Carter v. American Tel. and Tel. Co.
Decision Date | 16 December 1994 |
Docket Number | No. C-1-92-424.,C-1-92-424. |
Citation | 870 F. Supp. 1438 |
Court | U.S. District Court — Southern District of West Virginia |
Parties | Jacquelyn CARTER, Plaintiff, v. AMERICAN TELEPHONE AND TELEGRAPH COMPANY, et al., Defendants. |
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Douglas Michael Morehart, Brown & Morehart, Cincinnati, OH, for plaintiff.
Ronald Harold Isroff, Ulmer and Berne, Cleveland, OH, Thomas Louis Rosenberg, Columbus, OH, for defendants.
This matter is before the Court on the Defendants' Motion for Summary Judgment (doc. 22), Plaintiff's Motion for Summary Judgment and Response to Defendants' Motion for Summary Judgment (doc. 27), Defendants' Reply (doc. 31), and Plaintiff's Reply (doc. 32).
The Plaintiff, Jacquelyn Carter, filed this law suit alleging that her employer, American Telephone and Telegraph Company (hereinafter "AT & T"), discriminated against her by denying her credit for time served while she was pregnant. AT & T denied her retirement benefits in 1991 based on a method of calculating employee service time that does not take into account pregnancy leaves, but does take into account disability leaves taken during the same period. On May 19, 1992, Carter filed her complaint seeking the payment of certain pension benefits under the AT & T Management Pension Plan. Carter alleges that the actions of AT & T violate the Pregnancy Discrimination Act provisions of Title VII, 42 U.S.C. §§ 2000e et seq., the Equal Pay Act, 29 U.S.C. § 206(d), Ohio Rev.Code §§ 4112.02(A) and 4112.99, and ERISA, 29 U.S.C. §§ 1001 et seq.
On December 30, 1989, AT & T instituted a new retirement benefit plan to encourage employees to take early retirement. Under this plan, AT & T credited anyone who wished to retire with five extra years of service or age, which allowed employees easier access to pension benefits.
Carter was employed by AT & T from June 8, 1964, until December 28, 1990, and was seventeen years old when she began work. She took maternity leave from December 19, 1966, until October 1, 1967. At the time Carter took leave, she was six months pregnant. AT & T policy required all employees to take leave once they became six months pregnant, and allowed the employee to take leave for up to one year. AT & T, however, only gave Carter one month credit for her leave. Therefore, AT & T adjusted Carter's service date for benefits and seniority to February 21, 1965.
Thus, when AT & T included the enhancement provision, Carter was treated as being 48 years old and having 29 years and 10 months of service. These numbers were frozen, and the employee could decide to use these or use their real numbers when they retired. In order to qualify for immediate pension payments under the enhancement provisions of December 1989, one must have 30 years of service or have attained the age of 50, including the additional five years, at the time the enhancement provision was enacted. Otherwise, one must wait until she is sixty five in order to obtain her pension benefits. Therefore, because Carter was given only one month credit for her pregnancy leave, she only had 29 years and 10 months of service at the requisite date. Carter was forty four years old when she was terminated, and would have started receiving pension immediately had she been credited with the pregnancy leave time. Because AT & T gave Carter only one month credit, she must now wait until she is 65 to begin receiving pension benefits.
When Carter retired she signed a release that terminated her rights to bring a lawsuit against the company. The release, however, specifically reserves the employee's rights for benefit claims under the pension plan.
The narrow question that we must decide on a motion for summary judgment is whether there exists a "genuine issue as to any material fact and whether the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law." Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(c). The Supreme Court elaborated upon the appropriate standard in deciding a motion for summary judgment as follows:
The plain language of Rule 56(c) mandates the entry of summary judgment, after adequate time for discovery and upon motion, against a party who fails to make a showing sufficient to establish the existence of an element essential to that party's case and on which that party will bear the burden of proof at trial.
Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 322, 106 S.Ct. 2548, 2549, 91 L.Ed.2d 265 (1986).
The moving party has the initial burden of showing the absence of a genuine issue of material fact as to an essential element of the non-movant's case. Id. at 321, 106 S.Ct. at 2551; Guarino v. Brookfield Township Trustees, 980 F.2d 399, 405 (6th Cir.1992). If the moving party meets this burden, then the non-moving party "must set forth specific facts showing there is a genuine issue for trial." Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(e). Celotex, 477 U.S. at 322, 106 S.Ct. at 2552; Guarino, 980 F.2d at 405. "Where the record taken as a whole could not lead a rational trier of fact to find for the non-moving party, there is no genuine issue for trial." Matsushita Elec. Indus. Co., Ltd. v. Zenith Radio Corp., 475 U.S. 574, 587, 106 S.Ct. 1348, 1356, 89 L.Ed.2d 538 (1986). The judge's function is not to weigh the evidence and determine who has presented the stronger case, but rather solely to determine whether a genuine issue exists for trial. Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 249, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 2510-11, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986). "If the evidence is merely colorable or is not significantly probative, summary judgment may be granted." Id. at 249-50, 106 S.Ct. at 2511 (internal citations omitted).
Upon termination, the Plaintiff signed a Termination Agreement and Release (hereinafter "Release") in exchange for $5,015.73. The Defendants argue that the signing of the Release prevents the Plaintiff from filing this lawsuit. However, paragraph 6 of the Release provides:
I understand that this Termination Agreement and Release in no way affects any rights I may have for benefits under the AT & T Management Pension Plan or any other applicable AT & T benefit plan.
The Plaintiff in this case has filed suit because she has been denied benefits under the AT & T Pension Plan. This is exactly the exception that was provided for in the release, and thus, the Defendant's argument lacks merit and Plaintiff has properly filed this lawsuit.
The Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978 amended Title VII to redress discrimination based upon a woman's pregnancy. See 42 U.S.C. § 2000e(k); Newport News Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Co. v. EEOC, 462 U.S. 669, 684, 103 S.Ct. 2622, 2631, 77 L.Ed.2d 89 (1983) (). The Act requires employers to treat pregnancies in the same manner as any other temporary medical disability for all employment related purposes. 42 U.S.C. § 2000e(k).1
The Defendants claim that, because the Pregnancy Discrimination Act was enacted in 1978, it does not apply to discrimination that occurred in 1967. For this proposition the Defendants cite International Brotherhood of Teamsters v. United States, 431 U.S. 324, 97 S.Ct. 1843, 52 L.Ed.2d 396 (1977), American Tobacco Co. v. Patterson, 456 U.S. 63, 102 S.Ct. 1534, 71 L.Ed.2d 748 (1982) and United Air Lines, Inc. v. Evans, 431 U.S. 553, 97 S.Ct. 1885, 52 L.Ed.2d 571 (1977). These cases are distinguishable and do not apply in the pregnancy discrimination context. Pallas v. Pacific Bell, 940 F.2d 1324, 1326 (9th Cir.1991).
In Teamsters, the Defendant's had a seniority system that on its face treated African-Americans, Hispanics and whites the same. The Supreme Court found that while the seniority system was neutral, it was administered with discriminatory intentions. Teamsters, 431 U.S. at 337, 97 S.Ct. at 1855. While the Supreme Court held that present discriminatory practices must be rectified, it found that the fact that whites held the best positions in the company, as a result of pre-Title VII discrimination, could not be remedied. Id. at 352, 97 S.Ct. at 1863 () . The Supreme Court reasoned that Title VII should not outlaw the use of existing seniority lists, thus watering down the seniority rights of existing employees "simply because their employer had engaged in discrimination prior to the passage of the act." Id. at 353, 97 S.Ct. at 1863.
In Patterson, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and African-American employees filed suit alleging the employer had a racially discriminatory seniority system. 456 U.S. at 66-7, 102 S.Ct. at 1536-37. The Supreme Court held that if the seniority system is neutral on its face, the fact that it may include "pre-Title VII" discrimination does not make it unconstitutional. Id. at 77, 102 S.Ct. at 1541. In other words, as in Teamsters, the High Court reasoned that the enactment of Title VII was not meant to demolish existing seniority systems, but rather to make sure that from the day of the act forward all systems would be applied in a race neutral manner. Id. at 75-7, 102 S.Ct. at 1541. Once again, the High Court reasoned that Title VII was not meant to punish employees who had nothing to do with the discrimination, but rather to correct the discriminatory practices of employers. Id.
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