E.E.O.C. v. American Tel. & Tel. Co., AFL-CIO
| Citation | 506 F.2d 735 |
| Decision Date | 19 December 1974 |
| Docket Number | Nos. 74-1321 and 74-1323,AFL-CIO,Nos. 74-1321,Nos. 74-1322 and 74-1324,s. 74-1321 and 74-1323,s. 74-1322 and 74-1324,s. 74-1321 |
| Parties | 8 Empl. Prac. Dec. P 9854 EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY COMMISSION, James D. Hodgson and United States of America v. AMERICAN TELEPHONE AND TELEGRAPH COMPANY et al. Appeal of COMMUNICATIONS WORKERS OF AMERICA,, inAppeal of AMERICAN TELEPHONE AND TELEGRAPH COMPANY et al. into 74-1324. |
| Court | United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (3rd Circuit) |
Richard H. Markowitz, Markowitz & Kirschner, Philadelphia, Pa., for Communications Workers of America appellant in Nos. 74-1321 and 74-1323.
Thompson Powers, Steptoe & Johnson, Washington, D.C., for American Telephone and Telegraph Company and others, appellees in Nos. 74-1321 and 74-1323 and appellants in Nos. 74-1322 and 74-1324.
Richard S. Cohen, Washington, D.C., for Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, appellee.
Appeals from the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania (District Court Civil Action No. 73-149).
Before MARIS, GIBBONS and WEIS, Circuit Judges.
On January 18, 1973 the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (herein referred to as EEOC), James D. Hodgson, as the federal Secretary of Labor, and the United States of America filed a complaint in the District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania charging the American Telephone and Telegraph Company and 24 of its affiliated operating companies (herein collectively referred to as AT&T) with violation of section 15(a)(2) of the Fair Labor Standards Act (Count 1), of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 as amended (Count 2), and of Executive Order 11246 promulgated pursuant to the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Count 3). On the same day an answer was filed by AT& T. Later on the same day the district court entered a decree which was approved and consented to by the three plaintiffs and by the American Telephone and Telegraph Company 'for itself and on behalf of its associated telephone companies'. The consent decree embodied, amplified, clarified and enforced a memorandum of agreement which had been entered into on the same date between AT&T, EEOC and the United States Department of Labor under which AT&T undertook to implement the model affirmative action program, upgrading and transfer plan, and job briefs and qualifications which were attached thereto as exhibits, for the purpose of promoting equal employment opportunities to minorities and women.
On February 9, 1973 the Communications Workers of America, AFL-CIO (herein referred to as CWA) filed a motion to intervene in the action. CWA asserted that it was the recognized bargaining agent for approximately 600,000 of the non-management employees of AT&T, that it had collective bargaining agreements with all the defendant companies, except Southern New England Telephone Company, Bell Telephone Company of Pennsylvania and Diamond State Telephone Company, and that the memorandum of agreement and consent decree contradicted certain provisions of certain of CWA's collective bargaining agreements and were inconsistent with, or could be interpreted in a fashion contrary to, them. Asserting that as collective bargaining representative of the employees of AT&T, it had filed complaints against AT&T alleging violations of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and that it had never been given an opportunity to be a party to this action or to participate in the negotiations leading to the memorandum of agreement and consent decree, CWA sought to intervene as a party plaintiff in the action and to file a complaint therein under clause (1) of Rule 24(a) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure as a matter of statutory right or under paragraph (2) of that rule because the disposition of the action will, as a practical matter, impair its ability to protect its interests.
The plaintiffs opposed the intervention of CWA as a party plaintiff under Rule 24(a). Clause (1) of that rule is applicable when a statute of the United States confers an unconditional right to intervene. With respect to intervention under this clause of the rule the plaintiffs urged (1) that the Fair Labor Standards Act does not give the right to intervene in an action by the Secretary of Labor instituted pursuant to section 17 of that Act, (2) that CWA is not a person aggrieved within the meaning of section 706(f) of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 as amended and, therefore, does not have the right to intervene under that section, and (3) that CWA can have no statutory right to intervene under the regulations issued under Executive Order 11246, since that order is not a statute of the United States. Clause (2) of Rule 24(a) is applicable when the proposed intervenor claims an interest relating to the property or transaction which is the subject of the action and is so situated that the disposition of the action may as a practical matter impair or impede his ability to protect that interest. With respect to intervention under clause (2) of the rule, the plaintiffs urged that CWA has no interest relating to the property or transaction which is the subject matter of the consent decree and that even if it had such an interest the disposition of the action cannot as a practical matter impair or impede its ability to protect its interest, citing a provision of the decree that nothing therein is intended to restrict the right of AT&T and the collective bargaining representatives of their employees to negotiate alternatives to the provisions of the decree which would be in compliance with federal law.
The plaintiffs also asserted that since CWA in its proposed complaint as intervenor opposes the changes made by the consent decree in its collective bargaining agreements with AT&T it is not seeking to join the plaintiffs in claiming the relief sought by their complaint, but is in fact opposing that relief and is, therefore, in the position of a defendant rather than a plaintiff. The fact that CWA did, as it alleges, file certain actions before EEOC on behalf of women employees regarding employment practices relating to pregnancy and childbirth does not make CWA a person aggrieved with respect to the present action, say the plaintiffs, since the present complaint and consent decree do not deal with those practices. The plaintiffs conceded however, that because the consent decree and memorandum of agreement do modify some of the provisions of CWA's collective bargaining agreements with AT&T and because CWA has a legitimate interest in the questions of what the federal law and the consent decree require, it might be appropriate to permit CWA to intervene as a party defendant, and they interposed no objection to such intervention. AT&T, on the other hand, opposed CWA's application for intervention in toto.
Affidavits were submitted to the district court by CWA and by the plaintiffs and AT&T setting out the pertinent facts with respect to certain proceedings which had been prosecuted before the Federal Communications Commission by EEOC against AT&T with respect to alleged unlawful and discriminatory employment practices of AT&T with regard to women, blacks, Spanish-surnamed Americans and other minorities, and which were ultimately terminated by the memorandum of agreement between the parties of January 18, 1973 and the consent decree of the same date.
The district court held a full hearing on the application of CWA for leave to intervene. In a comprehensive and well-reasoned opinion by Judge Higginbotham, 365 F.Supp. 1105, the court described the course of the agency proceedings disclosed by the affidavits which led to the memorandum of agreement and fully discussed all the issues raised by the parties. Although holding, we think rightly, that the application for intervention was not untimely, the court concluded that CWA was not entitled under either clause of Rule 24(a) to intervene as a party plaintiff and to file a complaint in the action except with respect to maternity benefits for pregnant females as to which CWA had previously filed complaints with EEOC. Accordingly, by an order entered October 5, 1973, the court denied CWA's motion except to the extent indicated. CWA then filed an amended complaint limited to the issue of maternity benefits and a motion to reconsider the denial of its motion to intervene generally as a party plaintiff. CWA also asked the court to enter a final judgment under Rule 54(b) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. On March 12, 1974 the district court entered what was termed a final judgment under Rule 54(b) denying CWA's motion to reconsider and enlarge the scope of its intervention, and also denying a motion which AT&T had made to dismiss the amended complaint which CWA had filed pursuant to the original order of the court. From the order of October 5, 1973 and the final order on reconsideration of March 12, 1974, denying its motion to intervene generally, CWA took separate appeals (Nos. 74-1321 and 74-1323, respectively). AT&T took cross appeals from those portions of the same orders which granted CWA a limited right of intervention and denied AT&T's motion to dismiss CWA's amended complaints (Nos. 74-1322 and 74-1324, respectively).
For the reasons which will be elaborated we think that the district court did not err in denying CWA the right to intervene generally as a party plaintiff in this action. We conclude, however, that CWA should be accorded, if it so requests, the right to intervene as a party defendant to protect its interest in its collective bargaining agreements with AT&T by seeking modification by the district court of those provisions of the consent decree which affect those agreements.
We consider first the claim of CWA to intervene under clause (1) of Rule 24(a). That clause deals with the situation 'when a...
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