Hodgson v. GEORGE W. HUBBARD HOSP. OF MEHARRY MED. COL., Civ. A. No. 5334.
| Decision Date | 12 October 1971 |
| Docket Number | Civ. A. No. 5334. |
| Citation | 351 F. Supp. 1295 |
| Parties | James D. HODGSON, Secretary of Labor, United States Department of Labor v. GEORGE W. HUBBARD HOSPITAL OF MEHARRY MEDICAL COLLEGE, INC., a corporation. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Middle District of Tennessee |
Edward D. Friedman, Acting Sol., Marvin M. Tincher, Regional Atty., Marne S. Matherne, Atty., U. S. Dept. of Labor, Nashville, Tenn., for plaintiff.
Joseph Martin, Jr., Nashville, Tenn., for defendant.
The complaint was filed by the Secretary of Labor against the defendant, George W. Hubbard Hospital of Meharry Medical College, Inc., seeking to enjoin said defendant from alleged violations of § 6(d) and § 15(a)(2) of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, as amended, 29 U.S.C. § 201 et seq., and such other and further relief as may be necessary and appropriate, including the restraint of any withholding of wages found to be due to employees under the Act.
Jurisdiction is conferred in this Court by § 17 of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, as amended, 29 U.S.C. § 217.
The averred violations deal with the allegedly discriminatory payment of salaries to nurse aides (females) and nurse attendants (males) which is prohibited by the equal pay provisions of the Equal Pay Amendment to the Fair Labor Standards Act. The defense as profferred by the defendant is that the nurse attendants (male) perform additional tasks which (1) require extra effort, (2) consume a significant amount of time, and (3) are of an economic value commensurate with the pay differential.
The stipulated facts are as follows:
(1) George W. Hubbard Hospital (hereinafter called Hubbard Hospital or Hospital) is owned and operated by, and as a division of, Meharry Medical College. Hubbard Hospital has an annual gross volume of sales or business done of approximately $3,000,000. The hospital is located at 1005 18th Avenue, North, in Nashville, and has been in operation at this location since 1931. It is a full service hospital, open to the general public, and normally has approximately 200 patients. The hospital generally employs some 450 employees, and operates on three shifts: 7 a. m. until 3 p. m., 3 p. m. until 11 p. m., and 11 p. m. until 7 a. m.
Hubbard Hospital generally employs some 50 to 60 female "nurse aides" and some 20 to 25 male "nurse attendants." Prior training or experience is not a prerequisite to employment and the starting pay within each classification is the same regardless of prior training or experience. At the beginning of employment both nurse aides and nurse attendants are given three to six weeks of on-the-job training and orientation. The training for the aides and attendants is essentially the same.
(2) Nurse aides and nurse attendants work on all three shifts. The routine patient care is essentially the same on all three shifts. The normal workweek for these employees consists of five 8-hour shifts or a total of 40 hours a week. With the exception of Obstetrics-Gynecology, the various nursing service areas throughout the hospital contain both male and female patients. There are no male attendants assigned to pediatrics, cardiology, female surgery, or obstetrics; both male and female aides are assigned to male surgery, private surgery, recovery room, emergency room, and internal medicine; and they are indiscriminately assigned to care for patients of the opposite sex. The pay of the employees within each classification, basically, does not vary because of the shift or nursing service departments to which they are assigned.
(3) The female nurse aides and male nurse attendants are assigned to and do perform essentially the same routine patient care, examples of which are as follows: give bed baths, back care, and change linen and make beds; give and assist with personal hygiene; feed patients and provide ice and drinking water; provide care for incontinent patients; take and record vital signs (temperature, pulse, respiration, weight and blood pressure); provide and remove bedpans and urinals; answer patients' signal lights; assist patients in and out of bed; perform simple treatments; collect specimens; measure intake and output; report on and off duty to nurse in charge and hear patient reports; participate in in-service educational programs; give enemas and perform urine-sugar tests; shave patients; wheel and walk patients; and dress or help dress patients.
(4) The work of the employees within the classifications in question has been substantially the same throughout the period since February 1, 1967.
(5) The work of the female nurse aides and male nurse attendants is substantially equal in terms of skill and responsibility. The jobs are performed within the same establishment and under similar working conditions. The performance evaluation records maintained by defendant with respect to the female nurse aides and the male nurse attendants show that overall the performance rating of the employees is substantially equal.
(6) During the period pertinent to this case the weekly starting rates for 40-hour workweeks for the men and women in question have been as follows:
Female Nurse Male Nurse
Period Covered Aides Attendants
2-1-67 to 2-1-68 $ 40 $ 46
2-1-68 to 6-30-68 46 51
7-1-68 to 2-1-69 49 54
2-1-69 to 6-30-69 52 58
7-1-69 to 2-1-70 58 80
2-1-70 to 6-30-70 58 80
7-1-70 to Present 64 80
During the period since 1968, the wage rate differential between the male and female employees in question has averaged 30 cents an hour.
(7) The defendant does not contend that the wage rate differentials are based on a merit system, a seniority system or on a system which measures earnings on the basis of quality or quanity of production.
(8) If the Court finds that the work of all the nurse aides and nurse attendants is substantially equal within the meaning of the Act, then $68,949 is owed to 115 female nurse aides for the period January 1, 1968, to January 1, 1971.
(9) Hubbard Hospital was first investigated by the Department of Labor in April, 1967, again in August, 1968, and finally in February, 1971. The Department in its first, and in subsequent...
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