of department manager because there was a good possibility that such position would require transferring to a different store, and Ms. Brunetti, he believed, would not want to move because of her family situation.

Despite the fact that Ms. Brunetti had both assumed the responsibilities and been given the title of automotive and sporting goods manager, she was paid substantially less than Bruce McCaleb, her male predecessor. As noted above, she was hired at $2.75 per hour and received no increase when she was transferred to automotives as manager. In March 1978, shortly after Mr. McCaleb walked out as sporting goods manager, she received a raise to $2.90 per hour. Several months later, in July, she was raised to $3.15 per hour. At the time Mr. McCaleb left, he was earning $4.00 per hour, even though he had charge of only one department — sporting goods.

Prior to filing a charge with the EEOC in August 1978, Ms. Brunetti discussed her concerns over the low rate of pay with Mr. Hubbard, the assistant store manager, and with Jim McClure, the district sporting goods manager. She stated that Mr. McClure told her he thought $4.00 an hour was a fair wage for that job. These discussions were consistent with the chain of command established at the Wal-Mart Stores. Ms. Brunetti approached the assistant manager three times prior to filing her charge. Despite these three requests, Ms. Brunetti received no raise. Thus, on August 9, 1978, Ms. Brunetti filed a charge with the EEOC alleging discrimination in pay based on sex.

Additional evidence of discriminatory pay was adduced at trial. A clerk in Ms. Brunetti's department, James Morgan, who started work on July 31, 1978, was paid $2.70 per hour. Until mid-July, Ms. Brunetti was earning $2.90 per hour. At that time she received a raise to $3.15 per hour. The slight difference in these salaries compared to the substantial difference in responsibilities and experience results in the inference that Ms. Brunetti's rate of pay was disproportionately low.

Ms. Brunetti was manager of both the automotive and sporting goods departments from mid-March 1978 until her termination in March 1979. Although she did receive raises in pay throughout her employment at Wal-Mart, it was not until January 26, 1979, that she was earning $4.00 per hour, the same salary her predecessor, who managed only one department, was earning nearly a year earlier. Furthermore, her predecessor had been at that rate since July 1977, and the Court finds that had he remained, it is reasonable to assume he would have received raises comparable to or greater than those received by Ms. Brunetti through January 26, 1979.

B. Retaliatory Treatment and Termination

The fact that Ms. Brunetti filed a charge of discrimination against the defendant became known almost immediately by Wal-Mart management and sales personnel. Mr. Johnson testified that he learned of Ms. Brunetti's charge from another employee. He then in turn called Mr. Trainer, the district manager, and had subsequent discussions concerning the suit with company officials in Bentonville. The assistant manager, Mr. Bogue, learned of Ms. Brunetti's lawsuit against the company upon his arrival at the store in November 1978 from both Mr. Johnson and Mr. Trainer.

The employees, in general, were also aware of Ms. Brunetti's charge. In fact, the gossip concerning her and her suit was so intense that Ms. Brunetti requested a statement prohibiting gossip to be made a part of her counseling record of September 25, 1978, which record was issued approximately 1½ months after she filed her charge. The memo covers three issues: allegedly official appointment of the plaintiff to department manager position; a warning to all employees regarding gossip about her charge; and a request that an effort be made to reestablish an open line of communication between the plaintiff and Messrs. Johnson and Trainer. Each of the items in the counseling session concerns Ms. Brunetti's charge. Specifically, the form purports to confer upon Ms. Brunetti full responsibilities as department manager of the two departments. In fact, the testimony and exhibits adduced at trial clearly reveal that Ms. Brunetti had taken on these responsibilities long before September, 1978. Thus, the Court finds that the September 25, 1978, counseling form was prepared as an attempt to establish a defense to Ms. Brunetti's charge that she was paid less than the preceding sporting goods manager because sh...