Dickerson v. Deluxe Check Printers, Inc.

• Decision Date: 25 March 1983
• Docket Number: 82-1217,Nos. 82-1202,s. 82-1202
• Parties: 31 Fair Empl.Prac.Cas. 621, 31 Empl. Prac. Dec. P 33,463 Frances DICKERSON, Appellant/Cross-Appellee, v. DELUXE CHECK PRINTERS, INC., Appellee/Cross-Appellant.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Eighth Circuit

Page 276

703 F.2d 276

31 Fair Empl.Prac.Cas. 621,

31 Empl. Prac. Dec. P 33,463

Frances DICKERSON, Appellant/Cross-Appellee, v. DELUXE CHECK PRINTERS, INC., Appellee/Cross-Appellant.

Nos. 82-1202, 82-1217.

United States Court of Appeals Eighth Circuit.

Submitted Oct. 11, 1982.

Decided March 25, 1983.

Michael J. Hoare, Chackes, Hoare & Sedey, St. Louis, Mo., for appellant/cross-appellee.

Lashly, Caruthers, Baer & Hamel, P.C., John H. Lashly, Richard D. Watters, St. Louis, Mo., for appellee/cross-appellant.

Before LAY, Chief Judge, and McMILLIAN and JOHN R. GIBSON, Circuit Judges.

JOHN R. GIBSON, Circuit Judge.

Appellant Frances Dickerson was awarded $62,000 in damages by a jury and the court on her claim that Deluxe Check Printers, Inc., (Deluxe) denied her a job because of her age in violation of the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, (ADEA), 29 U.S.C. Secs. 621 et seq. She challenges the district court's summary dismissal of her motion for additional, equitable relief in the form of employment in an appropriate position with Deluxe Check Printers and various retroactive employment benefits. Deluxe Check Printers cross-appeals, arguing that Dickerson's refusal of good faith offers of employment should have terminated the accrual of back pay damages, and contending that Dickerson failed to file a written charge of discrimination with the Department of Labor as required by 29 U.S.C. Sec. 626(d). We affirm the award of damages, and remand the case to the district court to formulate an order compelling Dickerson's employment with Deluxe Check Printers, and to conduct a hearing on the additional equitable relief which Dickerson has requested.

Deluxe Check Printers, Inc., is in the business of printing and selling checks, deposit slips and related items for use by banks and their customers. Deluxe has entry level positions in both the factory and the cafeteria. Frances Dickerson, then 47 years old, applied for an entry-level job with Deluxe on May 26, 1978, and was told there were no openings. Dickerson subsequently heard that Deluxe had hired a number of younger people during the summer of 1978 and she concluded that she had not been offered a job because of her age. Dickerson called the Department of Labor on August 23, 1978, and reported her claims of discrimination. A Department employee wrote down the information given by Dickerson. On September 15, 1978, a second Department employee visited Dickerson's home to interview her. The Department employee completed an "Employee Personal Interview Statement" containing Dickerson's allegations of discrimination against Deluxe. Dickerson signed the statement and returned it to the Department of Labor employee. Subsequently, the Department began efforts to conciliate Dickerson's complaint against Deluxe as required by 29 U.S.C. Secs. 621 et seq.

Dickerson informed Deluxe that she had filed an age-discrimination claim against them with the Department of Labor and in response Deluxe set up an appointment to interview Dickerson for a job on September 26, 1978. Although this point was in dispute, Dickerson apparently informed Deluxe's representative at this interview that she was not interested in cafeteria work, in which she had no experience.

On or about October 4, 1978, a representative of Deluxe discussed with Dickerson the possibility of a job in the cafeteria. Dickerson indicated she was not interested in such a position. Subsequently on or about November 17, 1978, Dickerson heard of a "split duty" job with Deluxe. Dickerson understood that the "split duty" job consisted of five hours per day in the bindery and three hours per day in the cafeteria, and she testified that Gloria Baum of Deluxe's personnel department verified these hours. Dickerson indicated to Baum that she was interested in the job. When Dickerson formally interviewed for the job, however, she was told that the "split" in fact involved only three hours per day in the bindery and five hours per day in the cafeteria. Dickerson indicated that she was not interested in the position under these circumstances.

The Department of Labor concluded its conciliation efforts in November 1978 and notified Dickerson of her right to sue Deluxe. Dickerson then instituted the present action in district court.

Dickerson's case was tried to a jury. The jury found that Deluxe had willfully violated the ADEA, and awarded Dickerson $31,000 in actual damages. The district court ¹ thereafter awarded Dickerson an additional $31,000 in liquidated damages pursuant to 29 U.S.C. Sec. 216(b). Citing "the large damage award that the plaintiff has received and the other evidence in this case" the district court denied Dickerson's request for equitable relief without holding an additional hearing on the equitable issues.

I. Denial of Equitable Relief

Dickerson contends that the district court improperly refused to grant her the equitable relief she requested, and argues that the court should have conducted a separate hearing before ruling on her request for equitable relief. ²

To the extent possible, a district court should seek "to make persons whole for injuries suffered on account of unlawful employment discrimination," Albemarle Paper Co. v. Moody, 422 U.S. 405, 418, 95 S.Ct. 2362, 2372, 45 L.Ed.2d 280, 297 (1975), and should attempt to carry out "the ADEA's purpose of recreating the circumstances that would have existed but for the illegal discrimination." Gibson v. Mohawk Rubber Co., 695 F.2d 1093, 1097 (8th Cir.1982). Although a district court is "vested with discretion to decide whether to award equitable relief", Id. at 1100, the court may refuse equitable relief, including compelling employment of plaintiff, " 'only for reasons which, if applied generally, would not frustrate the central statutory purposes of eradicating discrimination throughout the economy and making persons whole for injuries suffered through past discrimination.' " Taylor v. Teletype Corp., 648 F.2d 1129, 1138 (8th Cir.), cert. denied 454 U.S. 969, 102 S.Ct. 515, 70 L.Ed.2d 386 (1981), quoting from Albemarle Paper Co. v. Moody, 422 U.S. at 421, 95 S.Ct. at 2373, 45 L.Ed.2d at 299. Accordingly, a district court must "carefully articulate" its rationale for refusing to compel employment of a plaintiff who has suffered discrimination. 422 U.S. at 421, 95 S.Ct. at 2373, 45 L.Ed.2d at 299, n. 14.

We conclude that the district court erred in denying Dickerson equitable relief. The court failed to articulate sufficient reasons for refusing such relief. The court did not specify "the other evidence in this case" which supported its decision. The "large damage award" is also an insufficient basis for the denial of equitable relief. The $31,000 verdict awarded by the jury compensated Dickerson only for the back wages she had been denied from July 1978 to the time of trial. The additional $31,000 awarded by the trial court constituted liquidated damages pursuant to 29 U.S.C. Sec. 216(b). As we said in Gibson v. Mohawk Rubber Co., 695 F.2d at 1102, "liquidated damages under the ADEA ... are intended to provide compensation for losses that cannot be calculated with certainty," such as loss of the use of back wages wrongfully denied. The underlying purpose of liquidated damages is to "compensate the aggrieved party for nonpecuniary losses arising out of a willful violation of the ADEA." H.Conf.Rep. No. 95-950, 95th Cong., 2d Sess. 13, reprinted in 1978 U.S.Code Cong. & Ad.News at 504, 535. As these statements indicate, liquidated damages are not intended to take the place of equitable relief.

Our review of the record does not reveal evidence which would support the district court's refusal to compel Dickerson's employment with Deluxe. "[I]n the absence of exceptional circumstances ..., the jury's verdict in favor of plaintiff on the issue of age discrimination is res judicata for the purposes of the equitable claim for reinstatement." Cleverly v. Western Electric Co., 450 F.Supp. 507, 511 (W.D.Mo.1978), aff'd 594 F.2d 638 (8th Cir.1979). Accord: Gibson v. Mohawk Rubber Co., supra. Although this case involves a request for placement in a job which appellant has been denied, rather than reinstatement to a job previously held, the same principles must be applied. The provision for equitable relief in ADEA cases is intended to effect the central statutory purpose of eradicating discrimination. Often the only way this purpose can be effected is by compelling employment.

Those cases in which courts have declined to reinstate injured plaintiffs have frequently involved high level, unique or unusually sensitive positions in defendant's organization. See, e.g.: Combes v. Griffin Television, Inc., 421 F.Supp. 841, 846 (W.D.Okl.1976) (plaintiff had formerly held the job of news anchorman with defendant television station, a position which involved a unique relationship with other employees, and the court found that "[d]iscord, tension, suspicion, antagonism and sensitivity among them would be productive of a very difficult employment environment, with the particular difficulty of being perceivable to the viewing audience"); EEOC v. Kallir, Philips, Ross, Inc., 420 F.Supp. 919, 926-27 (S.D.N.Y.1976), aff'd. mem. 559 F.2d 1203 (2d Cir.), cert. denied, 434 U.S. 920, 98 S.Ct. 395, 54 L.Ed.2d 277 (1977) (plaintiff's former job "required a close working relationship [with] top executives of defendant" and "involved frequent personal contact with defendant's clients, with plaintiff acting as defendant's representative"). There are no such barriers to employment in this case. Dickerson applied for an entry level position in Deluxe's plant, and the positions she is interested in are neither unique nor sensitive. It is in just such a case as this that compelling employment is particularly appropriate to effectuate ADEA's goal of eradicating age discrimination.

Courts have also declined to reinstate plaintiffs because of evidence of extreme animosity between pl...