E.E.O.C. v. Central Motor Lines, Inc., 75-1654

• Decision Date: 19 March 1976
• Docket Number: No. 75-1654,75-1654
• Citation: 537 F.2d 1162
• Parties: 20 Fair Empl.Prac.Cas. 1762, 11 Empl. Prac. Dec. P 10,780 EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY COMMISSION, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. CENTRAL MOTOR LINES, INC., et al., Defendants-Appellees.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Fourth Circuit

Page 1162

537 F.2d 1162

20 Fair Empl.Prac.Cas. 1762,

11 Empl. Prac. Dec. P 10,780

EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY COMMISSION, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. CENTRAL MOTOR LINES, INC., et al., Defendants-Appellees.

No. 75-1654.

United States Court of Appeals, Fourth Circuit.

Argued Dec. 4, 1975.

Decided March 19, 1976.

Ramon V. Gomez, Washington, D. C. (Abner W. Sibal, Gen. Counsel, Joseph T. Eddins, Associate Gen. Counsel, Beatrice Rosenberg, Charles L. Reischel, Lutz Alexander Prager, Washington, D. C., on brief), for appellant.

Jonathan G. Axelrod, Hugh J. Beins, W. P. Sandridge, Sr., Winston Salem, N. C. (Marvin Gittler, Asher, Greenfield, Goodstein, Pavalon & Segall, Ltd., Chicago, Ill., on brief), for appellees.

Before RUSSELL and WIDENER, Circuit Judges, and THOMSEN, ^* Senior District Judge.

THOMSEN, Senior District Judge.

EEOC appeals from a judgment order of the district court entered on March 20, 1975, terminating a civil action and removing it from the active docket of the court, but providing that otherwise the decree entered therein on December 23, 1971, shall remain in full force and effect. Appellant really seeks review of an order entered June 25, 1974, which interpreted and clarified the original decree of December 23, 1971.

Central Motor Lines (the company) is engaged in the business of local, intrastate and interstate transportation of goods, with terminals in Charlotte and Greensboro, North Carolina. The other defendants are local unions with which the company has agreements.

In August 1969 the United States, through the Attorney General, filed this action pursuant to its "pattern and practice" authority under § 707 of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-6, to correct racially discriminatory practices. After trial, the district court found that defendants discriminatorily restricted the company's driving positions to white employees, and that the provisions of the collective bargaining agreements, combined with the company's hiring practices, had the effect of perpetuating past discrimination. The court ruled that blacks assigned by the company to lower paying positions "shall be entitled to transfer to future vacancies in over-the-road driving positions on the basis of their competency and terminal or company seniority". United States v. Central Motor Lines Inc., 338 F.Supp 532, 560 (W.D.N.C. 1971).

The decree provided that notice be given to all affected class members informing them of their right to transfer to over-the-road driving positions with the company. Class members who expressed such an interest within 30 days were to be contacted by the company when vacancies occurred in over-the-road positions. The most senior class member on the basis of terminal seniority was to be offered the position, if he were able to successfully pass the company's performance test. The court did not define what would constitute a "vacancy" within the provisions of the decree. In order to insure that "equal employment opportunities are provided * * * and that all effects of past discrimination based on race or color are eliminated", the court retained jurisdiction to issue further orders in the case. The decree further provided: "The defendants or any of them, may move this Court for modification or dissolution of this Decree upon proper showing". 338 F.Supp. at 566.

On August 12, 1973, the company filed a motion for modification of the decree and for advice and instructions from the court, based upon a new collective bargaining agreement between the trucking industry and defendant locals, the effect of which was to change significantly the company's over-the-road operations on the "East Board", ¹ and would, for the first time in the company's history, result in the lay-off of 23 road drivers in Charlotte and 12 in Greensboro. The company sought advice from the district court as to whether, in the event of a vacancy in Greensboro, the driving job was to be offered to the most senior employee on lay-off status or to the most senior affected class member in Greensboro. The court declined to rule on that question at that time because the issue was not presented by any existing facts but would arise only in the future.

On April 17, 1974, the government moved the court to clarify the decree with respect to that question and to rule that only in instances where a road driver had been on lay-off status for ninety days or less, could he be recalled to his job in preference to class members with greater terminal seniority who had never been over-the-road drivers. In its response to the motion, the company requested the court to reactivate the company's prior motion because three over-the-road vacancies had arisen in Greensboro and the company had been compelled by its contract with the defendant locals to fill such positions with drivers who had been on lay-off status for 19 months. On June 25, 1974, the court ruled that the decree did not require the company to offer such positions to the affected class members when there were drivers on lay-off status, a status which was retained by laid-off drivers for a period of three years under the collective bargaining agreement.

On July 1, 1974, the government moved the court for supplemental relief consisting of a modification of the decree to allow class members then working in Greensboro to compete on the basis of terminal seniority with over-the-road drivers on lay-off status for vacant driving positions in Greensboro. On October...