Terry L. GOICOECHEA, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. the MOUNTAIN STATES TELEPHONE AND TELEGRAPH COMPANY, Defendant-Appellee

This is an appeal from an order granting summary judgment for defendant, Mountain States Telephone and Telegraph Company, on a complaint alleging employment discrimination in violation of Title VII, 42 U.S.C. §§ 2000e et seq. Plaintiff Goicoechea’s employment as a cable splicer was terminated. as a result of her refusal to comply with the defendant’s requirement that employees in her job category travel for extended periods. She claims that this condition of employment had a discriminatory impact on females because a significant segment of the workforce consists of women who, like her, are divorced mothers with custody of minor children. Goicoechea argues that the adverse effect of travel requirements lies in their interference with these women’s childcare responsibilities.

Assuming that it would be possible for the plaintiff to establish a prima facie case of sex discrimination based on the adverse impact of such a policy on women, see Gifford v. Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway Co., 685 F.2d 1149 (9th Cir.1982), we still must conclude that the employer here was entitled to summary judgment. There is no dispute that travel had a “manifest relationship” to the plaintiff’s job…