Eastland v. Tennessee Valley Authority, 75-1855

Citation553 F.2d 364
Decision Date28 February 1977
Docket NumberNo. 75-1855,75-1855
Parties14 Fair Empl.Prac.Cas. 787, 15 Fair Empl.Prac.Cas. 1115, 13 Empl. Prac. Dec. P 11,545, 14 Empl. Prac. Dec. P 7617 Frank L. EASTLAND, Individually and on behalf of all others similarly situated, et al., Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. TENNESSEE VALLEY AUTHORITY et al., Defendants-Appellees.
CourtUnited States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (5th Circuit)

Joel L. Selig, Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, Richard T. Seymour, Washington, D. C., Susan W. Reeves, U. W. Clemon, Birmingham, Ala., for plaintiffs-appellants.

Herbert S. Sanger, Jr., Gen. Counsel; Justin M. Schwamm, Asst. Gen. Counsel; Charles W. Van Beke, Assistant Gen. Counsel; James E. Fox, Atty., Division of Law, Knoxville, Tenn., for Tenn. Valley Authority.

Bernard E. Bernstein, Knoxville, Tenn., for Salary Policy Employee Panel.

George C. Longshore, Birmingham, Ala., for Tenn. Valley Trades, and others.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Alabama.

Before THORNBERRY, SIMPSON and MORGAN, Circuit Judges.

THORNBERRY, Circuit Judge:

The original complaint in this case was filed on May 21, 1973, by Frank L. Eastland under § 717 of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as amended by § 11 of the Equal Employment Opportunity Act of 1972, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-16, the Civil Rights Act of 1866, 42 U.S.C. § 1981, and the Fifth Amendment of the United States Constitution. In addition to allegations of discrimination against him in his individual capacity, Eastland's complaint requested relief on behalf of ". . . all past, present, and future black employees and applicants for employment in TVA's Muscle Shoals, Alabama area operations and facilities, and all black persons who would apply or would have applied for employment in said operations but for the defendant's racially discriminatory recruitment and employment practice or reputation therefor." District Court Record at 2. The original complaint requested broad injunctive relief and monetary compensation for black employees and applicants. On October 13, 1973, an amended complaint was filed that added eleven named plaintiffs 1 and two additional defendants. 2 In its amended findings of fact and conclusions of law entered on December 31, 1974, the United States District Court for the Northern District of Alabama (1) granted summary judgment against all of the named plaintiffs except Eastland and Sheffield; (2) held that review of the claim presented by Eastland and Sheffield would be limited to the administrative record; and (3) held that a class action could not be maintained because class actions are unavailable where the scope of review is limited to the administrative record and because the class claims were not presented at the administrative level. Certification under 28 U.S.C. § 1292(b) was granted on June 5, 1975 on all questions of law and fact involved in the case except those related to the individual claims of appellant Eastland.

The following questions are before this court: (1) whether the district court properly granted summary judgment against all named plaintiffs except Eastland and Sheffield for failure to exhaust their administrative remedies under § 717 of the Civil Rights Act of 1964; (2) whether appellants may maintain an action alleging employment discrimination under 42 U.S.C. § 1981 in addition to their claim based on Title VII; (3) whether the district court erred in granting summary judgment against appellant Sheffield on the basis of his administrative record; (4) whether appellants were entitled to de novo review of their Title VII claims; and (5) whether appellants should be allowed to maintain a class action.

I.

As previously mentioned, twelve persons were named as plaintiffs in appellants' amended complaint. The district court held that appellants Eastland and Sheffield had exhausted their administrative remedies and were properly before the court. Summary judgment was granted against the ten remaining plaintiffs-appellants for failure to exhaust administrative remedies, failure to file suit within the thirty-day time period for filing suits after notice of final action on their federal employment discrimination complaints, and because § 717 of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 is not retroactive. In order to facilitate discussion, appellants will be divided into groups according to the time when they brought their original administrative complaints.

Appellants Nash, Ricks, and Littleton all filed their claims and either received final agency determination or abandoned the administrative process prior to the time that the 1972 Amendments to the Civil Rights Act of 1964 became effective. 3 Although these appellants concede that they do not have independent standing to maintain an action under § 717, they contend that they are still proper plaintiffs in this lawsuit, because of their status as unnamed members of the class alleged in the original and amended complaints. The district court, however, granted summary judgment against these plaintiffs because their claims were determined before the 1972 Amendments became effective. 4

We agree with the district court's determination that the 1972 Amendments should not be applied to plaintiffs who did not have administrative claims pending at the time that the 1972 Amendments became effective. While the Supreme Court has indicated in a footnote that the 1972 Amendments may be retroactively applied to employees who had administrative complaints pending at the time the Amendments became effective, 5 there is no authority for the proposition that federal employees who have received a final determination or have abandoned their administrative claim prior to March 24, 1972 are entitled to the same treatment. We hold that appellants Ricks, Nash, and Littleton had no substantive rights under the 1972 Amendments to Title VII since they did not have administrative claims pending on March 24, 1972, and that the district court did not err in granting summary judgment against them.

The second group of named plaintiffs that the district court granted summary judgment against is composed of appellants Vinson, Oates, Cohen, Fuqua, and Puryear. These appellants filed a joint claim with TVA on June 18-20, 1971. An adverse ruling was rendered on August 1, 1972. Their appeal to the United States Civil Service Commission Board of Appeals and Review was resolved against them on December 19, 1972. These five persons were named as plaintiffs in the amended complaint, which was filed on October 19, 1973, approximately ten months after the Civil Service Commission Board of Appeals and Review rendered its final decision. The district court granted summary judgment against this group of plaintiffs because their complaint was not filed within thirty days of the final decision of the Civil Service Commission Board of Appeals and Review, 6 and on the ground that the 1972 Amendments should not be retroactively applied to claims pending on the effective date. 7

As previously discussed, we feel that § 717 is applicable to administrative claims pending on March 24, 1972, the date that the 1972 Amendments to Title VII became effective. Since appellants Vinson, Oates, Cohen, Fuqua, and Puryear had an administrative claim outstanding on the effective date, we hold that they had the right to file a civil action in federal court for a period of thirty days after the Civil Service Commission notified them of its final action on their claim. Unfortunately for this group of appellants, they failed to file their complaint in the district court within the thirty-day period. Indeed, it is undisputed that appellants' amended complaint was not filed until approximately ten months after the Civil Service Commission's final decision was rendered. In addition, the Civil Service Commission's final decision failed to notify them of their right to bring suit in federal district court. The question that must therefore be resolved is whether the thirty-day period for filing suit in district court provided by 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-16(c) should be measured from the time that notice of the Commission's final decision is received, or from the time that notice of the right to file a civil action is received by the employee.

Appellants contend that the notice sent to them by the Civil Service Commission was defective under the Commission's own regulations, which require that complainants who have a right to sue be notified of that right in connection with any final decision. 5 C.F.R. §§ 713.234, 713.282. 8 Appellants believe that their rights were timely invoked by plaintiff Eastland when he filed the original class action complaint within thirty days of the Civil Service Commission's decision in his case. Unfortunately, the resolution of this issue is not as simple as appellants Vinson, Oates, Cohen, Fuqua, and Puryear contend.

The Third Circuit and the District of Columbia Circuit have determined that the thirty-day limitation period does not run where the notice sent to the complainant failed to advise him of the limitation period. Allen v. United States, 542 F.2d 176 (3 Cir. 1976); Coles v. Penny, 531 F.2d 609 (D.C.Cir. 1976). But because we find the thirty-day limit to be jurisdictional, in accordance with the legislative history of the 1972 Amendments to Title VII and with private sector cases, we part company with those circuits and hold that these appellants' actions are barred.

In presenting to the Senate the 1972 Amendments to Title VII, Senators Williams and Javits stated:

In any area where the new law does not address itself, or in any areas where a specific contrary intention is not indicated, it was assumed that the present case law as developed would continue to govern the applicability and construction of Title VII.

118 Cong.Rec. S 7166 (daily ed. March 6, 1972). This policy was reflected in Parks v. Dunlop, 517 F.2d 785, 787 (5...

To continue reading

Request your trial
54 cases
  • Thompson v. Boyle
    • United States
    • U.S. District Court — District of Columbia
    • 8 Julio 1980
    ... ... denied, 436 U.S. 904, 98 S.Ct. 2234, 56 L.Ed.2d 402 (1978); Eastland v. Tennessee Valley Authority, 553 F.2d 364, 367 (5th Cir.), cert ... ...
  • Wagner v. Taylor
    • United States
    • U.S. Court of Appeals — District of Columbia Circuit
    • 24 Diciembre 1987
    ... ... that he has been unfairly rated; 10 and that his supervisory authority has been undermined. 11 Wagner has also charged more broadly that he ... 300, 307-310, 627 F.2d 353, 360-363 (1980); Eastland v. Tennessee Valley Auth., 553 F.2d 364, 372 (5th Cir.1977), cert. denied, ... ...
  • Barlow v. Marion Cty. Hospital Dist., 80-15-Civ-Oc.
    • United States
    • U.S. District Court — Middle District of Florida
    • 29 Julio 1980
    ... ... General was given supervision over the Hill-Burton Act, with authority to approve state plans for its implementation. This responsibility later ... Eastland v. Tennessee Valley Authority, 553 F.2d 364, 372 (5th Cir. 1977) citing ... ...
  • McIntosh v. Weinberger
    • United States
    • U.S. Court of Appeals — Eighth Circuit
    • 9 Abril 1987
    ... ... The basic authority of OPM is found in 5 U.S.C. Secs. 1101 et seq. OPM issues ... See, e.g., Eastland v. Tennessee Valley Authority, 553 F.2d 364 (5th Cir.), cert. denied, 434 ... ...
  • Request a trial to view additional results

VLEX uses login cookies to provide you with a better browsing experience. If you click on 'Accept' or continue browsing this site we consider that you accept our cookie policy. ACCEPT