Hodgson v. Sagner, Inc.

• Decision Date: 08 April 1971
• Docket Number: Civ. No. 19906.
• Citation: 326 F. Supp. 371
• Parties: James D. HODGSON, Secretary of Labor, United States Department of Labor, Plaintiff, v. SAGNER, INC., and Local Union 604, Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America, AFL-CIO, and Baltimore Regional Joint Board, Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America, AFL-CIO, Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of Maryland

326 F. Supp. 371

James D. HODGSON, Secretary of Labor, United States Department of Labor, Plaintiff, v. SAGNER, INC., and Local Union 604, Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America, AFL-CIO, and Baltimore Regional Joint Board, Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America, AFL-CIO, Defendants.

Civ. No. 19906.

United States District Court, D. Maryland.

April 8, 1971.

Louis Weiner, Deputy Solicitor, and Marshall H. Harris, Deputy Regional Solicitor, Philadelphia, Pa., for plaintiff.

Jacob Blum and Blum, Yumkas & Mailman, Baltimore, Md., for defendant Sagner, Inc.

Bernard W. Rubenstein and Edelman, Levin, Levy & Rubenstein, Baltimore, Md., for defendants Local 604 and Baltimore Regional Joint Bd., Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America, AFL-CIO.

MEMORANDUM OPINION

HARVEY, District Judge.

In this civil action, the Secretary of Labor is seeking an injunction against a clothing manufacturer and the union that represents its employees, seeking to restrain the defendants from violating the Equal Pay Act, and seeking further to restrain the withholding of certain unpaid back wages. The corporate defendant, Sagner, Inc. (the "Company"), manufactures men's clothing at its Frederick, Maryland, plant. The defendant Baltimore Regional Joint Board, Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America, AFL-CIO (the "Union") is the union which represents employees of Sagner. The other defendant Local 604, an affiliate of the Baltimore Regional Joint Board, is in effect not a separate entity, and its liability need not therefore be considered separately from that of the Joint Board.

The Secretary of Labor first contends in this action that the corporate defendant violated certain provisions of the Equal Pay Act, which was enacted by Congress in 1963 and which added certain sections to the Fair Labor Standards Act. The statutory provisions specifically involved here are codified as 29 U.S.C. § 206(d). In essence, this statute makes it unlawful for an employer to discriminate on the basis of sex as to the payment of wages and further makes it unlawful for a union to cause such discrimination.

It is claimed by the Government that for a two-year period, from March 14, 1966 to March 14, 1968, the Company paid female cutters and female markers 40 cents per hour less than male cutters and markers. Fifteen female cutters and seven female markers are involved during the period in question. The Government claims that the amount of the underpayment for the entire period comes to $29,771.36, but since $7,442.84 (or one-quarter of this amount) was paid by the Company to these female cutters and markers in 1968, the amount claimed to be due in this action is $22,328.52, plus interest.

Insofar as the defendant Union is concerned, the Government originally sought in its amended complaint merely an injunction on the grounds that the Union was jointly liable with the defendant Sagner because it caused the Company to discriminate against female employees in violation of 29 U.S.C. Section 206(d) (2). Section 206(d), after providing in sub-section (1) that no employer shall discriminate between employees on the basis of sex by paying lesser wages to one group than those paid to another group of employees of the opposite sex, provides in subsection (2) as follows:

"No labor organization, or its agents, representing employees of an employer having employees subject to any provisions of this section shall cause or attempt to cause such an employer to discriminate against an employee in violation of paragraph (1) of this sub-section."

At the trial, the Government moved under Rule 15 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure to amend its pleadings to conform to the evidence so as to include also a claim for damages against the defendant Union. After hearing argument, the Court granted the motion at the conclusion of the Government's case. Accordingly, an injunction and damages are sought as to both defendants.

The purpose of the Equal Pay Act was to correct discriminatory wage practices which Congress found had a burdensome effect on the living standards of workers and accordingly on the national economy. Under the statute, employers are required to pay equal amounts to their employees without regard to considerations of sex, so long as substantially equal work is being performed by the male and by the female employees involved. The first question before the Court then is whether during the period covered by this suit the female cutters and markers were performing work substantially equal to that being performed by the male cutters and markers.

In final argument, both the Company and the Union conceded that substantially equal work was being performed by both male and female employees involved and that the Company should have paid its female cutters and markers at the same hourly rate as it paid its male cutters and markers during the 2-year period after March 14, 1966. Indeed, the facts developed at the trial clearly show that the work done by the female cutters and markers was substantially equal to that done by the male employees similarly classified and that there was no valid reason for the differential in pay, other than the sex of the employees involved.

But this preliminary finding does not resolve the other questions presented in this case. The Company argues that it should not be held responsible for these payments due the female employees in question because the Union caused the discrimination. The Union argues, on its part, first that under the Act it cannot be compelled to pay back wages which have been withheld by the Company; and, second, that the facts here do not, in any event, establish that it caused the discrimination in question.

Taking up first the question of law raised by the Union, this Court must determine preliminarily whether, under the Act, a union which has caused a company to discriminate on the basis of sex can be held liable in damages for the payment of the wages illegally withheld. The Union here points out that the statute empowers the Court to restrain the withholding of payments found by the Court to be due employees, but argues that since a union cannot be said to withhold payments due a company's employees, the only relief that the Court can grant against a union is prospective injunctive relief. In support of its argument, the Union relies on the cases of Wirtz v. Hayes Industries, Inc., 18 W.H. Cases 590 (N.D.Ohio 1968).

After reviewing that decision and considering the arguments advanced, this Court cannot agree with the Union's position, particularly under the facts of this case. If that position were correct, a union which had caused an employer to illegally withhold wages from its employees would be subject to no more than future restraint. Its past violation of the law would go uncorrected and unpunished; it could merely be prevented from breaking the law in the future. There is no apparent reason why a union which violates Section 206(d) should be treated any differently from an employer violator. Equitably, both should be subject to the same type of decree, which in order to give full relief would necessarily include a provision requiring the payment of wages illegally withheld or caused to be withheld as well as one prohibiting any future violation of the law.

Whether or not there is an express statutory basis for the ordering of this type of relief against the Union, this Court is satisfied that within its general equitable powers, it may, if it finds a violation of Section 206(d) (2), order an offending union to repay to the Government for distribution to the employees involved the wages that the Union caused to be wrongfully withheld. In support of this proposition, I would cite the case of Mitchell v. Robert De Mario Jewelry, Inc., 361 U.S. 288, 80 S.Ct. 332, 4 L.Ed.2d 323 (1960). Any other result would not permit the enforcement of the Act by the Court in a manner consistent with the Congressional intention.

In the Hayes case, the language which is relied upon by the Union is pure dictum. The Government in the Hayes case had not sued the union and did not seek damages from the union. The Court found in connection with the third party claim being there asserted that the union had not caused the employer to establish the wage differential in question. Here, the Government relies on substantially different facts, and there is a direct claim against the Union. As to the Union, the Government argues that the Company was prepared to pay the entire amount of back wages due but that the Union bargained away the rights of the 22 employees involved in favor of some 100 other employees who were not due any back wages under the Act. Certainly, under facts such as those claimed to be present in this case, the Union, if indeed it did violate the Act, should not escape responsibility for making payment to the 22 employees involved who were denied their back wages allegedly because of union action.

In view of this Court's conclusion as to the law, the questions that remain to be resolved under the facts here, in addition to the question of prospective injunctive relief, are as follows:

1. Whether the Company alone is liable for the remaining amounts of

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