Gunther v. Iowa State Men's Reformatory

• Decision Date: 05 February 1980
• Docket Number: No. 79-1332,79-1332
• Citation: 612 F.2d 1079
• Parties: 21 Fair Empl.Prac.Cas. 1031, 22 Empl. Prac. Dec. P 30,564 Cynthia GUNTHER, Appellee, v. IOWA STATE MEN'S REFORMATORY and Victor Preisser, Acting Commissioner of the Iowa Department of Social Services, Appellants.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Eighth Circuit

Page 1079

612 F.2d 1079

21 Fair Empl.Prac.Cas. 1031,

22 Empl. Prac. Dec. P 30,564

Cynthia GUNTHER, Appellee, v. IOWA STATE MEN'S REFORMATORY and Victor Preisser, Acting

Commissioner of the Iowa Department of Social

Services, Appellants.

No. 79-1332.

United States Court of Appeals,

Eighth Circuit.

Submitted Nov. 6, 1979.

Decided Jan. 11, 1980.

Rehearing and Rehearing En Banc Denied Feb. 5, 1980.

Stephen C. Robinson, Special Asst. Atty. Gen., Des Moines, Iowa, for appellants; Thomas J. Miller, Atty. Gen., Des Moines, Iowa, on brief.

Gordon E. Allen, Allen, Babich & Bennett, Des Moines, Iowa, for appellee.

Before GIBSON, Chief Judge, ^* STEPHENSON and HENLEY, Circuit Judges.

STEPHENSON, Circuit Judge.

Plaintiff brought an action in federal district court ¹ alleging the Iowa State Men's Reformatory at Anamosa (Anamosa) had discriminated against her solely on the basis of sex in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e ² Et seq. The district court, in Gunther v. Iowa State Men's Reformatory, 462 F.Supp. 952 (N.D.Iowa 1979), held that employment practices which prevent women from obtaining jobs above the Correctional Officer I (CO I) level at the Men's Reformatory at Anamosa result in sex discrimination prohibited by Title VII, and the Men's State Reformatory appeals. We affirm the conclusion of the trial court.

In September 1974, plaintiff-appellee was employed by the Men's Reformatory at Anamosa as a CO I, although she satisfied the educational qualifications for the Correctional Officer II (CO II) classification. She performed some duties performed by CO II's but because of her sex did not perform all of the duties performed by male CO I's. She requested special training in riot control and self defense available to male officers and required for the CO II classification, but this was denied her. In April 1975, she applied for promotion to CO II status, which was denied her on the basis of her sex.

Plaintiff filed grievances with the Iowa Merit Employment Commission (I.M.E.C.) and the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) on May 21, 1975. Following the dictates of 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-5(c), the EEOC deferred any consideration of the case until the state I.M.E.C. considered the complaint. The I.M.E.C. ruled the plaintiff was entitled to the promotion, and the state district court upheld the ruling on appeal. In December 1977, the Iowa Supreme Court overturned the lower court and administrative ruling, finding under Iowa law that there existed a bona fide occupational qualification (bfoq) on which the state could premise the CO II classification. Iowa Department of Social Services v. Iowa Merit Employment Department, 261 N.W.2d 161 (Iowa 1977).

In October 1977, plaintiff filed a complaint in federal district court pursuant to Title VII alleging she was denied a promotion solely on the basis of her sex, and that no bfoq justified the sex discrimination. The case was submitted to the district court on cross-motions for summary judgment, to be decided on the record before the I.M.E.C. and judicial tribunals. The district court first ruled plaintiff's complaint was not barred by the res judicata or collateral estoppel effect of the Iowa Supreme Court decision. The court then concluded the prohibition of women from a CO II classification at Anamosa did not qualify as a bfoq exception ³ to Title VII's general prohibition against sex discrimination. It ordered that the plaintiff be promoted to the rank of CO II, with the qualification that Anamosa make a "functional assignment" of the plaintiff within the CO II classification to respect the inmates' privacy interests.

Appellants' first contention is that the federal lawsuit is barred by the doctrines of res judicata and collateral estoppel because of the state court adjudication. We must therefore determine whether Title VII provides plaintiffs a separate federal forum in addition to the state discrimination proceedings.

The United States Supreme Court examined the purpose and intent of Congress in enacting Title VII in Alexander v. Gardner-Denver Co., 415 U.S. 36, 94 S.Ct. 1011, 39 L.Ed.2d 147 (1974). That case involved whether a final arbitration agreement would bar a subsequent Title VII action. In holding that an individual does not forfeit a private cause of action in federal court by first pursuing her grievance to final arbitration, the Court examined the intent of Congress in enacting Title VII, and its observations are relevant here.

Title VII provides for consideration of employment-discrimination claims in several forums. See 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-5(b) (1970 ed., Supp. II) (EEOC); 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-5(c) (1970 ed., Supp. II) (state and local agencies); 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-5(f) (1970 ed., Supp. II) (federal courts).

And, in general, submission of a claim to one forum does not preclude a later submission to another. See 42 U.S.C. §§ 2000e-5(b) and (f) (1970 ed., Supp. II); McDonnell Douglas Corp. v. Green, (411 U.S. 792, 93 S.Ct. 1817, 36 L.Ed.2d 668 (1973)). Moreover, the legislative history of Title VII manifests a congressional intent to allow an individual to pursue independently his rights under both Title VII and other applicable state and federal statutes. The clear inference is that Title VII was designed to supplement, rather than supplant, existing laws and institutions relating to employment discrimination.

415 U.S. 47-49, 94 S.Ct. 1019-1020 (footnotes omitted).

Although there is some question as to whether federal courts have been given exclusive jurisdiction to hear Title VII claims, ⁴ we need not decide that question because here plaintiff could not raise her Title VII claim in the state proceedings. The state agency below was only given jurisdiction to hear the discrimination claim based on state law. Anamosa's appeal to the state district court, which affirmed the agency, was limited to the record before the agency. Anamosa's further appeal to the Iowa State Supreme Court was similarly limited by Iowa law. See Hoffman v. Iowa Department of Transportation, 257 N.W.2d 22, 24-25 (Iowa 1977).

In Batiste v. Furnco Construction Corp., 503 F.d 447 (7th Cir. 1974), Cert. denied, 420 U.S. 928, 95 S.C. 1127, 43 L.Ed.2d 399 (1975), plaintiffs brought a complaint with the Illinois Fair Employment Practice Commission, which dismissed the complaint. The plaintiffs then brought a Title VII claim in federal court. The Seventh Circuit held that no res judicata effect would be given the state proceeding.

We must agree with the ruling in Cooper v. Philip Morris, Inc., 464 F.2d 9 (6th Cir. 1972) where the court squarely rejected the application of the doctrines of election of remedies and res judicata to Title VII actions where plaintiffs had litigated their charges to final adjudication in state proceedings. There is a strong Congressional policy that plaintiffs not be deprived of their right to resort to the federal courts for adjudication of their federal claims under Title VII. * * * It is also apparent that if federal actions are barred by the application of election of remedies and res judicata, then the statutory scheme of deferral to state proceedings will be frustrated by requiring that the plaintiff, who desired to bring an action in federal court, first commence state proceedings but abandon them quickly before an adjudication is made.

* * * It has been determined that the Congressional policies embodied in Title VII require that res judicata not be applied to state adjudications. Cooper, supra; Voutsis v. Union Carbide Corporation, 452 F.2d 889 (2d Cir. 1971) and Young v. South Side Packing Company, 369 F.Supp. 59 (E.D.Wis.1973).

503 F.2d at 450. See also, Garner v. Giarrusso, 571 F.2d 1330, 1337-38 (5th Cir. 1978).

By its language Batiste applies to prior state "adjudications," although the facts in Batiste, Cooper, and Voutsis involved the res judicata effect of state administrative decisions and not appeals to state courts of those decisions. Nevertheless, we conclude the intent of Title VII and the language of Alexander v. Gardner-Denver Co., supra, indicate that in the present situation there should be a second, independent federal action even though the state agency ruling was appealed to the state courts, especially here where plaintiff did not seek the review, but was forced to defend the appeal.

Until the recent case of Sinicropi v. Nassau County, 601 F.2d 60 (2d Cir. 1979), federal courts deciding Title VII claims had consistently refused to give res judicata and collateral estoppel effect to state discrimination claims decided by state Courts. Kremer v. Chemical Construction Corp., 464 F.Supp. 468 (S.D.N.Y.1978), Reconsidered and dismissed in light of Sinicropi, 477 F.Supp. 587 (S.D.N.Y.1979); Nickel v. Highway Industries, Inc., 441 F.Supp. 477 (W.D.Wis.1977); Gilinsky v. Columbia University, 440 F.Supp. 1120 (S.D.N.Y.1977); Al-Hamdani v. State University of New York, 438 F.Supp. 299 (W.D.N.Y.1977); Beck v. Mather, 417 F.Supp. 648 (W.D.Va.1976); Benneci v. Department of Labor, 388 F.Supp. 1080 (S.D.N.Y.1975); Young v. Southside Packing Co., 369 F.Supp. 59 (E.D.Wis.1973). ⁵

In Sinicropi v. Nassau County, supra, the Second Circuit, relying on its decision in Mitchell v. National Broadcasting Co., 553 F.2d 265 (2d Cir. 1977), held that res judicata effect should be given in subsequent Title VII actions to prior state court proceedings where the plaintiff chose to submit a state agency decision to review by state courts. Mitchell had applied res judicata in similar circumstances in a federal discrimination action brought under 42 U.S.C. § 1981. In a short per curiam opinion, the court in Sinicropi saw "no reason to distinguish between section 1981 and Title VII for res judicata purposes." Sinicropi v. Nassau County, supra, 601 F.2d at 62.

Although we question the holding in Sinicropi, ⁶ we need not decide the question before that court. An examination of the factual situation in the...