Flora v. Moore

• Court: U.S. District Court — Northern District of Mississippi
• Writing for the Court: E. Grady Jolly and Judith J. Johnson, Jackson, Miss., for defendants
• Citation: Flora v. Moore, 461 F.Supp. 1104 (N.D. Miss. 1978)
• Decision Date: 08 December 1978
• Docket Number: No. WC 77-29-K.,WC 77-29-K.
• Parties: Catherine FLORA, Dorothy Westmoreland, Dorothy Copeland, Leola Gladney, and Mary Herrod, on their own behalf and on behalf of all others similarly situated, Plaintiffs, v. Jimmy MOORE, Individually and as Administrator of Calhoun County Hospital, Glennie Harrellson, Individually and as Executive Housekeeper of Calhoun County Hospital, Johnnie Baker, Individually and as Director of Nursing Service of Calhoun County Hospital, and the Calhoun County Hospital, their agents, employees, successors and assigns, Defendants.

461 F. Supp. 1104

Catherine FLORA, Dorothy Westmoreland, Dorothy Copeland, Leola Gladney, and Mary Herrod, on their own behalf and on behalf of all others similarly situated, Plaintiffs, v. Jimmy MOORE, Individually and as Administrator of Calhoun County Hospital, Glennie Harrellson, Individually and as Executive Housekeeper of Calhoun County Hospital, Johnnie Baker, Individually and as Director of Nursing Service of Calhoun County Hospital, and the Calhoun County Hospital, their agents, employees, successors and assigns, Defendants.

No. WC 77-29-K.

United States District Court, N. D. Mississippi, W. D.

December 8, 1978.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

Alvin O. Chambliss, Jr., Oxford, Miss., for plaintiffs.

E. Grady Jolly and Judith J. Johnson, Jackson, Miss., for defendants.

MEMORANDUM OF DECISION

KEADY, Chief Judge.

On March 25, 1977, plaintiffs Catherine Flora, Dorothy Westmoreland, Dorothy Copeland, Leola Gladney and Mary Herrod instituted this employment discrimination suit against defendants Calhoun County Hospital, Jimmy Moore, individually and as Hospital Administrator, Glennie Harrellson, individually and as Executive Hospital Housekeeper, and Johnnie Baker, individually and as Director of Hospital Nursing Service, seeking redress on account of racial discrimination practiced by the defendants toward the named plaintiffs and all members of a purported plaintiff class consisting of black and female persons who were formerly, are presently, or might in the future be employed by the Calhoun County Hospital. Federal jurisdiction was principally invoked under 28 U.S.C. § 1343 for causes of action arising under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 as amended, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e et seq., 42 U.S.C. §§ 1981, 1983 and 1988; Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. § 2000d. Other statutes and authority relied upon by plaintiffs include Titles VII and VIII, 42 U.S.C. § 292 et seq., § 296 et seq., of the Public Health Service Act of 1944 as amended; Executive Order 11246 as amended, 3 C.F.R. 339 et seq.; 29 U.S.C. § 206(d) of the Fair Labor Standards Act; and 29 U.S.C. § 794, § 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as well as the thirteenth and fourteenth amendments. The defendants, by joint answer, denied all charges of racial and sex discrimination alleged in the complaint and also challenged that the case was maintainable as a class action.

On March 16, 1978, the court reviewed the sufficiency of the proceedings by the named plaintiffs and their counsel, or lack of affirmative steps to prosecute a Rule 23 action, to ascertain if the suit qualified as a class action and concluded that the named plaintiffs had failed to prosecute the interests of the putative class and were, therefore, inadequate class representatives for the reason detailed in a Memorandum Order. Flora v. Moore, 78 F.R.D. 358 (N.D. Miss.1978).¹

After protracted discovery, a pretrial conference was conducted by the United States Magistrate on July 14, 1978, when various stipulations of fact were made. A five-day evidentiary hearing before the court commenced October 18, with oral and documentary evidence adduced by both sides. Notwithstanding the court's previous order that the action was only on behalf of the individual claims of the five named plaintiffs, counsel for plaintiffs sought to offer evidence in support of class action allegations, much of which was excluded as not germane to the issues raised in the present litigation. The court, having called for memorandum briefs and having maturely considered the case, now proceeds to make findings of fact and conclusions of law as required by Rule 52, F.R.Civ.P.

I. FINDINGS OF FACT

(a) Background facts.

Calhoun County Hospital, a 50-bed facility, is located in the Town of Pittsboro in Calhoun County, Mississippi. It was originally built and owned by the late Dr. O. B. Crocker and was operated as his private institution at all times relevant to this action. Following the death of Dr. Crocker, the hospital facility was, in October 1977, purchased by the Town of Pittsboro; thereafter it has been operated as a public hospital under a long-term management contract made with an organization known as Medenco, Inc. The hospital has been renamed the Calhoun County Medical Facility. At all relevant times both prior to and since it has become a public hospital, the facility has received financial assistance under the Medicare and Medicaid programs. Approximately 55% of the patient load is Medicare-eligible, while 11% of the patients are on Medicaid. During Dr. Crocker's lifetime, he and two other physicians constituted the hospital's medical staff. On February 17, 1972, Jimmy Moore was employed by Dr. Crocker as the hospital administrator; he served in that capacity until the hospital passed into public ownership. Ms. Johnnie Baker, a registered nurse, was and still is the superintendent or director of the nursing staff, consisting of nurses, nurses' aides and orderlies, who work in three eight-hour shifts; the size of the nursing staff varied at times but at trial consisted of 41 persons, including the nurse director. Ms. Glennie Harrellson, wife of Arlis Harrellson, Dr. Crocker's nephew, was at all relevant times employed as supervisor of the cleaning staff, having under her direction all maids and porters employed by the hospital. Arlis Harrellson was also employed by Dr. Crocker as purchasing agent, but he had no supervisory authority over any employees.² In charge of hospital food services was Ms. Nettie B. Crocker, a sister-in-law of Dr. Crocker; working under her direction was Ms. Hazel Snellings, another Crocker relative, who served as kitchen supervisor. Ms. Snellings directed the work of all hospital cooks employed on different shifts.

(b) Individual claims of four named plaintiffs formerly employed as maids.

Dorothy Westmoreland, Dorothy Copeland, Leola Gladney and Mary Herrod had each applied for and accepted positions as maids at the hospital, Ms. Copeland being hired in 1956, Ms. Herrod in December 1972, Ms. Gladney in September 1973, and Ms. Westmoreland in August 1975. None of the plaintiffs ever requested a promotion, and during their entire terms of employment served as hospital maids and in August 1977, which was prior to Dr. Crocker's death, worked under the directions of Ms. Harrellson. These four plaintiffs, together with three other black maids and two porters, one black and one white, constituted the hospital's cleaning crew. They had been traditionally assigned the duty of cleaning the patient rooms, baths, waiting rooms, halls, administrative rooms and all areas except the operating suite, including the delivery room. The cleaning force was divided into two shifts, one called the day shift which worked from 7 a. m. to 3 p. m., the other the night shift working from 3 to 11 p. m. No maids or porters were on duty from 11 p. m. to 7 a. m.; any cleanup work during that period of time (other than the operating suite and the delivery room) was handled by the morning shift which came on duty at 7 a. m. The operating suite, including the delivery room, had always been cleaned by the nurses, nurses' aides and orderlies on their respective shifts.

(c) The genesis of the dispute regarding the plaintiff maids.

During the month of July, a decision was jointly made by the medical staff, Ms. Baker as director of nursing services, and Administrator Moore to train the maids and porters to clean the delivery room and to assign that duty to the night shift of the maids and porters so that each maid, and a porter on occasions, would have that task to perform once a week. The reason which defendants ascribed for this decision was the shortage confronting the hospital in its staff of nurses, nurses' aides and orderlies. The 3 to 11 p. m. nurses' shift was deployed as follows: when a delivery occurred, one nurse was required to attend the mother, another was required to attend the baby, at least one, if not two nurses, was needed to man the emergency room, and two nurses were required to be at the nursing stations with a nurse supervisor in charge. Emergency surgical cases necessitated surgical nurses to assist the surgeon. Included in the nursing staff were two blacks, Ms. Grace Stevens, a surgical nurse's aide, and Zeddie Brownlee, a surgical orderly. Prior to this decision for the delivery room to be cleaned by the maids, or porter, on night duty, the nursing staff on the 3 to 11 p. m. shift, which frequently included whites as well as blacks, had routinely cleaned the delivery room, together with all areas of the operating suite. The decision, however, was that although maids or porters should not be allowed to enter the operating suite, they were capable of being trained to proficiently clean the delivery room; and, to that extent, they could relieve the overburdened nursing staff during the night shift. Ms. Harrellson was directed by Ms. Baker to notify the maids and porters of this added responsibility and to advise they would be trained to properly clean the delivery room. It was reliably estimated that cleaning the delivery room was an assignment requiring approximately 30 minutes, but that cleaning of the delivery room would not be required every night since it was not used that often. By undisputed proof, only 66 babies were born during the whole of the calendar year 1976, and after August 17 of that year — the date on which plaintiff maids ceased to work for the hospital — only 7 babies were born during the 3 to 11 shift for the remainder of the calendar year, or through December 31, 1976.

(d) Controversy with plaintiff maids.

Ms. Harrellson was directed to notify all maids and the two porters of their new responsibility when on the night shift and to arrange for their training. When Ms. Harrellson mentioned this subject to the maids, some, including the plaintiffs, complained that they could not do the work unless they were relieved of other duties. In any...