Vaughn v. Westinghouse Elec. Corp., LR-C-74-215.

• Decision Date: 30 September 1981
• Docket Number: No. LR-C-74-215.,LR-C-74-215.
• Parties: Christine VAUGHN, Plaintiff, v. WESTINGHOUSE ELECTRIC CORP., Defendant.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Eastern District of Arkansas

523 F. Supp. 368

Christine VAUGHN, Plaintiff, v. WESTINGHOUSE ELECTRIC CORP., Defendant.

No. LR-C-74-215.

United States District Court, E. D. Arkansas, W. D.

September 30, 1981.

John Walker, Zimmery Crutcher, Jr., Little Rock, Ark., for plaintiff.

James Moore, A. Tucker Raney, Walter Paulson, Friday, Eldredge & Clark, Little Rock, Ark., for defendant.

OPINION ON REMAND

ARNOLD, Circuit Judge, Sitting by Designation.

When this case was first before the Court, the defendant Westinghouse was found to have unlawfully disqualified the plaintiff Christine Vaughn from her job as a sealex operator at defendant's Little Rock light-bulb plant, in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e et seq. Vaughn v. Westinghouse Electric Corp., 471 F.Supp. 281 (E.D.Ark. 1979). In an unpublished¹ order this Court explained the rationale for its holding:

Defendant simply failed to articulate a legitimate, nondiscriminatory reason for Ms. Vaughn's disqualification.

Vaughn v. Westinghouse Electric Corp., No. LR-C-74-215 (E.D.Ark., order filed May 23, 1979).

On defendant's appeal the judgment was affirmed. 620 F.2d 655 (8th Cir. 1980). The Court of Appeals, one judge dissenting, held (1) that this Court had not "misapplied the appropriate burden of proof standards," id. at 656, and (2) that this Court's findings of fact were not clearly erroneous, id. at 656, 660. Defendant then petitioned for review in the Supreme Court. On March 9, 1981, the Supreme Court granted defendant's petition for certiorari, summarily vacated the judgment of the Court of Appeals, and remanded the cause to that Court "for further consideration in light of Texas Department of Community Affairs v. Burdine," 450 U.S. 248, 101 S.Ct. 1089, 67 L.Ed.2d 207 (1981), which had been decided five days earlier. Westinghouse Electric Corp. v. Vaughn, 450 U.S. 972, 101 S.Ct. 1504, 67 L.Ed.2d 808 (1981). The Court of Appeals in turn remanded the cause to this Court with directions to reconsider it in light of Burdine. Vaughn v. Westinghouse Electric Corp., 646 F.2d 335 (8th Cir. 1981). Thereafter, this Court held an in-chambers conference with counsel. It was agreed that no new evidence was necessary, and that each side would brief two issues: (1) whether, in light of Burdine, this Court erred in its initial holding that defendant had failed to meet its second-stage burden of articulating a legitimate, nondiscriminatory reason for disqualifying plaintiff from her job; and (2) whether, if defendant did in fact meet this second-stage burden of production, plaintiff should nevertheless recover because she has, on the whole case, met her burden of persuading the Court by a preponderance of the evidence that her disqualification was motivated at least in part by her race. Briefing was completed on July 21, 1981. I have now read the relevant portions of the transcript, and the case is ready for decision.

I.

The first of the two questions presented may be disposed of without elaborate discussion. Burdine holds that the defendant's burden, once plaintiff makes a prima facie case, is one of production only, not of persuasion. Defendant need only introduce admissible evidence, legally sufficient (if believed) to justify a judgment in its favor, that the reasons for its personnel action were legitimate and nondiscriminatory. Although "the defendant's explanation of its legitimate reasons must be clear and reasonably specific," 101 S.Ct. at 1096, "it is sufficient if the defendant's evidence raises a genuine issue of fact as to whether it discriminated against the plaintiff." Id. at 1094 (footnote omitted). Here, defendant introduced evidence, which was admitted without objection, that it disqualified plaintiff because she had too many burned wires. This asserted reason is legitimate and nondiscriminatory. It was error for this Court to require defendant to show by a preponderance of the evidence that it was in fact motivated by plaintiff's poor job performance. See 471 F.Supp. at 286, 289-90.² And although this Court thought at the time that the verbs "show," "prove," and "articulate" were roughly interchangeable, the Supreme Court has now unmistakably held otherwise. Plaintiff now concedes as much in her brief. The Court therefore now holds that defendant did articulate a legitimate, nondiscriminatory reason for disqualifying plaintiff as a sealex operator.

II.

Defendant argues, in an excellent brief, that plaintiff has failed to carry her burden of persuasion on the whole case. It is forcefully pointed out that plaintiff's problems with making production were well-documented; that Clint Turnage, her supervisor at the time of the disqualification, warned her several times that her performance would have to improve; and that the white woman who replaced her at the sealex machine was entitled to the job by virtue of seniority. In addition, defendant correctly states that there was virtually no direct evidence of unlawful motivation on the part of Mr. Turnage, and that no proof was offered to the effect that a white person with a work record comparable to Ms. Vaughn's was kept on the job. If the issue were narrowly confined to evidence bearing directly on the decision to disqualify the plaintiff, there is no question that defendant would prevail.

The Court believes itself obliged, however, to consider the whole record, including those portions of the evidence that may throw indirect light on defendant's conduct. The Court is not called upon to express a generalized judgment about Westinghouse's employment policies. This is only an individual action challenging a single employee's disqualification and transfer to a lesser-paying job. But circumstantial evidence of intent, as well as direct, is relevant and can be persuasive. Direct evidence of discrimination is rare. An individual personnel action can usually be properly judged only if it is placed in the broader context of defendant's actions over a substantial period of time.

This Court's prior opinion described this context in some detail. 471 F.Supp. at 283-86. There is no need to repeat this discussion here. The findings previously made have been upheld by the Court of Appeals.³ They are now reaffirmed by this Court. In addition, it is important to note that almost all of defendant's supervisors, including the two men under whom plaintiff worked as a sealex operator, are and have been white; that most of the labor-grade-four sealex operators in 1971, when plaintiff was disqualified, were white (Tr. 15); that "basically all" the labor-grade-one bulb loaders (the lower-paying job to which plaintiff was demoted) were black (Tr. 17); that plaintiff, according to a memorandum dated January 18, 1971, performed satisfactorily on the sealex machine while working under O. D. Brazil, before her transfer to Mr. Turnage's shift; and that plaintiff had progressively been given pay increases, until, several months before her disqualification, she had reached the top rate of pay available for that work. The Court does not doubt that the burnt wires documented by defendant in fact existed, or that production problems were a genuine concern. It seems likely, in fact, that plaintiff's job performance did leave something to be desired, and that defendant was in part legitimately motivated in disqualifying her.

The question in the case, however, is whether race played any substantial part in defendant's decision-making. To decide what motivated someone ten years ago is not an easy task. But on balance the Court is persuaded that plaintiff's race was more likely than not one of the factors that contributed substantially to defendant's decision. If defendant had set a numerical standard of production, communicated it to its employees, and enforced it uniformly, the result might well be otherwise. It did not do so.⁴ Turnage did act objectively in the sense of counting and documenting the number of plaintiff's burnt wires, but he never communicated to her any fixed number that she could not exceed (Tr. 655), nor did he testify as to what that number might have been.⁵ The Court finds that plaintiff was disqualified in part because of her race. Defendant's conduct was therefore a violation of Title VII.

III.

Before final judgment can be entered, the Court must decide what elements of relief are appropriate. When this case was before the Court the first time, plaintiff was awarded $1,696.25, representing back pay up to and including May 30, 1979. 471 F.Supp. at 292. This figure must be brought up to date. In...