Sims v. Montgomery County Comm'n.

• Decision Date: 06 June 1991
• Docket Number: 82-717-N.,Civ. A. No. 3708-N
• Citation: 766 F. Supp. 1052
• Parties: Clara SIMS, et al., Plaintiffs, W.T. Scott, et al., Plaintiffs-Intervenors, v. MONTGOMERY COUNTY COMMISSION, et al., Defendants. Lois JOHNSON, etc., Plaintiff, v. MONTGOMERY COUNTY SHERIFF'S DEPARTMENT, et al., Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Middle District of Alabama

766 F. Supp. 1052

Clara SIMS, et al., Plaintiffs, W.T. Scott, et al., Plaintiffs-Intervenors, v. MONTGOMERY COUNTY COMMISSION, et al., Defendants.

Lois JOHNSON, etc., Plaintiff, v. MONTGOMERY COUNTY SHERIFF'S DEPARTMENT, et al., Defendants.

Civ. A. Nos. 3708-N, 82-717-N.

United States District Court, M.D. Alabama, N.D.

November 27, 1990.

Order Denying Reconsideration and Clarifying Opinion June 5, 1991.

On Motion to Alter or Amend June 6, 1991.

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Robert D. Segall, Montgomery, Ala., for Montgomery City-County Personnel Bd. and Wade Moss.

George Beck, Baxley, Beck & Dillard, Montgomery, Ala., for Walker Hobbie, Jr. and Bob Smith.

Thomas T. Gallion, III, Haskell, Slaughter & Young, Kenneth L. Thomas, Tyrone C. Means, Massey, Means & Thomas, Montgomery, Ala., for Montgomery County Com'n.

Vanzetta Penn McPherson, Montgomery, Ala., for Scott, intervenors.

Rick Williams, Montgomery, Ala., for Dodson, intervenors.

Joan Van Almen, Balske & Van Almen, Montgomery, Ala.

MEMORANDUM OPINION

MYRON H. THOMPSON, Chief Judge.

In these two longstanding class-action lawsuits, two groups of officers in the Montgomery County Sheriff's Department charge that the department has again illegally discriminated against them because of their sex and race.¹ In Johnson v. Montgomery County Sheriff's Department, Civil Action No. 82-717-N, Lois Johnson charges on behalf of herself and a class of female officers (the "Johnson class") that the department has continued to discriminate against them because of their sex. In Sims v. Montgomery County Commission, Civil Action No. 3708-N, W.T. Scott and three other named plaintiffs charge on behalf of themselves and a class of African-American officers (the "Scott class") that the department has continued to discriminate against them because of their race. The Johnson and Scott classes rest their claims on a number of legal bases: the prior orders of the court; Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as amended and codified at 42 U.S.C.A. §§ 2000e through 2000e-17; and the fourteenth amendment to the United States Constitution as enforced through 42 U.S. C.A. § 1983.² The Johnson and Scott classes have satisfied Title VII's requirement that they exhaust their administrative remedies before the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (the "EEOC").

Based on the evidence presented at a nonjury trial spanning over a three-month period, the court concludes that most of the claims of race and sex discrimination have merit and that, accordingly, appropriate individual and class-wide relief is due.³

I. THE JOHNSON LITIGATION

The Johnson class presents a number of different sex discrimination claims against the Montgomery County Sheriff's Department. The claims can be grouped as follows: first, class claims that departmental officials assign officers to jobs and shifts based on the officers' sex; second, class claims that male officers in the department have sexually harassed female officers; and, third, individual claims that departmental officials have retaliated against two female officers, Sallie Williams and Johnie Love, because of their participation in this litigation.⁴ However, before discussing these claims, the court will give some background information.

A. Background

The Montgomery County Sheriff's Department is divided in two divisions: corrections and law enforcement. The corrections division is responsible for the operation of the Montgomery County Detention Center, also known as the county jail; the law enforcement division is also known as the field division. The personnel structure of the department and its two divisions is as follows:

At the time of trial, the sheriff was Mac Sim Butler, a white male; the chief deputy was Calvin Huggins, a white male; the jail administrator was Willie McKitt, a black male; and the assistant chief deputy was W.J. Walker, a white male.

The county jail has four floors. The first floor is where prisoners are booked; the second floor houses both male and female inmates; and the third and fourth floors house only male inmates. Each floor has at least two "control booths" from which officers can watch inmates; there is also a central control booth. The jail has three job shifts: first shift, from 7:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.; second shift, from 3:30 p.m. to 12:00 midnight; and third shift, from 11:30 p.m. to 8:00 a.m.

In October 1982, Lois Johnson, then an officer in the corrections division of the Montgomery County Sheriff's Department, filed suit under Title VII charging the department and its officials with discrimination against women in hiring, promotions, transfers, and job and shift assignments. Pursuant to Rule 23(a) and (b)(2) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, the court certified a plaintiff class of all past, present, and future female employees and applicants for employment in the Montgomery County Sheriff's Department. See Johnson v. Montgomery County Sheriff's Department, 99 F.R.D. 562 (M.D.Ala.1983) ("Johnson I"). In January 1985, the court approved a consent decree resolving all claims brought by the Johnson class. The decree provided for, among other things, new policies with regard to promotions, transfers, and job and shift assignments. See Johnson v. Montgomery County Sheriff's Department, 604 F.Supp. 1346 (M.D. Ala.1985) ("Johnson II").⁵

The present phase of this litigation began on October 14, 1988, when the Johnson class filed a motion to compel, charging that the Sheriff's Department and its officials had violated the 1985 consent decree and Title VII. The focus of this phase of the litigation is primarily on the corrections division side of the Sheriff's Department.

B. Claims of Sexually Disparate Treatment, Retaliation, and Harassment

As the court has stated earlier, the Johnson class charges, first, that departmental officials assign officers to jobs and shifts based on the officers' sex; second, that male officers in the department have sexually harassed female officers; and, third, that departmental officials have retaliated against two female officers because of their participation in this litigation.

1. Claims of Sex Discrimination in Job and Shift Assignments

The Johnson class claims that the Sheriff's Department and its officers have violated both the 1985 consent decree and Title VII in the assignment of jobs and shifts to officers. The consent decree requires that job and shift assignments are to be made without regard to an officer's sex. Johnson II, 604 F.Supp. at 1353. The decree provides, however, for three exceptions to this general prohibition. The first two exceptions, which are envisioned by the decree as applying in only "narrow and unusual circumstances," are for "Strip searches" and "Situations which warrant that the privacy interests of the inmate must be protected." Id. The third exception is that "A minimum of one female deputy will be on duty in the jail for each of the three shifts." Id.⁶

Title VII prohibits sex discrimination in employment, 42 U.S.C.A. § 2000e-2(a),⁷ unless the employer can show that sex is a bona fide occupational qualification, § 2000e-2(e).⁸ This exception is satisfied "only if the essence of the business would be undermined" by allowing both men and women to compete on a non-discriminatory basis. Hardin v. Stynchcomb, 691 F.2d 1364, 1370 (11th Cir.1982). In addition, where the claimed exception is based on the privacy interests of inmates, the employer must show that, because of the nature of the operation of the business, the job responsibilities cannot be rearranged in a way that would eliminate the clash between the privacy interests of inmates and the equal employment opportunities of all officers without regard to sex. Id. at 1371.⁹

The Johnson class claims that the Sheriff's Department violated the consent decree and Title VII in job and shift assignments in the following four ways. First, departmental officials instituted a policy which permits only female correctional officers to be assigned jobs in the section of the county jail where female inmates are housed. Second, the department required that the number of females on each of the three duty shifts in the jail must be "balanced." Third, the department required that a female officer must be accompanied by another officer when in the vicinity of inmates. Finally, the department has discriminated against female officers in the appointment of recreational officers in the jail.

i.

In mid-April of 1988, the Sheriff's Department instituted a policy which permits only female correctional officers to be assigned to the county jail's "Two-North" wing where female inmates are housed. The department adopted the policy in response to allegations by several female inmates that one or two male officers assigned to the area had encouraged certain female inmates to undress and model nude. The department continued, however, to assign both male and female officers to the sections of the jail housing male inmates.

The evidence adduced at trial established that the Two-North policy severely restricted employment opportunities for female officers. Because of the limited number of female officers, the department required that they work the Two-North shifts considerably more frequently than they would have otherwise. The female officers, as a result, had significantly fewer opportunities to gain valuable job experience in the other aspects of jail management, such as in the areas where inmates are "booked" and processed. Female officers, especially those with substantial seniority, also had less opportunity to work the more desirable day shift and to have weekends off. In contrast, the male officers were accorded a greater opportunity to be exposed to all facets of jail management, and those with seniority...