Graves v. Women's Professional Rodeo Ass'n, Inc.

• Decision Date: 14 March 1989
• Docket Number: Civ. No. 88-2092.
• Citation: 708 F. Supp. 233
• Parties: Lance GRAVES, Plaintiff, v. WOMEN'S PROFESSIONAL RODEO ASSOCIATION, INC., Defendant.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Western District of Arkansas

708 F. Supp. 233

Lance GRAVES, Plaintiff, v. WOMEN'S PROFESSIONAL RODEO ASSOCIATION, INC., Defendant.

Civ. No. 88-2092.

United States District Court, W.D. Arkansas, Fayetteville Division.

March 14, 1989.

Debra Armstrong-Wright, Pryor, Barry, Smith & Karber, Fort Smith, Ark., for plaintiff.

Richard L. Spearman, Thompson, Paddock & Llewellyn, Fort Smith, Ark., for defendant.

MEMORANDUM OPINION

H. FRANKLIN WATERS, Chief Judge.

This is a case in which the plaintiff, Lance Graves, claims that the defendant, the Women's Professional Rodeo Association, Inc. (WPRA), discriminated against him by reason of his sex. The case is brought pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-5, 42 U.S.C. § 1985(3), and Article II, Sections 2 and 3 of the Arkansas Constitution. The court has jurisdiction of the matter by reason of the provisions of 28 U.S.C. § 1343.

Facts

The facts underlying the cause of action are essentially undisputed. The plaintiff is a 19-year-old male who has engaged in barrel racing for a number of years. The WPRA is a nonprofit association which organizes female rodeo contestants and sanctions rodeo events. Membership in the association is limited to women. Women's Professional Rodeo Association, 1988 Official Rule Book, By-Laws, 1.1.1. The by-laws are comprehensive and cover inter alia, membership participation in rodeo events, disciplinary procedures, and procedures for the rodeos.

The WPRA sanctions approximately 650 rodeo barrel races each year. The members choose the rodeos in which they wish to compete. In fact, the WPRA has no requirements about which rodeos the members compete in, or how few or many they enter. The WPRA does not pay any of the expenses incurred by a competing member. The only income received by a contestant is the amount of prize money she wins. Each year a member becomes the World Champion Barrel Racers. The champion is determined according to the cumulative amount of money won during the calendar year at any WPRA approved contest. By-Laws, 14.1.1-14.1.2.

The plaintiff alleges he has been denied membership to the WPRA because of his sex. He contends that the denial of membership on the basis of sex is prohibited by Title VII. Plaintiff contends that WPRA, by denying him membership, has deprived him of the opportunity to earn a living in his chosen field, i.e. professional rodeo barrel racing.

The case is before the court on defendant's motion for summary judgment. In its motion the defendant contends it is not an employer within the meaning of Title VII. Next, defendant asserts that actions relating to employment discrimination cannot be maintained under 42 U.S.C. § 1985(3) citing Great American Federal Sav. & Loan Assoc. v. Novotny, 442 U.S. 366, 99 S.Ct. 2345, 60 L.Ed.2d 957 (1979). Finally, defendant requests dismissal of the pendent state law claims.

Discussion

Title VII was enacted to deal "with the essential unfairness of employment discrimination." Spirt v. Teachers Ins. & Annuity Ass'n, 691 F.2d 1054, 1060 (2d Cir. 1982), vacated, 463 U.S. 1223, 103 S.Ct. 3566, 77 L.Ed.2d 1406 (1983). Section 2000e-2(a) makes it unlawful for an employer to engage in employment discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex or national origin. 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-2(a). The existence of an employer-employee relationship is essential to a Title VII cause of action. This relationship is applicable in two separate contexts. First, Title VII by its terms applies only to "employers," "employment agencies," and "labor organizations." 42 U.S.C. § 2000e(b)-(d). The term "employer" is defined as follows:

The term "employer" means a person engaged in an industry affecting commerce who has fifteen or more employees for each working day in each of twenty or more calendar weeks in the current or preceding calendar years and any agent of such a person....

42 U.S.C. § 2000e(b).

Under Title VII "employee" is defined simply as an individual employed by an employer, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e(f). The determination of who is an employee "under Title VII is a question of federal law and is to be ascertained through consideration of the statutory language and legislative history of the act." Armbruster v. Quinn, 711 F.2d 1332, 1339 (6th Cir.1983); Calderon v. Martin County, 639 F.2d 271, 272-73 (5th Cir.1981). Thus, Title VII is inapplicable unless the defendant has the requisite number of qualified employees for Title VII coverage.

Second, once an employer is covered by the act, Title VII protection extends to any aggrieved individual without regard to the existence of a traditional employment relationship. See 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-2(a)(1). This concept is considerably broader than the first and extends Title VII remedies to potential applicants as well as former employees. Title VII prohibits a covered employer from exploiting "circumstances peculiarly affording it the capability of discriminatorily interfering with an individual's employment opportunities with another employer, while it could not do so with respect to employment in its own service...." Sibley Memorial Hospital v. Wilson, 488 F.2d 1338, 1341 (D.C.Cir.1973). Thus, it is important to emphasize that "there must be a relationship of some kind, actual or potential, with some employer, since the discrimination forbidden relates to the field of employment." Larson, Employment Discrimination § 5.21 at 2-9 (1988). This concept focuses on the relationship necessary to maintain a Title VII action.

In the case at bar, defendant asserts it is not an "employer" within the meaning of Title VII. In fact, defendant asserts that for the years 1987 and 1988, the WPRA had only two employees who could be counted for Title VII jurisdictional purposes. Plaintiff does not appear to dispute the number of traditional employees of the WPRA but instead argues that the association's members should be deemed employees. Plaintiff states although the relationship of the WPRA and its members is not the typical or normal employer/employee relationship, nevertheless, the WPRA exercises such pervasive control over the means and manner of work of its members that it falls within the purview of Title VII.

In this instance, plaintiff relies on the same "relationship" in both contexts discussed, supra, i.e. the relationship of the members to the association is relied on to meet both the jurisdictional number of employees test and to form the employment-type relationship between the claimant and the employer. It has been frequently noted that "Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 is to be accorded a liberal construction in order to carry out the purposes of Congress to eliminate the inconvenience, unfairness and humiliation of discrimination. (citations omitted). Such liberal construction is also to be given the definition of `employer.'" Baker v. Stuart Broadcasting Co., 560 F.2d 389, 391 (8th Cir.1977) (standard to be employed in determining whether consolidation of separate entities is proper).

In light of the foregoing it is clear the inquiry as to the existence of Title VII coverage requires a two-part analysis. The claimant must first demonstrate that the defendant is a covered employer within the meaning of Title VII, thus, conferring subject matter jurisdiction on the court. After that is determined, and only if it is determined affirmatively, the claimant must demonstrate the existence of an employment-type relationship which he alleges is being unlawfully interfered with by the defendant. As previously noted, Congress has prohibited an employer "from exerting any power it may have to foreclose, on invidious grounds, access by any individual to employment opportunities otherwise available to him." Sibley Memorial Hospital v. Wilson, 488 F.2d 1338, 1341 (D.C. Cir.1973). It is the second part of the analysis that has generated a large amount of litigation. See for example Spirt v. Teachers Ins. & Annuity Assoc., 691 F.2d 1054, 1063 (2d Cir.1982); Spirides v. Reinhardt, 613 F.2d 826, 831 (D.C.Cir.1979); Sibley Memorial Hospital v. Wilson, 488 F.2d 1338 (D.C.Cir.1973); Pao v. Holy Redeemer Hospital, 547 F.Supp. 484, 494 (E.D.Pa.1982); Puntolillo v. New Hampshire Racing Commission, 375 F.Supp. 1089 (D.N.H.1974).

Plaintiff cites and relies on Spirt, Spirides, Sibley, Pao, Puntolillo, supra, for the proposition that the WPRA is an employer. However, in each of those cases it was undisputed that the defendant was a covered employer. Armbruster v. Quinn, 711 F.2d 1332 (6th Cir.1983), is on point and discusses whether manufacturer's representatives should be counted toward the jurisdictional requirement of fifteen employees.

The court in Armbruster applied the economic-realities test in determining whether the representatives were employees. In so doing, the court concluded that it was necessary to "examine the economic realities underlying the relationship between the individual and the so-called principal in an effort to determine whether that individual is likely to be susceptible to the discriminatory practices which the act was designed to eliminate." Armbruster, 711 F.2d at 1340. The court further concluded:

This principle not only applies to the coverage of the antidiscrimination provision of Title VII imposing liability on an employer and protection for the employee, but it necessarily must apply for the jurisdictional scope of the Act. To conclude that one is an employee for the purposes of the antidiscrimination provision and yet to find that he/she is not to be considered as an employee for the purpose of meeting the fifteen employee jurisdictional requirement would frustrate the very purpose of the Act.

Id.

This conclusion by the Armbruster court that the antidiscriminatory provisions and the jurisdictional provision should be treated alike ignores the different terminology of the provisions. The jurisdictional provision requires an employer to have in its employ fifteen or more "employees." 42 U.S.C. § 2000e(b). Whereas, the antidiscriminatory provision refers by...