Employment Practices Decisions Archive: 1937 - 1995, EMPLOYMENT-PRACTICES 6 EPD ¶8767, Katherine K. Raschak, Plaintiff v. General Motors Corp. et al., Detendants., (June 25, 1973), (Jun. 25, 1973)

Katherine K. Raschak, Plaintiff v. General Motors Corp. et al., Detendants.

United States District Court, Northern District of Ohio, Eastern Division. No. C 69-1021, June 25, 1973

Title VII--Civil Rights Act of 1964

Court Action--Sex Discrimination--Parties to Suit--Class Action.

--An employer accused of sex bias was not entitled to summary dismissal of a complaint where state female protective laws were null and void and there were fact issues as to whether or not there was intentional discrimination. A class action was granted to include all females employed presently or in the past at the company.

Back reference.--Ohio ¶26,599 .

Dennis E. Murray, Sandusky, Ohio, and Stanley P. Hebert, Russell Specter, Charles L. Reischel, Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, for Plaintiff.

George H. Rudolph, Victor DeMarco, Jones, Day, Cockley & Reavis, Ross L. Malone, General Counsel, Lizabeth A. Moody and Edward J. Dilworth, Jr., Detroit, Michigan, for Defendants.

LAMBROS, D. J.: In this action, there are several motions pending. These motions and the Court rulings thereon are as follows:

1. The motion of General Motors Corporation (“GMC”) to strike certain allegations of the complaint is overruled.

2. The motion of GMC to dismiss of the defendants, International Union of Electrical Workers Local 717 (“Local”) is overruled.

3. The motion of the Local for summary judgment is granted. The Court finds that Sections 4107.43 and 4170.46 of the Ohio Revised Code are in conflict with Section 703(a) of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (42 U. S. C. §2000e-2(a) . As such, they are null and void. Ridinger v. General Motors Corp., [3 EPD ¶8175 ] 325 F. Supp. 1089 (S. D. Ohio 1971); Rinehart v. Westinghouse Electric Corp. Case No. C 70-537 (N. D. Ohio August 28, 1971) [4 EPD ¶7520 ]; Jones Metal Products Co. v. Walker, [4 EPD ¶7746 ] 29 Ohio St. 2d 173 (1972).

4. The motion of GMC for summary judgment is denied. As indicated above, the Court finds, contrary to the contention of GMC, that Ohio Revised Code §§4107.43 and 4170.46 are null and void. The Court further finds that there are genuine issues of material fact as to whether there was intentional discrimination upon the part of GMC.

5. The motion of the plaintiff for this case to proceed as a class action is granted. Since class actions are an appropriate vehicle for challenges to discriminatory employment practices, a class action is proper in this case. Manning v. International Union, [5 EPD ¶7964 ] 466 F. 2d 812 (6th Cir. 1972). Furthermore, the Court finds that it is class action under the purview of Fed. R. Civ. P. 23(b)(2). Robinson v. Lorillard Corp., [3 EPD ¶8267 ] 444 F. 2d 791 (4th Cir. 1971). The class shall include those females who have been employed, who should have been employed and who are presently employed by GMC. The exact persons within the class, however, shall not be determined until the final decree.

It Is So Ordered.