Margaret Christine REED, Individually, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. LOCKHEED AIRCRAFT CORPORATION, Defendant-Appellee

We review the grant of defendant’s motion for summary judgment in this employment discrimination .ease. The trial court concluded there was no issue of fact which, if resolved in plaintiff’s favor, could lead to a plaintiff’s verdict. We disagree and reverse and remand.

FACTS

Margaret Reed was an employee of Lockheed for almost 35 years from 1943 until her retirement in 1978. Her advancement was slow. She began as a clerk in the Stock Transfer Department in 1948, attained a supervisory position of Assistant Transfer Officer in 1953, and was “promoted” to Transfer Officer in 1963.

The word “promoted” is used advisedly, because Reed alleges she was given no raise to accompany the change in title. Although counsel for appellee refer to the 1963 event as a “promotion,” Howard Lockwood, appellee’s personnel director, testified in his declaration that Reed received a “change in title only, without a corresponding change in duties and salary grade.” This means that she continued at the same job with the same duties from 1953 until she retired in 1978. Whether a male supervisor would have held the same position for 25 years is unclear.

In addition to her failure-to-promote allegation,…