Jeffries v. Harris County Community Action Ass'n, Civ. A. No. 74-H-1036

• Decision Date: 11 January 1977
• Docket Number: 75-H-318.,Civ. A. No. 74-H-1036
• Citation: 425 F. Supp. 1208
• Parties: Dafro M. JEFFRIES, Plaintiff, v. HARRIS COUNTY COMMUNITY ACTION ASSOCIATION et al., Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Southern District of Texas

425 F. Supp. 1208

Dafro M. JEFFRIES, Plaintiff, v. HARRIS COUNTY COMMUNITY ACTION ASSOCIATION et al., Defendants.

Civ. A. Nos. 74-H-1036, 75-H-318.

United States District Court, S. D. Texas, Houston Division.

January 11, 1977.

Jesse R. Funchess, Houston, Tex., for plaintiff.

Ernesto Valdez, Houston, Tex., for defendants.

FINDINGS OF FACT AND CONCLUSIONS OF LAW

CARL O. BUE, Jr., District Judge.

I. FINDINGS OF FACT

A. Introduction

1. Plaintiff is a 50-year old, black female citizen of the United States and of Houston, Harris County, Texas.

2. Defendants are: plaintiff's former employer, Harris County Community Action Association ("HCCAA"), a nonprofit, federally funded corporation created pursuant to the Economic Opportunity Act, 42 U.S.C. §§ 2796 et seq., to fulfill the purposes and directives established originally by the Office of Economic Opportunity (OEO) and to facilitate preparing local, economically disadvantaged citizens for community involvement in the private sector; C. B. Davis, the Chairman of the Board of Directors of HCCAA; Janet Walker, Vice-Chairman of the Board and Chairman of the agency's Personnel Committee; and Mario Silva, HCCAA's Acting Executive Director at all times pertinent to this suit.

3. Plaintiff has sued the defendants alleging that they have violated Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, 42 U.S.C. §§ 2000e et seq., by discriminating against her on the basis of race and sex in their policies of promotion, in violation of 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-2, and by ultimately terminating her employment in alleged retaliation for her having opposed allegedly unlawful employment practices, in violation of 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-3(a).

B. Plaintiff's Prior Work Experience and Activities with HCCAA

4. Plaintiff was first employed by HCCAA in 1967 as Secretary to the Director of Programs. She was later promoted to Personnel Interviewer in 1970. Between 1970 and April, 1974, plaintiff applied five or six times for promotions to various positions within the agency, but her efforts were unsuccessful.

5. Concededly, plaintiff handled in an acceptable and efficient manner her work tasks and assignments. See Defendants' Exhibit 2. The evidence further demonstrates that in the course of performing her duties, including her role as a union steward, plaintiff became increasingly vociferous within the agency in support of the rights and advancement of female workers at HCCAA and its satellite agencies. The evidence establishes that plaintiff felt increasingly aggrieved over her own employment situation, particularly her inability to advance within the agency, and that of her fellow female employees, and that she filed multiple grievances contesting her lack of promotion, in addition to voicing her opinion of this situation as she perceived it to persons at all levels of HCCAA. See, e. g., Plaintiff's Exhibit 5.

6. As was obvious to the Court in its observation of the witnesses' demeanor as they testified, an essential ingredient which must be appreciated in this case is the interaction of all of the personalities involved and the extreme personal and political animosity displayed by many persons connected with HCCAA, including counsel, towards one another. Being generally aware of this pervasive factor provides a crucial foundation for analyzing the legal significance of the events leading up to plaintiff's dismissal as hereafter recounted.

C. Events Culminating in Termination of Plaintiff's Employment

7. The series of events which culminated in the termination of plaintiff's employment with HCCAA occurred in April, 1974, and stemmed from a general shift upwards in the positions held by higher level personnel as a result of a six-month leave of absence granted the director of the agency. The testimony is at times not absolutely clear as to the exact chronology of events which thereafter transpired. Accordingly, the Court has relied, when necessary, on the notes of the Personnel Committee hearing in the case of Ms. Dafro M. Jeffries, introduced as Plaintiff's Exhibit 12, which provides a complete recitation of the events in question.

8. Two "Field Representative" positions had been held prior to the personnel shift by a white female and black male. Because of their simultaneous advancement in late March, 1974, the two positions became open to lower echelon employees, including plaintiff.

Week of April 1, 1974

9. On April 2, a notice was posted by plaintiff as an employee of the Personnel Department announcing the existence of two vacancies for the position of Field Representative in the Operations Department and stating that written applications would be accepted until April 11, 1974. See Plaintiff's Exhibit 1. Plaintiff, desiring to ascend to this position, immediately applied for the position.

10. That same afternoon, while in the office of the Director of Operations, plaintiff noticed a completed "Personnel Action" form on Mr. Eddie D. Jones, a black male, for the position of "Acting Field Representative" commencing April 8, 1974. Plaintiff, believing this to be evidence that established personnel promotion procedures were not being followed for the position of Field Representative in which she was interested, thereupon expressed concern over her discovery to the Assistant to the Acting Director of Personnel, the Personnel Manager and the Acting Executive Director, defendant Silva. See Plaintiff's Exhibit 12, at 2.

11. It is undisputed that defendant Silva explained to plaintiff that because one of the Field Representative positions to be filled was merely temporary for a period of six months and would terminate once employees on leave of absence from HCCAA returned to their regular HCCAA work tasks, there was not going to be a formal selection procedure for the temporary post. Instead, Silva, at the recommendation of the new Director of Operations, Mr. Marshall Harrison, had selected Mr. Jones to fill the temporary position. Thus, according to Silva, any posting of notice for the temporary position was a mistake. Silva did stress to plaintiff that she would be considered for the permanent Field Representative position in accordance with agency guidelines.

12. Following his discussion with plaintiff, defendant Silva directed Mr. Tommy Baker, the Personnel Manager, to take the necessary steps to ensure that all persons understood that only one permanent Field Representative position would be filled through the formal selection process.

Weeks of April 8 and 15, 1974

13. On April 8, 1974, Jones notified Harrison in writing that he accepted the position of Field Representative with the understanding that it was on a temporary basis and that if the position were made permanent, he would be required to go through the formal promotion procedure. See Defendants' Exhibit 11, at 2. Thereafter, Jones was designated as Acting Field Representative in the Operations Department. Id.

14. Plaintiff was dissatisfied with defendant Silva's explanation, however, viewing this episode as but another example of misinterpretation of HCCAA rules by HCCAA executives to perpetuate control of desirable middle- and upper-level work assignments at HCCAA. Indeed, as the evidence and plaintiff's demeanor on the witness stand conclusively demonstrate, plaintiff became incensed over this incident because she sincerely came to perceive it augmentatively as another in a long line of indignities levelled against her as a black female employee at HCCAA. See, e. g., Plaintiff's Exhibit 5.

15. Plaintiff contacted defendant Janet Walker about the Jones hiring, a person whom plaintiff viewed as sharing her concern over the employment predicament of HCCAA's female employees and who, as chairman of the HCCAA Personnel Committee and as a member of the HCCAA Board of Directors, was in a position of sufficient authority to bring about plaintiff's desired reforms. Plaintiff talked to Ms. Walker twice about the matter on the telephone. Additionally, she delivered two packets of information consisting, inter alia, of Xeroxed copies of agency documents including individual personnel records, which plaintiff deemed pertinent to establishing other alleged violations of personnel practices. See Defendants' Exhibits 16-24. Included in the second packet of materials was a copy of the application of Eddie Jones for the Field Representative position dated April 18, 1974, along with a number of documents relating to a grievance involving Earnestine Martinez, another HCCAA employee.

16. Plaintiff also wrote a memorandum to Mr. Baker, the Personnel Manager and her immediate supervisor, protesting the manner in which Jones was selected and requesting a hearing at which her grievance could be aired. Plaintiff's Exhibit 6.

Week of April 22, 1974

17. The receipt by Ms. Walker of the documents deemed relevant by plaintiff evoked a different concern in Ms. Walker and one unanticipated by plaintiff. She reviewed the documents and concluded that they constituted confidential personnel information the disclosure of which was, to her, unauthorized and in violation of HCCAA policy. She based this conclusion in part on her own prior inability upon request to gain access to agency personnel files containing similar information on account of their asserted confidentiality. In addition to being incensed about plaintiff's possible disclosure of confidential information, Ms. Walker testified at trial and at the HCCAA hearing on plaintiff's dismissal that she also was greatly disturbed that plaintiff, by contacting her informally, was trying to bypass the established grievance procedure.

18. Ms. Walker brought this disclosure to the attention of Mr. Silva for appropriate action. In response to Ms. Walker's expressions of concern, Mr. Silva commenced on April 23, 1974, an investigation of the incident and consulted, over a period of three days, HCCAA executives and supervisors to determine how the incident should be handled. Mr. Baker, plaintiff's...