Hawkins v. Anheuser-Busch, Inc., ANHEUSER-BUSC
| Decision Date | 10 January 1983 |
| Docket Number | Nos. 81-1153,81-1993,INC,ANHEUSER-BUSC,s. 81-1153 |
| Citation | 697 F.2d 810 |
| Parties | 30 Fair Empl.Prac.Cas. 1170, 30 Empl. Prac. Dec. P 33,281 Jacquelyn HAWKINS, Appellee, v., Appellant. Jacquelyn HAWKINS, Appellant, v., Appellee. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Eighth Circuit |
Mary Anne Sedey, Chackes & Hoare, St. Louis, Mo., for appellant/cross-appellee.
Donald L. McCullin, Wilson, Smith & McCullin, St. Louis, Mo., for appellee/cross-appellant.
Before HEANEY and ROSS, Circuit Judges, and HENLEY, Senior Circuit Judge.
Jacquelyn Hawkins, a former employee of Anheuser-Busch, Inc., commenced an action in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri, alleging that the company had refused to promote her on three separate occasions because of her sex and on one of those occasions for the additional reason that she had filed a charge of discrimination with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. The district court, 522 F.Supp. 159, found that the company had refused to promote her to one position--the position of material control analyst--because of her sex, but found that she had not been otherwise discriminated against. It awarded her back pay in the sum of $1,461, prejudgment interest in the sum of $98.55, and attorneys' fees in the sum of $4,600. Hawkins appeals. She contends that the district court erred (1) in finding in favor of the company with respect to her other discrimination claims; (2) in computing the back pay to which she is entitled; (3) in awarding inadequate attorneys' fees; and (4) in failing to award certain costs. Anheuser-Busch, Inc. filed a cross-appeal. It contends that the district court erred (1) in finding for Hawkins with respect to the material control analyst position; and (2) in awarding Hawkins attorneys' fees. We affirm the district court's judgment with respect to the discrimination claims, increase the back pay award, allow the disputed costs, and remand for the purpose of recomputing attorneys' fees.
Hawkins was initially employed by Anheuser-Busch on February 15, 1967 as a junior secretary (grade 4). Her duties were primarily clerical. In April of 1971, after a maternity leave, she was rehired as a junior secretary in the Operations Material Control Department.
In February, 1975, a Trade Returns Section was established in the Operations Material In April, 1978, Mulrooney was transferred to another department in the company. Hawkins, who had continued to be classified as accounting clerk I (grade 9), asked to be appointed to the vacant supervisor position. Her request was denied on the grounds that she lacked a college education and computer programming experience. The position was filled by Thomas Forbes, a white male with a college education and some computer programming experience. Hawkins filed a charge of discrimination with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. The Commission gave Hawkins a notice of a right to sue. She commenced an action in district court on March 21, 1979, alleging that she had been denied the promotion because of her sex.
Control Department and the position of supervisor of trade returns was created. Hawkins was classified as an accounting clerk in the new section. John T. Mulrooney was named supervisor of the department.
In early 1979, the Trade Returns Section was reorganized. Under the reorganization, the position of material control analyst (grade 14) was created. The position of accounting clerk I was retained, but the duties of the position were changed to delete many of the duties relating to forecasting, budgeting and movement orders, and to add substantial typing and filing tasks. Hawkins applied for the material control analyst position. She did not receive the job. It was given to Mark Rogan, a white male.
In June of 1979, trades returns supervisor Forbes was transferred to a new position within the company. Again, Hawkins applied for the supervisor position, and again she was denied the promotion. The job was given to Thomas Sanders, a white male with a B.S. degree in management science. On October 18, 1979, Hawkins filed a second charge with the EEOC. She contended that she had been denied the material control analyst and supervisor of trade returns positions because of her sex and in retaliation for filing the initial discrimination charge. After receiving another notice of a right to sue, Hawkins filed an amended complaint on June 9, 1980, in which she repeated the allegations of the first complaint and additionally alleged that she had been denied the material control analyst and trade returns supervisor positions because of her sex. A four day trial on the merits was commenced on September 15, 1980. The trial court found in favor of Hawkins with respect to the material control analyst position and against her with respect to the trade returns supervisor position and on her retaliation claim. Hawkins and Anheuser-Busch both appeal.
Hawkins has pursued her claim that she was discriminatorily denied the material control analyst position under a disparate treatment theory. To establish a prima facie case of sex discrimination under this theory, the plaintiff must show that (1) she belongs to a protected class, (2) she applied for a job for which she was qualified, (3) despite her qualifications, she was rejected, and (4) thereafter, the position remained open and the employer continued to seek applicants with qualifications similar to those of the plaintiff. McDonnell Douglas Corp. v. Green, 411 U.S. 792, 802, 93 S.Ct. 1817, 1824, 36 L.Ed.2d 668 (1973). The district court, applying this analysis, held that Hawkins established her prima facie case. 1
Anheuser-Busch contends that the district court erred in so holding because Hawkins was not qualified to assume the material control analyst position. Specifically, the company contends that it required applicants for the position to have two years of college with an emphasis in inventory and production control, and that Hawkins did not possess this qualification.
Hawkins does not have two years of college education. Nonetheless, the district court found that she was qualified for the material control analyst position on the basis of her previous work experience at Anheuser-Busch. It stated:
During the seven years plaintiff worked in the trade returns section, she gained experience in the inventory planning, allocation, and short-term forecasting functions assigned to the newly-created material control analyst position.
* * *
* * *
Plaintiff * * * established a prima facie case concerning her application for the position of material control analyst. * * * [She] applied and was qualified for the position of material control analyst based upon her seven years experience in trade returns. After * * * [she] was rejected for the position * * *, [Anheuser-Busch] continued to seek applications from persons with similar qualifications, e.g., trained to perform functions which had, in substantial part, previously been performed by plaintiff. (Citation omitted.)
The district court's finding that Hawkins was qualified for the material control analyst position is fully supported by the record.
First, the two year college requirement was not an absolute one. When Anheuser-Busch advertised the position in the local newspapers, it did not list any minimum education qualifications, it listed only experience requirements.
Second, the company interviewed Hawkins notwithstanding the alleged educational deficiency.
Third, the white male eventually hired to fill the position did not possess all the educational qualifications that the company professed to require. Although he had taken a few materials management and business courses in college, his two year associate degree was in liberal arts. The company explicitly required "two years of college with an emphasis in inventory and production control." (Emphasis added.)
Apart from the question of whether Anheuser-Busch actually established the education requirement for the material control analyst position, Hawkins plainly proved that she was "qualified" for the job. In her years with Anheuser-Busch, Hawkins performed substantially all of the duties that the company assigned to the material control analyst position. Hawkins' supervisors rated her job performance as satisfactory or better. Three supervisors testifying at trial said that she was a good employee who did her work well and who possessed good communications skills. Although some Anheuser-Busch witnesses raised a few "nitpicking" criticisms regarding Hawkins' performance, the district court plainly did not err in rejecting them and concluding that her past experience with the company qualified her for the material control analyst job.
Anheuser-Busch alternatively contends that Hawkins failed to establish her prima facie case because she failed to prove that the position was offered to a less qualified male, and because in fact it hired a better qualified candidate, Mark Rogan. The defendant's argument is misplaced. The plaintiff need not prove her relative qualifications to meet her prima facie burden. Aikens v. United States Postal Service Board of Governors, 665 F.2d 1057, 1059 (D.C.Cir.1981), cert. granted, --- U.S. ----, 102 S.Ct. 1707, 72 L.Ed.2d 132 (1982); Lynn v. Regents of the University of California, 656 F.2d 1337, 1342-1345 (9th Cir.1981), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 103 S.Ct. 53, 74 L.Ed.2d 59 (1982). Contra Holder v. Old Ben Coal Co., 618 F.2d 1198, 1201-1202 (7th Cir.1980).
To require such proof of relative qualifications at the prima facie stage of a case would undermine the McDonnell Douglas Accordingly, the defendant's claim that it rejected Hawkins because Rogan was more qualified must be treated as a nondiscriminatory reason for its action that it articulated in response to the...
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