Nance v. Union Carbide Corp., Consumer Prod. Div.
| Decision Date | 28 April 1975 |
| Docket Number | No. C-C-72-185.,C-C-72-185. |
| Citation | 397 F. Supp. 436 |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Western District of North Carolina |
| Parties | Winifred S. NANCE, Plaintiff, v. UNION CARBIDE CORPORATION, CONSUMER PRODUCTS DIVISION, a corporation, Defendant. |
COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED
Robert Belton and Jonathan P. Wallas, Charlotte, N. C. (Chambers, Stein & Ferguson, Charlotte, N. C.), for plaintiff.
J. Frank Ogletree, Jr., H. Lane Dennard, Jr., and Guy F. Driver, Jr., Greenville, S. C. (Thompson, Ogletree & Deakins, Greenville, S. C.), for defendant.
FINDINGS OF FACT AND CONCLUSIONS OF LAW
Winifred S. Nance, the plaintiff, a white female, filed this suit on August 18, 1972, against Union Carbide Corporation of Charlotte, North Carolina, alleging that she was subjected to discrimination because of her sex in the matter of employment, classification, promotion and other incidents of employment. The complaint alleged violations of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S. C. § 2000e et seq. This matter came on for a hearing in March, 1974 and December, 1974 and the Court, after consideration of the evidence, enters Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law as follows:
1. Plaintiff, Winifred S. Nance, is a female citizen of the United States and the State of North Carolina, residing in Charlotte, Mecklenburg County, North Carolina. The plaintiff has been employed by the defendant at its Charlotte plant since July 8, 1952.
2. The defendant, Union Carbide Corporation ("defendant" or "Company"), is a corporation organized under the laws of the State of New York and does business in all fifty states, including the State of North Carolina. The defendant maintains its corporate headquarters in New York City, New York.
3. The defendant operates a battery manufacturing facility in Charlotte, Mecklenburg County, North Carolina ("Charlotte plant").
4. The majority of the work performed (80-90%) at the Charlotte plant is pursuant to contracts with various federal agencies and the majority of these contracts are with the Department of the Army.1
5. The hourly paid work force at the Charlotte plant is organized into approximately sixteen (16) departments. The departments and a general description of the work performed in each are as follows:
Department 107: Blends proper amounts of ingredient into mixes to be used in the manufacture of Magnesium and LeClanche cells.
Department 161: Produces magnesium cells to be used in the manufacture of magnesium batteries.
Department 208: Produces LeClanche flat cells by the non-refrigerated method and ties into appropriate stacks for subsequent use in scheduled LeClanche battery types.
Department 209: Produces LeClanche flat cells by the refrigerated method and ties into appropriate stacks for subsequent use in scheduled LeClanche battery types.
Department 210: Repairs cell stacks rejected at testing in the battery finishing department.
Department 215: Produces LeClanche round cells to be used in the manufacture of LeClanche batteries.
Department 225: Assembles all required parts into finished batteries.
Department 235: Manufactures parts to be used in the production of cells and finished batteries.
Department 300: Cleans-up plant and machinery.
Department 304: Provides employee relations department duties, such as pick-up and deliver mail; picks-up machinery parts; operates the canteen and operates the cash register in the cafeteria.
Department 311: Cooks, serves meals and cleans-up cafeteria.
Department 327: Provides upkeep of the plant building and services, installs, repairs, builds and maintains plant equipment.
Department 342: Warehousing-shipping-receiving, and supplying parts for the manufacturing departments as requested.
Department 354: Provides production line inspection of all operations.
Department 355: Sets up and checks on all inspection procedures within an assigned area.
Department 440: Machine operator adjuster.
6. There are over 160 different job classifications in the 16 departments at the Charlotte plant. The overwhelming majority of these job classifications are unskilled jobs.
7. The wage rate of each job is determined by the job class to which it is assigned. Unskilled jobs are designated as job classes 1 through 12 with job class 1 with the lowest rate and job class 12 with the highest rate. Skilled jobs are separately designated as job classes 1 through 7 and are some of the highest paying jobs at the Charlotte plant.
8. The majority of the female employees as of July 2, 1965, and August 8, 1972, were employed in unskilled job classes 1-7. All of the female employees in job class 9 were employed in departments 225 and 355; these departments have been two of the departments in which females have been employed.
9. Many of the jobs designated as "heavy" jobs do not, in fact, have a weight lifting (or exerted force factor) of 30 pounds or more. For example, the oiler's position in department 327 has an average exerted force of 15 pounds 50% of the time during the course of an eight-hour working day; outside warehouse operator in department 342 has an average exerted force of 2 pounds 75% of the time and 30 pounds 5% of the time; round cell machine operator/adjuster in department 440 has an average exerted force of 18 pounds 33% of the time and a maximum force of only 70 pounds 1% of the time; and process repair in department 225 has an average exerted force of 5 pounds 25% of the time (or 10 pounds 10% of the time) and only 85 pounds 1% of the time.
10. On July 2, 1965 (the effective date of Title VII), July 2, 1970, and August 18, 1972 (the date the complaint was filed in this Court) the staffing of the various departments by sex at the Charlotte plant was as follows:
Department 7-2-65 7-2-70 8-18-72
M F M F M F
161 - - - - 4 7
107 6 - 4 - 3 -
208 23 49 8 19 6 17
209 18 37 11 29 6 17
210 - - - 3 1 5
215 - - - - - -
225 74 57 37 65 50 77
235 19 5 15 2 11 1
300 14 - 9 2 5 8
304 - - 1 - - 1
311 2 3 1 4 1 4
320 - - 2 - 2 -
327 36 - 39 - 44 -
342 10 - 10 - 12 -
354 - 38 - 31 - 29
355 17 2 12 3 11 7
440 9 - 7 - 7 -
___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___
Totals 228 191 156 158 163 173
11. An analysis of the work force by sex as set forth in Finding No. 10 above shows the following:
(a) As of July 2, 1965, there were 419 hourly paid employees at the Charlotte plant; of these 228 were males and 191 were females. Of the 191 females, 181 or approximately 95% of the females were employed in only four (4) of the sixteen (16) departments (208, 209, 225 and 354). Only 115 or 50% of the males were employed in these same four departments. There were no males in department 354 and no females were employed in department 327 (skilled trades department).
(b) As of July 2, 1970 (five years after the effective date of Title VII), there were 314 employees; of these 156 were males and 158 were females. Of the 158 females 144 or approximately 91% were employed in only four (4) of the sixteen (16) departments (208, 209, 225, 354) and 56 or approximately 36% of the males were employed in these same four departments. There were no males in department 354 and no females in department 327.
(c) As of August 18, 1972 (date complaint filed), there were 336 employees, of these 163 were males and 173 were females. Of the 173 females, 140 or approximately 181% were employed in only four (4) of the sixteen departments (208, 209, 225 and 354), whereas only 62 or 38% of the males were employed in these same four departments. There were no males in department 354 and no females in department 327.
12. An analysis of Plaintiff's Exhibits 19(A) through 19(I) (Labor Reports) shows that the overwhelming majority of the females were employed in only four (4) of the sixteen (16) departments (208, 209, 225 and 354). The percentages of females in these four (4) departments ranged from about 96% as of June 1, 1965, to about 78% as of June 1, 1973.
13. The defendant does not maintain lines of progression within the departments. Promotions, demotions, transfers, layoffs and recalls are governed by "company service credit" which is the seniority standard.
14. Company service, i. e., seniority, is the length of time an employee has been employed at the Charlotte plant from his or her most recent date of hire minus any and all times during which the employee has been on lay-off because of a reduction in the work force. For example, the plaintiff, originally employed on July 8, 1952, has a company service date of July 21, 1956 for job progression and lay-off purposes. Plaintiff's seniority standing has been reduced by approximately four years because of five lay-offs she was forced to take before July 2, 1965, and the several times she has been laid off since July 2, 1965 (January 23, 1970 and April 18, 1973).
15. From 1956, when the Charlotte plant re-opened, until November 18, 1969 — more than four years after the effective date of Title VII — the defendant maintained an open and declared policy and practice of segregating its work force based on sex.
16. The job assignment policy set forth in the 1959 employee handbook provided that:
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