International Woodworkers of America, AFL-CIO, CLC v. Chesapeake Bay Plywood Corp.

• Citation: 659 F.2d 1259
• Decision Date: 17 September 1981
• Docket Number: No. 80-1162,AFL-CI,CLC,80-1162
• Parties: 26 Fair Empl.Prac.Cas. 1329, 63 A.L.R.Fed. 339, 27 Empl. Prac. Dec. P 32,124 INTERNATIONAL WOODWORKERS OF AMERICA,; Local 5-346, International Woodworkers of America, ; Richard T. Truitt; Florence Bennett; and Harriet P. Dennis, Appellants, v. CHESAPEAKE BAY PLYWOOD CORPORATION, a Division of Champion International, Appellee.
• Court: United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (4th Circuit)

Page 1259

659 F.2d 1259

26 Fair Empl.Prac.Cas. 1329, 63 A.L.R.Fed. 339,

27 Empl. Prac. Dec. P 32,124

INTERNATIONAL WOODWORKERS OF AMERICA, AFL-CIO, CLC; Local

5-346, International Woodworkers of America,

AFL-CIO, CLC; Richard T. Truitt;

Florence Bennett; and Harriet

P. Dennis, Appellants, v. CHESAPEAKE BAY PLYWOOD CORPORATION, a Division of Champion

International, Appellee.

No. 80-1162.

United States Court of Appeals, Fourth Circuit.

Argued Dec. 3, 1980.

Decided Sept. 17, 1981.

James E. Youngdahl, Little Rock, Ark. (Liza S. Hirsch, Youngdahl & Larrison, Little Rock, Ark., Kenneth L. Johnson, Baltimore, Md., on brief), for appellants.

Peter W. Tredick, Washington, D. C. (John J. Ross, Craig H. Ulman, Hogan & Hartson, Washington, D. C., H. Thomas Howell, Semmes, Bowen & Semmes, Baltimore, Md., on brief), for appellee.

Before WINTER, SPROUSE and ERVIN, Circuit Judges.

SPROUSE, Circuit Judge:

This is an appeal by the plaintiffs from summary judgment against them on their claims of employment discrimination. The International Woodworkers of America, its affiliate Local 5-346, Richard T. Truitt, Florence Bennett, and Harriet P. Dennis filed this action against the Chesapeake Bay Plywood Corporation (Chesapeake Bay) under 42 U.S.C. § 1981 and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. §§ 2000e et seq. ¹ Plaintiffs sued individually and as representatives of all blacks and females who are or have been victims of Chesapeake Bay's alleged race- and sex-based discriminatory employment practices.

The district court, on the basis of the pleadings and discovery material, but without a hearing, denied class certification. It also held that the Union lacked standing under Article III of the United States Constitution to litigate the employment discrimination claims of its members. The court disqualified James E. Youngdahl, one of plaintiffs' attorneys, from participation in the trial of the case when it became evident that he "ought to testify" on behalf of his client the plaintiff Union. Finally the court entered summary judgment in favor of Chesapeake Bay, finding that there was no genuine issue of material fact respecting any of the individual plaintiffs' claims of employment discrimination. Plaintiffs urge as error each of these rulings.

I. FACTS

On May 29, 1975, the plaintiffs filed a charge of discrimination against Chesapeake Bay with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). The charge asserted in general terms that Chesapeake Bay discriminated against blacks and women and that the higher paying, more desirable jobs, including supervisory positions, were disproportionately occupied by white males. Three years later the EEOC found reasonable cause to believe the charge was true. ² Administrative reconciliation efforts failed, and this suit was filed.

The complaint alleges that Chesapeake Bay discriminates against blacks and women in hiring, job assignments, promotions, transfers, training programs, discipline, and general work conditions. The company's alleged discriminatory practices are said to have resulted in the concentration of white males in certain job categories and blacks and females in other job categories, creating substantial race- and sex-based pay differentials in the work force. Chesapeake Bay filed a counterclaim against the Union, alleging that the Union had breached the collective bargaining agreement by filing this lawsuit instead of submitting the dispute to the agreement's grievance procedure.

As the case was resolved below at the summary judgment stage, the record before us consists only of the pleadings, depositions, and an affidavit presented by Chesapeake Bay. Construing the facts in the light most favorable to the plaintiffs in reviewing summary judgment against them, the record reflects the following: ³

Chesapeake Bay Plywood Corporation operates a plywood manufacturing plant in Pokomoke City, Maryland, which employs approximately 125 persons in its production, maintenance, and shipping departments. Approximately sixty-seven percent of its employees are black (men and women) and about sixteen percent are women (black and white). The three individual plaintiffs, one white male and two black women, are all officers of the Woodworkers Local 5-346.

Plaintiffs by depositions allege in detail: that Chesapeake Bay discriminates on the basis of race in filling maintenance jobs and supervisory positions; that the company's better paying positions are held almost exclusively by white males; that practically all supervisory personnel and foremen are white although the plant is about two-thirds black; and that an employee's initial assignment, after hiring, is made on the basis of his or her sex or race. Statistics were furnished to the court which purport to show a significantly disproportionate concentration of blacks and women in less desirable job categories. ⁴ These statistics indicate that the average wages of blacks and women hired each year from 1966 through 1977 were lower at hiring and have since remained significantly lower than the average wages of white males hired during each of the same years. In addition, according to these statistics, blacks and women in each represented job category receive substantially less pay than white males employed in the same job category.

The three individual plaintiffs each detailed several incidents in which women and blacks allegedly suffered injury as a result of the discriminatory practices asserted in the complaint. Plaintiffs particularized their claims during discovery as follows:

Hiring.

Qualified black applicants allegedly were passed over in favor of later white applicants. Paul Collins, for example, a qualified black male, had had an application for employment on file for several weeks when white male Ernest Malone was hired. Malone was hired the day he filed his application. The day after the hiring of Malone, Collins was hired into the same department. Yet Malone, as a result of the alleged discriminatory treatment, is now permanently ahead of Collins on the seniority list.

Initial Assignment After Hiring.

Plaintiffs maintained in their depositions that newly hired blacks and females are automatically considered for a narrower range of entry-level job assignments than are white male applicants. Black women, it is claimed, are consistently assigned to the dryer department without consideration for other more desirable jobs. This practice contributes to substantial disparities between the pay levels of white males and those of blacks and women. Plaintiff Dennis claimed to have been victimized by this practice.

Discipline.

According to the deposition testimony, harsher disciplinary measures are consistently meted out to blacks and women than would be imposed upon white male employees for similar offenses. Read as a whole, the depositions suggest a pattern. Black female plaintiff Dennis, for instance, testified during her deposition that she received a written warning for the offense of failing to immediately report an injury received on the job. She claims this disciplinary action is harsher than that a white male would have received. She stated that white male Norwood Burte, for example, committed the identical offense but received only an oral reprimand.

Black male William Sledge, a nine-year employee with no previous unexcused absences, was discharged for the offense of failing to report to work even though the collective bargaining agreement called for three unexcused absences before the imposition of discharge. Sledge was eventually rehired, but without restoration of his seniority. Richard T. Truitt, President of the plaintiff Local, stated that Sledge was accorded such unusually severe treatment because Sledge is black. To illustrate the company's comparatively lenient treatment of white male employees guilty of similar work-rule infractions, Truitt cited the case of Aldren Adkins, a white male, who, having walked off the job after a dispute with a supervisor, was rehired with full restoration of seniority.

Other incidents of discrimination in discipline emerged during discovery. Annie Byrd's pay was "docked" for her arriving at work fifteen minutes late. A white male who had arrived even later than Ms. Byrd, however, received pay for the whole day. Blacks were disciplined for intoxication on the job, but whites in the maintenance department allegedly were permitted to escape discipline for this offense. Richard Truitt testified that because of their race Eugene Epps and George Brights, both black males, were given "final written warnings" instead of "first warnings" for their first work offenses. Established practice, Truitt said, calls for "first warnings" for an employee's first offense.

Promotions and Transfers.

Blacks, according to the deposition testimony, are excluded from the maintenance and shipping departments and from supervisory positions.

There are no written or objective criteria for promotion to supervision. Vacancies for foreman and lead man positions are not required under the collective bargaining agreement to be posted. Vacancies are made known solely by word of mouth. Employees currently holding foreman and lead man jobs testified that they had not applied for them, but instead had been casually approached by management and informed orally of the vacancy. There are no black foremen.

Although the plant apparently had only three lead man positions in 1977, this job was described as an important conduit to higher supervisory positions. Qualified blacks William Low and George Brights applied for available lead man jobs, but were passed over in favor of white male applicants. ⁵

Blacks allegedly have been excluded from the relatively well paying, highly desirable maintenance department because of racial considerations. Although the collective bargaining agreement requires vacancies in the maintenance department to be posted for bidding, frequently such vacancies were not posted....