EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY COMMISSION, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. LOCAL 350, PLUMBERS AND PIPEFITTERS, Defendant-Appellee

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”) appeals the district court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of Local 350, Plumbers and Pipefitters (“Local 350”). The EEOC brought suit to challenge Local 350’s policy of refusing to allow retired members to seek work through Local 350’s hiring hall while the members continued to receive pension benefits. We reverse.

FACTS

Local 350 represents pipefitters and plumbers in Northern Nevada and parts of California. Together with industry employers, Local 350 operates a hiring hall. The hiring hall dispatcher keeps four “out of work lists”, with different qualifications and priorities, from which members are hired. At issue in this case is list number 1, the “out of work list”, reserved for persons who have been employed for at least 4,000 hours or more during the five years immediately preceding placement on the list. The dispatcher sends members out to jobs in the order in which they signed up.

Donald Pilot, a member of Local 350, retired in 1983. After retirement, he paid retired members’ dues. In 1984, he decided to return to work, and signed onto the out of work list. Local 350 removed his name from the list, stating he…