Eugene F. MAROTTA, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. William J. USERY, Secretary of Labor, U. S. Department of Labor, Defendant-Appellee

The plaintiff appeals from a judgment for defendant, the Secretary of Labor, entered on a decision of Judge Orrick in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California, after trial without a jury. Appellant Marotta, a white employee of the federal government, working in the Department of Labor, sued under 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-5(f)(l) a part of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which was extended to employees of the federal government by 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-16(c), a part of the Equal Opportunity Act of 1972. He complained of so-called “reverse discrimination” on account of race in that a black was promoted to a position for which Marotta was an applicant. Neither side asked for a jury trial and could not do so because jury trials are not a matter of right in this type of action. Slack v. Havens, 522 F.2d 1091, 1094 (9th Cir. 1975), approved by implication in Great American Federal S. & L. Association v. Novotny, 442 U.S. 366, 375 , 99 S.Ct. 2345, 2350 , 60 L.Ed.2d 957 (1979). We affirm the judgment below.

1.

In 1972 the Department of Labor created the new position of Regional Director. There were to be ten Regional Directors, one in each of the…