Pegues v. MISS. STATE EMPLOYMENT SERVICE, ETC., DC 72-4-S.

• Citation: 488 F. Supp. 239
• Decision Date: 07 March 1980
• Docket Number: No. DC 72-4-S.,DC 72-4-S.
• Parties: Ms. Rosie Lee PEGUES, Rebecca Gillespie, Mary Boyd and Robert Williams, Plaintiffs, v. MISSISSIPPI STATE EMPLOYMENT SERVICE OF the MISSISSIPPI EMPLOYMENT SECURITY COMMISSION et al., Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Northern District of Mississippi

488 F. Supp. 239

Ms. Rosie Lee PEGUES, Rebecca Gillespie, Mary Boyd and Robert Williams, Plaintiffs, v. MISSISSIPPI STATE EMPLOYMENT SERVICE OF the MISSISSIPPI EMPLOYMENT SECURITY COMMISSION et al., Defendants.

No. DC 72-4-S.

United States District Court, N. D. Mississippi, Delta Division.

March 7, 1980.

Richard T. Seymour, Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, Washington, D. C., Nausead Stewart, Jackson, Miss., Richard B. Sobol, Washington, D. C., for plaintiffs.

Fred J. Lotterhos, Gen. Counsel, Leopoldo Thomas Aragon, Asst. Gen. Counsel, Mississippi Employment Security Commission, Jackson, Miss., for defendants.

Lutz Alexander Prager, Washington, D. C., and Charles A. Haycraft, Dist. Director, Jackson District Office, EEOC, Jackson, Miss., for amicus curiae defendant EEOC.

Craig A. Berrington, Jonathan H. Waxman, Acting Counsel for Litigation, Associate Sol. for Manpower, U. S. Dept. of Labor, Washington, D. C., and H. M. Ray, U. S. Atty. and John Hailman, Asst. U. S. Atty., Oxford, Miss., for amicus curiae Secretary of Labor.

MEMORANDUM OF DECISION

ORMA R. SMITH, District Judge.

This action has been submitted to the court for decision after a fourteen-day trial on the merits in which all parties participated.

The court has received the memoranda of the parties and post-trial proposed findings of fact and conclusions of law. After a careful study of the evidence presented, the court has concluded for the reasons hereinafter given, that plaintiffs cannot prevail and the complaint must be dismissed.

I. The Parties.

The plaintiffs, Rosie Lee Pegues, Rebecca Gillespie, Mary Boyd and Robert Williams are members of the black race. They reside in or near Bolivar County, Mississippi, and were job applicants at the Bolivar County or Cleveland, Mississippi local office (hereafter sometimes referred to as the "Cleveland MSES office", or the "Cleveland office") of the Mississippi State Employment Service (MSES). They have been permitted to prosecute a class action for the benefit of all black and female job applicants at the Cleveland MSES office who have received or may receive in the future, disparate treatment at the hands of the personnel at that office.

The defendants are:

1. The Mississippi State Employment Service (MSES), a division of the Mississippi Employment Security Commission.

2. John E. Aldridge, a resident of Hinds County, Mississippi. Mr. Aldridge was the Executive Director of the Mississippi Employment Security Commission from July 16, 1960, until his retirement at the end of February 1978.

3. Ernest C. Lindsey, a resident of Cleveland, Bolivar County, Mississippi. Mr. Lindsey has been, and is presently, office manager of the Cleveland MSES office, serving in this capacity since November 1968.

4. The United States Secretary of Labor, currently the Honorable Ray Marshall, a resident of Washington, D. C.

5. The United States Department of Labor, represented herein by the Atlanta Georgia office of the United States Employment Service (USES).

The Federal Defendants, that is to say the Secretary of Labor, The Labor Department, and USES, have been released from the suit by prior order of the court except for their role as defendants to the third-party complaint of MSES, and other state defendants.

II. Jurisdiction.

The action is predicated on Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. §§ 2000e et seq.; 42 U.S.C. §§ 1981, 1983, and the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Amendments to the Constitution of the United States. Jurisdiction is vested pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1343(3) and (4).

III. The Issues.

The named plaintiffs contend that the Cleveland MSES office discriminated against them because of their race and sex in classifying them for employment referrals and in making referrals. Defendants Aldridge and Lindsey are said to be personally liable to plaintiffs and members of their class because they knowingly participated in the action of the Cleveland MSES office in its discriminatory conduct.

The class represented by plaintiffs is described as a class of black persons and females who have sought, or in the future may seek, employment opportunities through referrals by the Cleveland MSES office and who claim that they have been, or in the future may be, the target of discrimination on the basis of race or sex.

The State Defendants claim indemnity from the Federal Defendants for any monetary recovery for which the State Defendants are held liable on account of back pay to plaintiffs or class members, suit costs, etc., in the event of an adverse judgment in the action. The State Defendants also seek injunctive relief from the Federal Defendants should the same become appropriate.

IV. Plaintiffs' Evidence.

A. The Named Plaintiffs.

1. Rosie Lee Pegues did not appear or testify at the trial of the case. Her record SD Exhibit 58 reveals that at the time of the events upon which her Title VII charge was based, she was forty-six years of age. Her education was at the sixth grade level. The "Adult Basic Learning Examination" administered to her revealed a reading level of third grade, and math level of fourth grade. Her previous work history was in the field of farm work, maid, kitchen help, and housecleaning. She had also worked five months with the Headstart Program in Merigold, Mississippi. On her application Form 511, under "Type work preferred," she wrote she was not willing to accept a job out of the area. The 511 form reveals that she had been referred to the STAR Program Systematic Training and Redevelopment at Mound Bayou, Mississippi, a program designed to provide training to help remove employment barriers from persons with low educational, training, skill and experience levels. She participated in the program, but the program was terminated for lack of funds before it was completed. There was also an entry of termination for "loss of interest" on status change notice dated December 4, 1969, in her STAR file.

2. Rebecca Gillespie, at the time of the events upon which her Title VII charge was based, was twenty-eight years of age. Her education was at the eighth grade level, with tenth grade equivalency later achieved. The "Adult Basic Learning Examination" administered to her revealed a reading level of fifth grade, and math level of fifth grade. Her previous early work history was in a factory for one year Alabama Metal, Rosedale, Mississippi, and as a cook-helper with the Headstart Program at Pace, Mississippi. She later worked as a nurse aide. She, too, had been referred to the STAR program to assist in removing her employment barriers, and participated in the program until it was terminated. Before enrolling in that program, she had been referred by MSES to a job at Misceramic Tile, where she was not hired, and at the Bar B Q House, where she was hired, and worked for three days. September 26, 1969, counseling insert form shows "Mainstream MDTA for nurse aid when slot develops." During the time when this applicant was seeking employment through the Cleveland MSES office (1968-1975) she completed five full term pregnancies. She testified that during parts of the relevant time period she was earning about $25.00 per day hauling farm labor with her truck.

3. Mary Boyd, at the time of the events upon which her Title VII charge was based, was forty-nine years of age. Her education was at the sixth grade level. The "Adult Basic Learning Examination" administered to her revealed a reading level of fourth grade and math level of fourth grade. Her previous work history was in the field of farm work and housecleaning. Her type work preferred was "nurse aide training" or "cafe." She, too, had been referred to the STAR program to assist in removing her employment barriers, and participated in the program until it was terminated. In 1971 she was referred by the Cleveland MSES office to nurse aide training, and upon completion was referred to Community Hospital in Mound Bayou, where she was hired as a nurse aide.

4. Robert Williams, at the time of the events upon which his Title VII charge was based, was thirty-six years of age. His education was at the second grade level. The "Adult Basic Learning Examination" administered to him revealed a reading level of below first grade, and math level of second grade. His previous work history was tractor driving and other farm work. He, too, had been referred to the STAR program to assist in removing his employment barriers, and participated in the program until it was terminated.

None of the named plaintiffs who testified was able to cite any referral of a white or a male who was less qualified than they, or similarly qualified, to any job which named plaintiffs believed they should have been referred to. The testimony of these plaintiffs showed that they were well aware of their employment barriers, and that they were making an effort to remove those barriers. Plaintiff Boyd testified that she had no objection to being classified or referred as a maid, and plaintiff Williams testified that janitorial type work was about all that he was capable of doing. In addition to the STAR training, defendants MSES also furnished other counseling and training opportunities to the named plaintiffs in an effort to prepare them for entry into the Bolivar County job market at the highest level for which they might be qualified. On or about February 27, 1970, named plaintiffs filed Title VII charges against MSES, charging discriminatory service to them.

None of the plaintiffs who testified had any dealings with defendants Lindsey or Aldridge, or knew who they were.

B. Members of Plaintiff Class.

Testimony was taken from some seventeen other black applicants, male and female, who were seeking employment and who sought the services of the Cleveland MSES office toward that end. These witnesses, with varying qualifications, were rendered various services by the Cleveland MSES office. There was no credible testimony from these witnesses that any...