Walton v. Cowin Equipment Co., Inc.

• Decision Date: 11 October 1991
• Docket Number: No. 89-AR-0263-S.,89-AR-0263-S.
• Parties: Regina Thomas WALTON, Plaintiff, v. COWIN EQUIPMENT COMPANY, INC., Defendant.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Northern District of Alabama

774 F. Supp. 1343

Regina Thomas WALTON, Plaintiff, v. COWIN EQUIPMENT COMPANY, INC., Defendant.

No. 89-AR-0263-S.

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

October 11, 1991.

James Alan Mendelsohn, Gordon Silberman Wiggins & Childs, Birmingham, Ala., for plaintiff.

James P. Alexander, John W. Hargrove, Bradley Arant Rose & White, Birmingham, Ala., for defendant.

MEMORANDUM OPINION

ACKER, District Judge.

On April 11, 1991, this court granted the motion of Regina Thomas Walton, plaintiff in the above-entitled cause, for a stay pending action by the Supreme Court of the United States on her petition for writ of certiorari directed to the Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. On October 7, 1991, the Supreme Court denied Walton's petition, automatically lifting the stay. Walton v. Cowin Equip. Co., ___ U.S. ___, 112 S.Ct. 86, 116 L.Ed.2d 58 (1991).

The Eleventh Circuit's opinion and mandate, now triggered, requires this court to "treat this case as a proceeding in equity, consider whether to grant the relief appellant sic seeks, and enter findings of fact and conclusions of law as required by Fed. R.Civ.P. 52(a)". Walton v. Cowin Equip. Co., No. 90-7264, slip op. at 1 (11th Cir. March 1, 1991) 930 F.2d 924 (table). The Eleventh Circuit having already granted appellant, Cowin, the only relief it sought in that court, this court deduces that the Eleventh Circuit meant to order this court to grant appellee, the plaintiff, the equitable relief, if any, to which this court finds her entitled. In reaching its decision, the Eleventh Circuit held that a binding jury trial is forbidden in a Title VII case, which the Eleventh Circuit finds always to be "equitable". When the Supreme Court denied certiorari, the Eleventh Circuit's conclusion on this question not only was confirmed as the law of the Eleventh Circuit but became the law of this case. It did not necessarily become the law of the land, leaving open the question of whether or not the author of Judge Acker's Last Stand: The Northern District of Alabama's Lonesome Battle for the Right to Trial by Jury under Title VII, 39 J.Urb. & Contemp.L. 135 (1991), is correct.

Before trial, Walton's claim under 42 U.S.C. § 1981 was dismissed on Cowin's motion for partial summary judgment because of Patterson v. McLean Credit Union, 491 U.S. 164, 109 S.Ct. 2363, 105 L.Ed.2d 132 (1989), with a finding pursuant to Rule 54(b), F.R.Civ.P. Walton's remaining claims were brought under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e, et seq. Plaintiff's primary claim is that she was discriminated against by her employer Cowin on account of her race, specifically that she suffered disparate treatment in pay as compared with white employees and that she had been retaliated against by Cowin for having filed her EEOC charge. See Walton v. Cowin Equip. Co., 733 F.Supp. 327 (N.D.Ala. 1990), rev'd 930 F.2d 924 (11th Cir.1991), cert. denied, ___ U.S. ___, 112 S.Ct. 86, 116 L.Ed.2d 58. She sought monetary compensation (which is sometimes referred to as "backpay") to make up for this pay differential. Lastly, she sought broad injunctive relief for herself and other black employees.

The court keeps in mind that Walton filed a cross-appeal from this court's final judgment as to "all appealable issues decided adversely to plaintiff". Walton's said cross-appeal was dismissed as it related to her disagreement with this court's granting of partial summary judgment against her on her claim brought under 42 U.S.C. § 1981. The reason for this dismissal was that her appeal on this issue was not timely in view of Rule 54(b). In all other respects, the Eleventh Circuit was totally silent on Walton's cross-appeal. This absence of any expression in response to Walton's cross-appeal necessarily means that all of this court's rulings against Walton were affirmed and that the issues decided against Walton need not be addressed again.

Because the Eleventh Circuit did not order a new trial, this court has read the trial transcript prepared for the appeal and, by doing so, has refreshed its recollection of the testimony and documentary evidence in order to be in a position to make the necessary findings of fact for deciding an equity case.

Findings of Fact

Walton is a black employee of Cowin, which first employed her in 1977. Since that time she has been an exemplary and loyal employee.

More than 180 days before Walton filed her charge with EEOC in order to meet the administrative prerequisites for filing this action, Cowin selected Jean Collins, who is white, for the position of "assistant sales coordinator" rather than Walton. Within the said 180-day period, and thereafter, Walton performed duties ostensibly outside of her job description as "billing clerk", and within the duties contained in Collins's job description as "assistant sales coordinator". The duties and responsibilities were not exactly the same but were substantially similar. During the period between the date 180 days prior to the filing of Walton's EEOC charge and the date of trial, Collins was paid wages by Cowin of $14,622.40 more than was Walton.

At some time after Walton filed her EEOC charge, she was transferred from Cowin's billing department to its parts department but with no cut in pay. This transfer was occasioned by a personality conflict between Walton and Libby Brekle, a fellow employee in the billing department. Although this personality conflict may not have been of Walton's making, it did exist, and it interfered with the smooth functioning of the billing department. Walton testified that she is now happy with her new position in the parts department. In fact, since the transfer, she has received an increase in pay.

Conclusions of Law

This court has jurisdiction over this action pursuant to 28 U.S.C. §§ 1331 & 1343(a)(4).

The Title VII Equal Pay Claim.

It can easily be seen that Walton is using Title VII exactly as the Equal Pay Act would be used in a sex discrimination case, except that her claim of unequal pay is based on an allegation of racially motivated disparate pay rather than a motivation of gender discrimination. Because Walton's theory is disparate treatment, she had the burden of proving a specific discriminatory intent. The court obtains guidance from Pittman v. Hattiesburg Mun. Separate School Dist., 644 F.2d 1071 (5th Cir. 1981), decided before the split between the circuits, in which the "old" Fifth Circuit set out the requirement for a plaintiff's prima facie case of wage discrimination as follows:

To establish a prima facie case of racial discrimination with respect to compensation, the plaintiff must show that she was paid less than a member of a different race was paid for work requiring substantially the same responsibility. citations omitted. The usual unequal pay case involves two employees, one black and one white, employed at the same time and doing substantially the same work.

Id. at 1074 (emphasis supplied).

Cowin's main contention is that Walton has failed to offer solid proof to support her charge that "white persons similarly situated to plaintiff were paid at rates commensurate to their duties while plaintiff was not" (the statement of Walton's position in the pre-trial order). Cowin's said contention was urged upon the court more than once during trial and was elaborated upon in Cowin's post-trial brief. It boils down to the argument that Walton has failed to compare herself with a particular white employee, or to particular white employees, with substantially the same duties and responsibilities. Because of Cowin's statute of limitations defense, the court refused to allow Walton to try to prove a claim that she was the victim of discrimination and was entitled to backpay as a direct consequence of Cowin's selection of Collins, who is white, instead of Walton, who is black, for the position of "assistant sales coordinator". The reason for this ruling was and still is that Cowin's decision to give the job to Collins was made known to Walton more than 180 days before Walton filed her EEOC charge, and thus is barred. Nevertheless, the court did allow Walton to place into evidence materials obtained by discovery and arguably demonstrating that, for a period of time not precluded by the 180-day statute of limitations, Collins's salary exceeded Walton's wages by the sum of $14,622.40.

It would indeed be a rare case in which a black employee (or a female employee in an Equal Pay Act case) is able to present a precise and exact comparison, or an equation, between her job responsibilities and those of a higher paid non-protected employee. The workplace is very rarely that simple an environment. It is susceptible to discriminatory conduct of a very subtle nature. Walton held the job title "billing clerk" before she was transferred to the parts department. Job titles can be very misleading tools for making job comparisons. Walton, who came to work for Cowin in 1977, was admittedly Cowin's highest paid "billing clerk". However, both she and her two fellow billing clerks, both of them white, testified that Walton was routinely called upon to perform other duties, many of which could not be fairly described as "billing clerk" duties and many of which were contained within the actual job description of Collins, namely, "assistant sales coordinator". Obviously, if Walton had chosen to compare herself, as Cowin would compare her, only with other "billing clerks", she would have no case. She never held the title of "assistant sales coordinator", but she did offer substantial proof that she performed actual job duties and responsibilities which overlapped or were commensurate with those undertaken by Collins. The evidence was quite strong that Walton's duties were broader than the duties of her two fellow "billing clerks". It was also virtually undisputed that at least some of Walton's duties duplicated those of Collins. The percentage or the importance of these...