Etta B. SAUNDERS, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. William Graham CLAYTOR, Jr., Secretary of the Navy, Et Al., Defendants-Appellants

This case presents the following questions on appeal, (1) whether the district court’s award of a “cost of living inflation factor” adjustment in addition to a back pay award against the United States under Title VII is barred by the doctrine of Sovereign immunity; and (2) whether the district court erred in awarding attorneys’ fees for all work performed by plaintiff’s counsel in two consolidated Title VII cases even though plaintiff prevailed in only one of them.

Plaintiff Etta Saunders, a Negro female, brought two employment discrimination suits against the Secretary of the Navy and others under Title VII, 42 U.S.C. §§ 2000e et seq. In the first action (CV 73-2241 WHO), she contested her removal from employment as a result of a reduction in force (RIF). In the second action (CV 74-1286 WHO), she challenged her denial of eligibility for the position of Equal Employment Opportunity Specialist.

Plaintiff was employed at the Naval Air Rework Facility as an Aircraft Metalsmith, a position she had obtained as a result of a determination by the Navy Department in 1968 that she had been denied promotion on the basis of sex discrimination. In March of 1973, plaintiff applied for the…