AT&T Maternity Leave Class Action Lawsuit - Hulteen, et al v. AT&T

To:  All C&T Locals

Greetings:

CWA has finally received some good news regarding our class action lawsuit.  We challenged AT&T's policy of refusing to include service credit for women who took pregnancy-related leaves prior to the passage of the Pregnancy Discrimination Act, and as a result were not treated the same as other temporarily disabled employees when calculating pension and/or termination benefits for these workers.  The information was provided by CWA's General Counsel, Mary O'Melveny.

A decision has finally been issued by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in California.  CWA won our motion for summary judgment in the U.S. District Court four years ago.  But the Judge basically said that he was forced to rule in our favor because of an existing 9th Circuit ruling in a 1991 case known as Pallas v. Pacific Telephone.  That case held that a similar policy constituted prohibited discrimination against women.  AT&T then appealed his ruling to the 9th Circuit and a three-judge panel of that court said that Pallas should no longer be considered good law because of various legal decisions from the Supreme Court that had taken place since it was decided.  CWA then asked the full 9th Circuit (15 judges) to consider the issue and they heard argument on the issue last October.

The decision just issued by the 9th Circuit rules overwhelmingly in favor of  CWA, with 11 Judges voting in our favor and only four voting against. The decision not only reaffirms the Pallas holding but chastises AT&T for failing to follow that ruling for its employees within the jurisdiction of the 9th Circuit.  Ms. O'Melveny advised that CWA expected AT&T to ask the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn the decision, though it is hard to know whether they will have any interest in doing so.  AT&T has 90 days to file a petition, but Ms. O'Melveny stated, "…in the meantime we should celebrate this wonderful victory and let our members know about it, especially since several thousand women, many already retired, could benefit if this decision remains." 

It is important to note that the lawsuit does not address leaves of absence for pregnancies after 1977.  While some telecommunications contracts may include language that gives service credit for child care leaves of absence, said language is a result of contract negotiations, not litigation. 

Should you have any questions, I can be reached by telephone at (202) 434-1291 and/or via e-mail at mflagge@cwa-union.org.  When the C&T office receives information regarding the status of the lawsuit, the C&T website will be updated.

In Unity,

Martha Flagge
CWA Representative

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