Bryant v. International Schools Services, Inc.

• Decision Date: 04 December 1980
• Docket Number: Civ. A. No. 78-2517,78-2563.
• Citation: 502 F. Supp. 472
• Parties: Dotti D. Jernigan BRYANT, Plaintiff, v. INTERNATIONAL SCHOOLS SERVICES, INC., Defendant. Theresa O. LILLIBRIDGE, Plaintiff, v. INTERNATIONAL SCHOOLS SERVICES, INC., Defendant.
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of New Jersey

502 F. Supp. 472

Dotti D. Jernigan BRYANT, Plaintiff, v. INTERNATIONAL SCHOOLS SERVICES, INC., Defendant.

Theresa O. LILLIBRIDGE, Plaintiff, v. INTERNATIONAL SCHOOLS SERVICES, INC., Defendant.

Civ. A. Nos. 78-2517, 78-2563.

United States District Court, D. New Jersey.

December 4, 1980.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

Yvette Weiss, Trenton, N. J., for plaintiffs.

McCarthy & Hicks, Princeton, N. J., for defendant; Kenneth J. McCulloch, Townley & Updike, New York City, of counsel.

OPINION

DEBEVOISE, District Judge.

I. Parties and Proceedings

Plaintiffs in these consolidated actions, Theresa O. Lillibridge and Dotti D. Jernigan Bryant, instituted suit under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as amended, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e, et seq. ("Title VII"). Plaintiffs charge that the practice of defendant, International Schools Services, Inc. ("ISS"), of awarding to its overseas teachers two kinds of employment contracts having substantially different compensation and benefit provisions constituted unlawful discrimination against plaintiffs on the basis of sex.

Lillibridge and Bryant were teachers employed by ISS at the American School in Isfahan, Iran. Each was hired in Iran at a time when she was married to a person employed in that country either by Bell Helicopter International, Inc. or Grumman Aerospace Corporation, each of which provided goods and services to the Iranian government. Both Lillibridge and Bryant were hired pursuant to what has been called, in this case, a "local-hire" contract, one of the two kinds of contracts which ISS entered into with teaching personnel at the American School. The other kind of contract has been referred to in this case as the "ISS-sponsored" contract, under which an employee received benefits substantially greater than those received under the local-hire contract.

ISS is a private, non-profit corporation organized under the laws of the District of Columbia, with its headquarters in Princeton, New Jersey. ISS works by contract with overseas governments or corporations to operate schools for children of American employees overseas. The services it provides are educational consulting, school operation, education staffing, purchasing, procurement and financial management.

The case was tried without a jury, and decision was reserved. This opinion constitutes this Court's findings of fact and conclusions of law.

II. Findings of Fact

A. The ISS Contracts

The American School in Isfahan, one of the schools ISS operated, was established in 1973, pursuant to a contract between ISS and Bell Helicopter. The contracts which Bell Helicopter and other companies performed for the Iranian government required the presence of the companies' employees overseas in Iran. These employees brought their families. It was ISS's responsibility, under its contract, to establish a school and employ and supervise the staff of the school where the children of these employees would be educated. ISS initially contracted with Bell Helicopter to operate the American School; for 1976 and thereafter, ISS contracted directly with the Iranian government to operate the school.

The school term for the American School ran from September of one year through June of the next year, and the staff went on annual leave for the summer months. The American School operated until January 6, 1979, when it was permanently closed due to the revolution in Iran which began in late 1978.

All of the staff at the American School were compensated according to the same base salary scale, which varied depending upon (1) teaching experience and (2) educational achievement. The base salary scale is not an issue in this case.

In addition to base salary, all staff were offered certain other benefits. These benefits were:

1. A continuity incentive equal to 15% of base salary after three years of service and for each subsequent year thereafter;

2. ISS-paid major medical insurance, life insurance and long-term disability insurance;

3. Voluntary participation in a retirement plan. This was a TIAA/CREF plan. The staff member contributed a minimum of 5% of base salary to this retirement plan; if the staff member did this, ISS would contribute 10% of base salary;

4. Voluntary participation in Blue Cross/Blue Shield. ISS would pay 50% of the premium and the staff member would pay the other 50% of the premium.

Teachers at the American School taught under two kinds of contracts—local-hire contracts and ISS-sponsored contracts.¹ Regardless of the kind of contract, the duties of the teachers did not differ. Persons who had ISS-sponsored contracts received additional allowances. These additional allowances were as follows:

1. An overseas allowance paid monthly and equal to 25% of base salary. This was for each member of a teaching couple as of the school year commencing September, 1978, and to one member of the teaching couple prior to that date;

2. A transportation allowance of $150 per month to help offset the costs to be incurred because it was prohibitively expensive to ship automobiles to Iran;

3. Reimbursement for costs of transportation and entry into Iran, including passport fees, and medical examinations;

4. A one-time relocation allowance to assist the transition from previous home to new home in Iran;

5. Housing allowance or housing in an American Community near Isfahan (including utilities);

6. Annual round-trip fare to home of record in the United States for staff member and accompanying dependents;

7. Round-trip airfare to and from the United States in case of a death in the family;

8. Shipping allowance based on weight of baggage for staff members and dependents for initial location and a small allotment on an annual basis thereafter;

9. Transition costs (included hotel, motel and per diem allowance for up to three to four days in the United States, and for up to twenty-eight days in Isfahan);

10. Storage of household goods at home of record (up to $500 per year); and

11. Annual round-trip airfare for college age children (up to four round-trips per four-year period).

The extra benefits paid under the ISS-sponsored contracts were comparable to extra benefits which business corporations under contract with the Iranian government paid to United States citizens they recruited to work in Iran. ISS specifically patterned its benefits upon those provided by Bell Helicopter.

Teachers having ISS-sponsored contracts were hired in the United States and in Isfahan; teachers having local-hire contracts were hired only in Isfahan.

B. Bryant's Employment by ISS

Bryant was married to Marc Jernigan in 1974 and was an elementary school teacher by profession. She expected to accompany her husband to Iran, where he was to be employed by Grumman. She learned of ISS from a Grumman employee and wrote to ISS at Princeton, New Jersey, informing it of her expected arrival in Isfahan, Iran, in October 1975. ISS sent her application forms, which she completed and returned in early May, 1975. Receiving no response, Bryant made inquiry by letter dated July 30, 1975, again addressing her letter to ISS at Princeton. On September 22, 1975, ISS replied, stating that all positions were filled and advising her to communicate with the School superintendent upon her arrival in Isfahan.

When Bryant arrived in Isfahan in November, 1975, a Grumman employee introduced her to Michael White, the principal of the American School's Middle School. He already had her reśume and hired her forthwith as a substitute teacher, paid on a daily basis. In April 1976, ISS hired Bryant on a full-time basis and entered into a local-hire contract with her. The contract recited that Bryant was entitled to participate in the benefit program attached to the letter agreement. There was no attachment to the letter agreement. She was not informed of the fact that there were two kinds of contract, nor was she given a copy of the School's personnel manual.

While she was a substitute teacher she had heard of certain allowances being paid to some of the teachers.

After her employment under a local-hire contract commenced, Bryant asked the American School's assistant superintendent, Ralph Englesby, whether she would receive these allowances. He replied in the negative and, during the course of their discussion, informed her, "You can sue for them."

At a faculty meeting at the end of the 1975-76 school year which Bryant attended, Dr. Howard Wire, Superintendent of the American School, was asked about the disparity between payments under local-hire contracts and ISS-sponsored contracts. Apparently there was a discussion of an EEOC case entitled Michele Dick v. Telemedia, in which a woman married to a man who worked in Iran was awarded damages for unpaid benefits on the grounds that she, as a married woman, had suffered from discriminatory treatment vis-a-vis married men. Dr. Wire defended ISS's policy of awarding contracts with different benefits. Asked by one of the women if it wouldn't be smart to go to the United States to sue ISS, Dr. Wire stated that "I wouldn't do so if I were you while you and your husband are employed here."

In October, 1976, Bryant signed another local-hire contract for the school year 1976-77. In March of 1977 Bryant and her spouse decided to seek a divorce. She remained in Iran until June in order to complete her contract with ISS and then returned to the United States. During the period while she was employed under a local-hire contract she received none of the extra benefits provided by an ISS-sponsored contract. She received the equivalent of some of these benefits through her husband's employer, Grumman, such as the expenses of her trip to Iran, housing in Iran, luggage allowance, and moving allowance.

C. Lillibridge's Employment by ISS

In May, 1975, Lillibridge, a teacher by profession, accompanied her husband to Iran where he was employed as a pilot by Bell Helicopter. She learned of the American School and, in late June or early July, 1975, she had...