Mead v. US Fidelity & Guaranty Co.

• Citation: 442 F. Supp. 114
• Decision Date: 14 September 1977
• Docket Number: 4-77-42.,Civ. No. 4-77-16
• Parties: Sheila MEAD and Terry Oakley, Individually and on behalf of all persons similarly situated, Plaintiffs, and Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Plaintiff-Intervenor, v. UNITED STATES FIDELITY AND GUARANTY COMPANY, L. K. Merz, Howard Gould, Robert Rowe, and John H. Aitken, Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of Minnesota

442 F. Supp. 114

Sheila MEAD and Terry Oakley, Individually and on behalf of all persons similarly situated, Plaintiffs, and Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Plaintiff-Intervenor, v. UNITED STATES FIDELITY AND GUARANTY COMPANY, L. K. Merz, Howard Gould, Robert Rowe, and John H. Aitken, Defendants.

Civ. Nos. 4-77-16, 4-77-42.

United States District Court, D. Minnesota, Fourth Division.

September 14, 1977.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

Frank E. Vogl, Frederick W. Morris, Thomas D. Carlson, Best & Flanagan, Minneapolis, Minn., for plaintiffs.

Grant E. Morris, Katherine Savers McGovern, E.E.O.C., Washington, D. C., for plaintiff-intervenor.

Timothy R. Thornton, David J. Byron, Rider, Bennett, Egan, Johnson & Arundel, Minneapolis, Minn., for defendants.

FINDINGS OF FACT, CONCLUSIONS OF LAW, ORDER FOR JUDGMENT ON PLAINTIFF MEAD'S § 704(a) RETALIATORY DISCHARGE CLAIM

MILES W. LORD, District Judge.

JURISDICTION

This matter originally came on for hearing on plaintiff Sheila Mead's Motion for Temporary and Preliminary Relief filed on January 13, 1977, and plaintiff Equal Employment Opportunity Commission's Petition for Temporary Relief filed on February 1, 1977, pursuant to Section 706(f)(1)(2) and (3) of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-5(1)(2) and (3), as amended by Public Law 92-261, 88 Stat. 103 (March 24, 1972) Title VII. Jurisdiction was vested in this Court to hear the matter by § 706(f)(1)(2) and (3) of Title VII, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-5(f)(1)(2) and (3) and 28 U.S.C. §§ 451, 1343, and 1345. The parties stipulated that the actions be "consolidated for the limited purpose of determining the issue of retaliatory discharge of Sheila Mead since both causes involve common questions of law and fact, and that consolidation will reduce cost and delay." On, February 3, 1977, this Court ordered Consolidation pursuant to the stipulation.

Hearings were held on the request for temporary relief on January 14, 24, 25, 26, 27, February 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 23, 25 and May 12, 1977. At the May 12, 1977, hearing the Court announced its intention to bifurcate the Mead retaliation claim from the remainder of the action, pursuant to rule 42(b) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and to order the trial of the § 704(a) Mead retaliation claim on the merits to be advanced and consolidated with the hearing on the requests for temporary relief. The Court so ordered by its Memorandum and Order dated June 8, 1977, specifically directing that the issue to be resolved by the hearing on the merits of the Mead retaliation claim was "whether or not plaintiff Mead's termination was in violation of Section 704(a) of Title VII and, if so, what appropriate remedies, if any, should follow therefrom." The Court's Memorandum on Jurisdiction, dated July 8, 1977, addresses the basis of the Court's jurisdiction over the petitions for temporary relief and the trial on the merits of the § 704(a) Mead retaliatory discharge claim.

On July 12, 1977, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, hereafter EEOC or the Commission issued Ms. Mead a Right to Sue letter on her § 704(a) retaliatory discharge claim. By its Memorandum and Order on Intervention, dated August 15, 1977, this Court granted the Motion of the EEOC to Intervene in the § 704(a) Mead retaliatory discharge claim. The final hearing on the merits of that claim was also held on August 15, 1977.

After hearing and observing witnesses, reviewing the exhibits received in evidence, the affidavits, the certification, and considering the Verified Complaint, the Motion for Temporary Relief, the Petition for Temporary Relief, the briefs and arguments of counsel and reviewing all the files, records and proceedings herein, the Court makes the following FINDINGS OF FACT, ADDITIONAL CONCLUSIONS OF LAW, AND ORDER:

FINDINGS OF FACT

1. Plaintiff Sheila Mead is a female U. S. Citizen and resident of the State of Minnesota.

2. Plaintiff Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is an administrative agency of the United States Government charged with the enforcement of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as amended by the Equal Employment Opportunity Act of 1972, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e, et seq.

3. Defendant United States Fidelity and Guaranty Company hereafter USF&G is a Maryland corporation with its principle place of business in Baltimore, Maryland. Defendant USF&G does business in the State of Minnesota, with a branch office located in Minneapolis, Minnesota, where it is engaged in the insurance industry and related activities and, as such, is engaged in an industry affecting interstate commerce. At all times relevant herein, USF&G has employed more than 15 persons, has been an employer within the meaning of § 701(b) of Title VII, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e(b), and has been engaged in an industry affecting commerce within the meaning of § 701(h) of Title VII, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e(h).

4. On March 27, 1972, Ms. Sheila Mead was employed by defendant USF&G as a multi-line rate clerk/typist in the Fire and Marine Department. Ms. Mead worked for USF&G until January 7, 1977 when her employment was terminated.

5. Defendant L. K. Merz was, until January 7, 1977 and at all material times prior thereto, the branch manager in charge of the Minneapolis office of defendant USF&G (TR. 158-160). Defendant Howard Gould is and has been at all material times hereto the Superintendent of the Fire, Marine and Multi-Line Department Fire Department of the Minneapolis office of defendant USF&G (TR. 329). Defendant Rowe is and has been at all material times hereto the Assistant Superintendent of the Fire Department of the Minneapolis office of defendant USF&G (TR. 43-45). Defendants Merz, Gould and Rowe are agents of defendant USF&G within the meaning of 42 U.S.C. § 2000e(b).

6. On or about May 5, 1976, plaintiffs Sheila Mead and Terry Oakley filed timely administrative charges against defendant USF&G with the EEOC and the Minnesota Department of Human Rights. Plaintiff Mead filed her charge on behalf of herself and a nationwide class of all female employees employed by USF&G and alleged that USF&G has and is discriminating against both herself and all other female employees on the basis of sex with respect to hire, tenure, compensation, terms upgrading, conditions, facilities and privileges of employment. Ms. Mead further alleged that her employer, USF&G, has and is discriminating against both herself and all other female employees employed throughout the Company by having a practice of treating disabilities related to pregnancies and childbirth differently from other temporary disabilities and by discriminating against female employees because of their pregnancies by treating them differently with respect to compensation, terms, conditions, and privileges of employment. On July 29, 1976 Ms. Mead amended her charge on behalf of herself and all other women employees at USF&G to state that, in addition to the unlawful discrimination charges which she had alleged her employer practiced in the May 5, 1976 charges, she alleged that USF&G as an employer discriminates against herself and all other women in its consideration of applications for jobs, promotions, and training, and with respect to compensation, conditions and privileges of employment. Additional charges of unlawful employment discrimination on the basis of sex were filed against USF&G with the EEOC and the Minnesota Department of Human Rights on or about October 11, 1976 by Amy Quinn LaVoie and Lesley Deaton; and on November 5, 1976 by Lynn Sibernagel. On or about January 11, 1977, the EEOC issued plaintiff Mead a Notice of Right to Sue on her charges (Pl. Exs. 22, 23, 24, and 25).

7. On or about January 10, 1977, Sheila Mead filed a charge with the EEOC which asserted that she had filed sex discrimination charges with the EEOC on May 5, 1976, and that thereafter, USF&G retaliated and discriminated against her for having filed the charge by unfairly overloading her with work, depriving her of the assistance provided similarly-situated employees, preparing adverse work reports and, on January 7, 1977, discharging her.

8. On January 13, 1977, plaintiff Mead filed a Complaint in federal district court pursuant to Sections 703 and 704(a) of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as amended, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-2, 3(a) and filed a Petition for a temporary restraining order, and for preliminary and permanent injunctive relief under Rule 65 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. In Court I of her Complaint Ms. Mead alleges that USF&G has and continues to discriminate against herself and a nationwide class of all its female employees by operating under company-wide policies and practices which limit and discourage recruitment of women, which discriminate against women with respect to hiring, job classification, management training programs, disabilities related to pregnancies, promotions and other terms and conditions of employment. That charge is not before this Court at the present time, except insofar as it is alleged to be the basis of and cause for the Company's retaliation, harassment, reprisals, and, ultimately, discharge of Ms. Mead.

Count II of the Complaint, which is the subject of the present proceedings, alleges that in May, 1976, the defendants learned of the sex discrimination charges filed by Ms. Mead on May 5, 1976, and that thereafter, in retaliation for filing that charge, the defendant USF&G through its agents harassed, intimidated and coerced plaintiff Mead by, among other things, monitoring her work with greater frequency than other employees similarly situated, depriving her of assistance provided other employees similarly situated, making unsupported adverse review about her work and discharging her.

9. Upon receipt of Ms. Mead's § 704(a) charge, the Commission conducted a preliminary investigation into the alleged retaliation. Based upon its preliminary investigation, the Commission concluded that prompt judicial action was...