Babaui MALONE, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. NORTH AMERICAN ROCKWELL CORPORATION, a Corporation, Defendant-Appellee

Mrs. Babaui Malone appeals a district court order granting summary judgment dismissing her complaint charging her employer, North American Rockwell Corporation (North American), with job discrimination in violation of Title VII, the equal employment provisions, of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, 42 U.S.C. §§ 2000e et seq. We reverse and remand.

Mrs. Malone, a black, has been employed by North American since 1942. She has unsuccessfully sought promotion from her present classification of aircraft assembler to that of aircraft structure mechanic. In early 1967, North American promoted two Caucasian men from assembler to structure mechanic. Both had worked in the same unit as Mrs. Malone; both were below her in seniority.

Mrs. Malone then filed a grievance with her union agent contending that she had been denied promotion in violation of the union contract. The grievance was settled against her on July 12, and Mrs. Malone was so notified on August 27. On September 2, she mailed a charge to the Equal Employment Opportunities Commission (the EEOC), alleging racial discrimination in the promotion of the two men and in the settlement of her grievance. The EEOC immediately referred her…