Jiron v. Sperry Rand Corp.(Sperry-Univac), C 74-274.

• Decision Date: 14 February 1975
• Docket Number: No. C 74-274.,C 74-274.
• Citation: 423 F. Supp. 155
• Parties: Mary T. JIRON et al., Plaintiffs, v. SPERRY RAND CORPORATION (SPERRY-UNIVAC), a Delaware Corporation, Defendant.
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of Utah

423 F. Supp. 155

Mary T. JIRON et al., Plaintiffs, v. SPERRY RAND CORPORATION (SPERRY-UNIVAC), a Delaware Corporation, Defendant.

No. C 74-274.

United States District Court, D. Utah, C. D.

February 14, 1975.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

David K. Robinson, George C. Morris, Jay W. Mitton, Salt Lake City, Utah, for plaintiffs.

Haldor T. Benson, Salt Lake City, Utah, Margaret C. Poles, E. E. O. C., Washington, D.C., for defendant.

ORDER

ALDON J. ANDERSON, District Judge.

Plaintiffs initiated this action by filing a complaint on August 30, 1974, which alleged that defendant Sperry Rand Corporation had violated certain provisions of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. Sections 2000e et seq. That complaint alleged that Sperry Rand had discriminated against plaintiffs and all other female employees of defendant in its Utah operation in areas of job and grade classifications, salary and wage levels, employee evaluation systems, lay-offs and rehiring, training programs, promotions, and employment. Plaintiffs claim that the discrimination was not only on the basis of sex, but related to race and national origin as well.

Plaintiffs, through their attorney Jay Mitton, first filed a charge with the Anti-Discrimination Division of the Industrial Commission of Utah on November 21, 1973, recounting essentially the same charges, based exclusively on sex discrimination. The Industrial Commission instituted an investigation of those charges, but the scope at no time extended to include racial or national origin discrimination, claims of harassment, or lay-off and rehiring practices. During the same period conciliatory discussions were held between Commission representatives and Sperry Rand, which resulted in a remedial agreement embodied in a letter dated April 3, 1974, from John J. McGurk to Manuel Vigil, the Commission representative.

On January 11, 1974, notice was sent to the District Office of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in Denver, Colorado of the charge filed by the plaintiffs with the Industrial Commission "referring it to you as it may fall within your jurisdiction." That letter indicated, however, that the charge was still under investigation by the Utah Commission. On March 13, 1974, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission assumed jurisdiction over the charge. On July 24, 1974, right to sue letters were issued to the plaintiffs, with the notation that the EEOC had dismissed the charge for failure to proceed based on the charging party's request for "right to sue" authorization. The plaintiffs now bring this civil action qualified by those "right to sue" letters.

Defendant Sperry Rand has filed several motions in this case, a motion to dismiss and to strike and a motion for order denying class action. In its motion to dismiss and to strike, defendant argues that the complaint improperly alleges discrimination on the basis of race and national origin and in the areas of lay-offs, rehiring and harassment since those claims were not included in the charge filed with the Industrial Commission of Utah and the EEOC. In addition, the defendant seeks to strike the claims for punitive damages, for damages compensating pain and suffering, and for an "inflationary factor" in the computation of damages and back pay, on the ground that the remedy provided for in § 2000e does not allow such damage awards. Finally, defendant moves to strike the claim in the complaint that it finance the notice to prospective members of the alleged class. In its motion to deny the class action, the defendant argues that plaintiffs have failed to properly allege the requirements of Rule 23 for a class action and that, specifically, they have failed to sufficiently set out facts in support of such a class.

Plaintiffs in their answer stipulate that the claim for an "inflationary factor" may be stricken, contest the balance of defendant's motions, and have moved the court to certify the class.

I.

When Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was passed by Congress strong support was evidenced for first-stage correction of prohibited discrimination at the state and local levels. See Dubois v. Packard Bell Corporation, 470 F.2d 973, 975 (10th Cir. 1973). That sentiment resulted in the procedure outlined by § 2000e-5(b) and (c), which require the filing of charges of discrimination initially with a state authority, if any, and then with the EEOC, prefatory to the bringing of a private civil suit. In order to bring a private employment discrimination suit under Title VII, a plaintiff must, as a precondition, have a "right to sue" letter from the EEOC, which issues only after administrative investigation and negotiation. There are two purposes for that procedure:

"first, it notifies the charged party of the asserted violation. Secondly, it brings the charged party before the EEOC and permits effectuation of the Act's primary goal, the securing of voluntary compliance with the law."

Bowe v. Colgate-Palmolive Company, 416 F.2d 711, 719 (7th Cir. 1969). Another benefit which results from the prefatory processing by the EEOC is to "narrow the issues to be adjudicated." Hecht v. Cooperative for American Relief Everywhere, Inc., 351 F.Supp. 305, 311 (S.D.N.Y.1972). While the requirement of preliminary administrative processing can result in duplication where state agencies exist parallel to the EEOC, as in Utah, the complaint of discrimination has the benefit of potentially two investigations and of both a local and near-local effort at resolution. The consequence of this procedure is that the complaint in a civil action must substantially conform to the charges made before the state agency and before the EEOC. A civil complaint may not include allegations of discrimination unless the administrative investigation based on the administrative complaint included or reasonably might have included those areas of discrimination. The requirement of preliminary administrative action is premised on the purposes set out in Bowe, since new and different charges in the civil suit would preclude prior notice and negotiation for voluntary compliance.

Defendant points out that the charge filed with the Industrial Commission and with the EEOC did not include allegations of racial or national origin discrimination or claims of harassment or lay-off and rehiring discrimination. It appears by affidavit of the investigator for the Industrial Commission that none of those claims was considered in that investigation. Moreover, none of those charges surfaced while the EEOC had jurisdiction. Therefore, the defendant argues, plaintiffs may not include those charges in this complaint.

The standard by which courts have evaluated such disputes was set out by the Fifth Circuit in Sanchez v. Standard Brands, Inc., 431 F.2d 455 (5th Cir. 1970), which stated that "the `scope' of the judicial complaint is limited to the `scope' of the EEOC investigation which can reasonably be expected to grow out of the charge of discrimination." 431 F.2d at 466. See also Oubichon v. North American Rockwell Corporation, 482 F.2d 569, 571 (9th Cir. 1973) ("any discrimination like or reasonably related to the allegations of the EEOC charge"); Tipler v. E. I. duPont deNemours and Co., 443 F.2d 125 (6th Cir. 1971); Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v. Hickey-Mitchell Company, 372 F.Supp. 1117 (E.D.Mo.1973); Developments in the Law — Employment Discrimination and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 84 Harv.L.Rev. 1109, 1218 (1971) hereinafter cited as Developments — Employment Discrimination.

Most courts have concluded that a liberal application of the Sanchez standard in particular cases is appropriate. See Kinsey v. Legg, Mason & Company, 60 F.R.D. 91 (D.D.C.1973); Developments — Employment Discrimination, supra at 1217. This liberality reflects both the congressional intent to fully remedy employment discrimination and the judicial recognition that initial charges frequently are "filed by lay complainants who are unfamiliar with the niceties of pleading and are acting without assistance of counsel." Tipler v. E. I. duPont deNemours and Co., supra at 131. See also Graniteville Co. (Sibley Div.) v. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, 438 F.2d 32, 41 (4th Cir. 1971). In that perspective the requirement is not intended to become a formalistic and technical obstacle for plaintiffs that have been discriminated against. The Ninth Circuit reflected that constructional spirit when it stated in Oubichon that to make a plaintiff repeat his administrative filing "every time he claims a new instance of discrimination . . . would erect a needless procedural barrier." 482 F.2d at 571. Thus, to satisfy the requirement that the scope of the administrative charge must be substantially identical to the scope of the judicial complaint, the plaintiffs need not show that specific claims now made were actually investigated by the EEOC or state agency, but only that they are "reasonably related" to those initial charges. See Hecht v. Cooperative for American Relief Everywhere, Inc., supra at 311-12.

A functional approach to applying the Sanchez standard in specific cases is to consider whether the purposes of the preliminary administrative process are satisfied. Thus, in evaluating whether "the scope of the judicial complaint is limited to the `scope' of the EEOC investigation which can reasonably be expected to grow out of the charge of discrimination," the most important considerations are whether the defendant had sufficient notice from the administrative charge of the alleged kinds and areas of discrimination and whether the administrative agencies and employers involved had an opportunity to work on a conciliation agreement for voluntary compliance in the challenged areas.

The first claims in the complaint challenged by defendant as new are the allegations of racial and national origin discrimination added to the initial charge of sex discrimination. In...