EEOC v. Martin Industries, Inc.

• Decision Date: 05 March 1984
• Docket Number: Civ. A. No. 83-AR-5699-NW.
• Citation: 581 F. Supp. 1029
• Parties: EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY COMMISSION, Plaintiff, v. MARTIN INDUSTRIES, INC., Defendant.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Northern District of Alabama

581 F. Supp. 1029

EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY COMMISSION, Plaintiff, v. MARTIN INDUSTRIES, INC., Defendant.

Civ. A. No. 83-AR-5699-NW.

United States District Court, N.D. Alabama, Northwestern Division.

February 24, 1984.

Memorandum Opinion and Order March 5, 1984.

David L. Slate, Gen. Counsel, Michael A. Middleton, Associate Gen. Counsel, E.E. O.C., Washington, D.C., Jerome C. Rose, Regional Atty., W.L. Williams, Jr., Supervisory Trial Atty., Eugene W. Fuquay, Sr. Trial Atty., E.E.O.C., Birmingham, Ala., for plaintiff.

James P. Alexander, James Walker May, Eldridge D. Lacy, Bradley, Arant, Rose & White, Birmingham, Ala., for defendant.

MEMORANDUM OPINION

ACKER, District Judge.

By order entered on February 13, 1984, this Court conditionally granted the joint motion of the parties for a stay, and granted the parties to and including February 22, 1984, to present a settlement agreement satisfactory to the Court. No such agreement has been presented. Instead, the parties on February 22, 1984, requested another stay, which is due to be denied, and on February 23, 1984, presented a proposed consent decree which is not satisfactory to the Court. A copy of the said proposed decree is attached hereto as Exhibit "A". Not only does the proposed decree come too late but it purports to confer jurisdiction on this Court and by "agreement" to confer upon a plaintiff which has no standing to complain a standing to complain. As will hereinafter become apparent, this Court does not believe that plaintiff, Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), had the jurisdiction to investigate the charges of a violation of the Equal Pay Act as here alleged, or the authority to bring this action, and this Court is unwilling to become a party to an adjudication, including an injunction, which purports to be binding but which, in the Court's opinion, would not be binding. Therefore, the Court will proceed to consider defendant's motion for summary judgment.

On September 29, 1983, the EEOC filed this action against Martin Industries, Inc. (Martin), charging a violation of the Equal Pay Act, 29 U.S.C. § 206. Martin filed a motion for summary judgment based on EEOC v. Allstate Insurance Company, 570 F.Supp. 1224 (S.D.Miss.1983), which holds that the rationale of the Supreme Court in Immigration & Naturalization Service v. Chadha, ___ U.S. ___, 103 S.Ct. 2764, 77 L.Ed.2d 317 (1983), requires the conclusion that the entire Reorganization Act of 1977 is invalid and therefore is ineffectual in its attempt to transfer the authority to administer the Equal Pay Act from the United States Department of Labor to the EEOC. The EEOC countered with Muller Optical Company v. EEOC, 574 F.Supp. 946 (W.D.Tenn.1983), and EEOC v. City of Memphis, 581 F.Supp. 179, 33 FEP Cases 1089 (W.D.Tenn.1983), both of which reject EEOC v. Allstate. If EEOC v. Allstate is correct, the EEOC had no jurisdiction or authority, and therefore this Court cannot allow the EEOC to speak in this Court on behalf of individuals in an Equal Pay Act case.

This Court has carefully compared the reasoning employed in these three conflicting cases, has read Martin's brief, a copy of which is attached hereto as Exhibit "B", and is satisfied that Judge Barbour in EEOC v. Allstate, and Martin in the instant case, have much the better of the argument. Judge Barbour's reasoning is impeccable. If this judge were not bound by stare decisis and had his choice in the matter he would join Mr. Justice White in his dissent in Chadha, and would find nothing unconstitutional in a congressional attempt to shackle what Congress perceived to be a runaway rule-making monster. This Court sympathizes with congressional recognition that the retention of a right of legislative veto may be the only practical means of reining in the law-making bureaucracy, which is no longer truly a part of the Executive Branch (and thus theoretically under Presidential control) but rather now constitutes a Fourth Branch with its own mind and will. However, this judge recognizes his duty under stare decisis, as did Judge Barbour, and acknowledges that it gets its marching orders from the majority of the Supreme Court and not from its dissenters.

Undoubtedly this issue will not finally be resolved in the Southern District of Mississippi, nor in the Western District of Tennessee, nor in the Northern District of Alabama, but in the Supreme Court of the United States. Nevertheless, this Court is willing to take its stand with Judge Barbour unless and until the Eleventh Circuit or the Supreme Court finds a way around Chadha.

An appropriate order is being contemporaneously entered.

EXHIBIT A

CONSENT DECREE

This action was instituted by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, an agency of the United States, alleging violations of the Equal Pay Act, 29 U.S.C. § 206(d). Plaintiff and defendant, Martin Industries, Inc., (hereinafter "Martin") have stipulated to the jurisdiction of the Court for purposes of the entry of this Decree, over the respective parties and the subject matter of this action, and have waived the entry of findings of fact and conclusions of law.

Nothing herein shall be deemed, in any matter or for which purpose whatsoever, an admission of any act unlawful under the Equal Pay Act, 29 § 206(d) and 215(a)(2) or any other statute. This Decree shall not be used or introduced for any purpose whatsoever in any legal proceeding except in the instant case. Solely for the purpose of amicably resolving the disputed claims and reducing the expense of litigation to both parties, defendant joins with plaintiff in requesting this Court to adjudge as follows:

It is ORDERED, ADJUDGED, and DECREED as follows:

1. This Decree resolves all claims for back pay, liquidated damages, costs, and injunctive relief arising out of equal pay issues as between the parties to this lawsuit.

2. Defendant, its officers, agents, employees, successors, assigns and all persons in active concert or participation with it is hereby enjoined from discriminating, at its Florence headquarters, between employees on the basis of sex by paying wages to employees in such establishment at rates less than at which it pays wages to employees of the opposite sex in such establishment for equal work on jobs, the performance of which requires equal skill, effort and responsibility and which are performed under similar working conditions. However, nothing herein shall be deemed to modify or alter any of the affirmative defenses contained in the Equal Pay Act, as amended.

3. Defendant shall not discriminate or retaliate in any way against any person who or on whose behalf relief was sought or who participated in any manner in any investigation proceeding or hearing under the Equal Pay Act of 1963, as amended.

4. Within fifteen days of the entry of this Order, defendant is ordered to pay to (i) Barbara J. Smith, the sum of $951.80; (ii) to Renae H. Shannon, the sum of $1,772.66; and (iii) to Joyce Crowder, the sum of $3,275.54. Such payment shall be made subject to applicable federal and state income tax withholding. Checks, in the amounts set out less withholding, shall be tendered to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission at its Birmingham District Office, which shall disburse such checks upon the execution by each individual of a release, in a form satisfactory to defendant of all such claims arising out of the Equal Pay Act.

5. In the event plaintiff believes that a provision of this Consent Decree has been violated, it shall notify: James P. Alexander, 1400 Park Place Tower, Birmingham, Alabama 35203, (or such other person as Defendant may later designate) in writing and specify the nature of alleged non-compliance. The parties thereafter shall have a period of twenty days to attempt to resolve disputes concerning compliance. In the event the compliance dispute is not resolved, plaintiff shall have the right to seek compliance with the Court.

6. This Court shall retain jurisdiction of this action for purposes of compliance with this Decree for a period of two years. At the termination of two years, Martin, on due notice, may move for dissolution of this Decree and this Decree shall be dissolved upon a showing of substantial compliance.

DONE and ORDERED on this the ____ day of February, 1984.

EXHIBIT B

MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF SUMMARY JUDGMENT

On September 29, 1983, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission commenced this action against Martin Industries, Inc. ("Martin") to redress an alleged violation of the Equal Pay Act, 29 U.S.C. § 206. In its complaint the EEOC asserts authority to enforce the provisions of the Equal Pay Act pursuant to Sections 16(c) and 17 under FLSA, 29 U.S.C. § 216(c) and § 217, as amended by Section 1 of the Reorganization Plan No. 1 of 1978, 92 STAT. 3781. Under Reorganization Plan No. 1 of 1978, the statutory responsibility for the enforcement of the Equal Pay Act was ostensibly transferred from the Labor Department to the EEOC.

Reorganization Plan No. 1 of 1978 was enacted pursuant to the Reorganization Act of 1977, 5 U.S.C. 901, et seq., by which Congress purported to grant the President authority to restructure and reorganize the executive branch and its agencies. 5 U.S.C. §§ 901, 903. The President was authorized to present reorganization plans to Congress which either House could veto by a resolution passed by a majority vote.

Recently the Supreme Court in Immigration and Naturalization Service v. Chadha, ___ U.S. ___, 103 S.Ct. 2764, 77 L.Ed.2d 317 (1983), held that the one-House veto device used by Congress to oversee authority delegated to the Executive Branch, without having to resort to the prescribed bicameral and presentment requirements of Article One, § 7, cl. 3., was unconstitutional. Chadha was an alien whose nonimmigrant student visa had expired, and he had been ordered to show cause why he should not be deported. The Attorney General suspended the deportation and reported this...