Full opinion text
FINDINGS OF FACT AND CONCLUSIONS OF LAW CHARLES R. RICHEY, District Judge. This class action is brought by five named plaintiffs on behalf of the 324 female Journeyman Bindery Workers of all grades (“JBWs”) employed in the Binding Division of the United States Government Printing Office (“GPO”) on May 25, 1973. All of the named plaintiffs are grade 4 JBWs who have operated the Smyth sewing machines in the Binding Division as early as 1971. The defendant, John J. Boyle, is the Public Printer of the United States. He is sued in his official capacity as chief administrative officer of the GPO, which produces printed matter for the United States government. Pursuant to 44 U.S.C. § 305, he classifies all positions in the Production Department, which includes the Binding Division, and establishes the wages paid for these positions. The plaintiffs allege that the defendant has continued to engage in patterns and practices of sex discrimination against the class in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as amended by the Equal Employment Opportunity Act of 1972, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e et seq., and Executive Order 11478, 34 F.R. 12985 (1969), as amended by Executive Order 11590, 36 F.R. 7831 (1970). Plaintiffs also allege that defendant’s practices violate the Equal Pay Act of 1963, 29 U.S.C. § 206(d), which became applicable to the defendant by 1974 amendments to the Fair Labor Standards Act, Pub.L. 93-259, § 6(a)(1). After exhausting their administrative remedies concerning their Title VII and Equal Pay Act claims, the plaintiffs filed suit on July 24, 1974. The Title VII class was conditionally certified pursuant to Fed. R.Civ.Proc. 23(b)(2) on December 4, 1974. The case was originally tried before the late Judge Waddy in March, 1978, but Judge Waddy died before issuing a final decision; and a new trial was held before this Court from March 7, 1979 through March 22, 1979. At the time of trial, the named plaintiffs and 191 other members of the Title VII class had filed consents to become members of the Equal Pay Act class. The primary issues before the Court may be stated as follows: (1) Whether the defendant’s requirement that JBWs complete a four-year apprenticeship program before attaining craft bookbinder status is a pattern and practice of sexual discrimination which violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act; (2) Whether the defendant’s classification of all JBW positions as noncraft positions, with lesser pay and opportunities for advancement than those available to craft employees, is a pattern and practice of discrimination under Title VII; (3) Whether the defendant’s rule that only craftsmen may compete for supervisory and printing specialist positions constitutes a pattern and practice of sexual discrimination in violation of Title VII; (4) Whether the defendant violates the Equal Pay Act by refusing to pay wages to JBWs equal to those paid to bookbinders for jobs the performance of which require equal skill, effort and responsibility and are performed under substantially equal working conditions, and whether any such violation is willful. On the basis of the following findings of fact and conclusions of law, with certain exceptions, these issues are resolved in favor of the plaintiffs. The Court will conduct further proceedings to determine the relief to which the plaintiffs are appropriately entitled. I. FINDINGS OF FACT. A. GPO and Industry Practices. The Binding Division of the GPO is organized on a production line basis to perform all of the hand and machine functions necessary to assemble hard and soft-covered books, pamphlets, bills, passports and the Congressional Record. Employees in the Binding Division áre classified as follows: 1) craft or bookbinder; 2) craft-uprate, earning salaries above the regular craft rate; 3) noncraft, including JBWs and unskilled Printing Plant Workers (“PPWs”), and general grade (“GG”). Craftsmen and craft-uprates supposedly perform jobs which have traditionally been recognized in the printing trades as skilled trades or crafts. These jobs require a four-year apprenticeship. Noncraft employees perform tasks which have been considered unskilled or semi-skilled. Only craftsmen are entitled to compete for supervisory and printing specialist positions. Regardless of the tasks to which they are actually assigned, all craft employees receive higher wages than noncraft employees. All bookbinders earn $11.16 per hour, regardless of the duties they actually perform. In contrast, the noncraft JBWs are categorized according to job grades 5, 4, 3 and 2, and perform different tasks according to their grade. The five grade 5 JBWs are considered work leaders and they currently earn $8.01 per hour. The 36 grade 4 JBWs, including the five named plaintiffs, who operate the Smyth sewing machines, are paid $7.59 per hour. Grade 3 JBWs operate the Oversewing and Singer sewing machines, earning $7.37 per hour. Grade 2 JBWs, who comprise the majority of the work force, earn $7.17 per hour. In 1973, 2,015 of the 3,977 Production Department employees were craftsmen. Males held approximately 1,980 of these positions, and 35 females held the remainder. All first-line supervisory positions were retained by males. There were 1,184 positions in the Binding Division. All of the 279 craft bookbinders were males, while 324 of the 325 noncraft JBWs were females. Approximately 80% of the 580 PPWs were males. Approximately 82% of the females in the Production Department as a whole were employed in the Binding Division. As of October 31, 1978, the Binding Division employed 241 craft bookbinders, all but one of whom were male, and 246 noncraft JBWs, all but one of whom were female. The Binding Division still has no female supervisors. Approximately 75 to 80% of the 279 male bookbinders employed in the Binding Division in 1973 operated various industrial machines used in the bookbinding process. The remaining 20 to 25% of the bookbinders performed some hand work and small machine operations. Only hand bookbinders in the Library Section perform hand craft operations. Grade 5 JBWs, or Bindery Worker Supervisors, direct JBWs under their supervision. However, they are not permitted to discipline or evaluate JBWs, or to control their leaves; they also receive lower wages than first-line supervisors. The Smyth, Over-sewing and Singer sewing machines, operated by grade 4 and 3 JBWs, are the only machines in the Binding Division not operated by bookbinders. JBW machine operators perform the same set up, adjustment and operation functions on their machines that bookbinders perform on the major machines which they operate. There are two methods by which GPO employees may obtain bookbinder or craft status. The first method is a four-year apprenticeship program, which the GPO has sponsored since 1922; by which some craftsmen employed in the Production Department have been trained. The last GPO apprenticeship class began in 1974. At that time it was announced that the program probably would not be resumed. Only a limited number of GPO bookbinders have completed the GPO apprenticeship program in binding. The remainder, presumably, attained bookbinder or craft status through the second method. This method consists of certification for appointment by a rating panel authorized by the Civil Service Commission. To obtain bookbinder status through this method, one must (1) either complete a four-year apprenticeship in binding or have four years of practical experience, which is substantially equivalent to a four-year apprenticeship and (2) also possess one-year’s experience as a journeyman bookbinder. JBWs are the only noncraft employees other than clerical workers who must meet a minimum experience level to be hired. JBWs are required to serve a two-year apprenticeship in the printing industry and to possess some skills before they enter the GPO. In addition to the two-year apprenticeship required of all JBWs, grades 3 and 4 JBW machine operators must serve an additional eighteen months of training on their machines. It is the defendant’s position that, despite their apprenticeships and job experience, JBWs may attain craft status in the bindery only by entering and completing the GPO four-year apprenticeship program, or by gaining equivalent experience in the private binding industry. Although under no obligation to do so, the GPO patterns its wage scales, general manning practices, and divisions between craft and noncraft occupations on practices maintained in private industry. Traditionally, it has not been possible for women to obtain craft bookbinder status in the industry, either by undertaking a four-year apprenticeship program, or by obtaining equivalent experience. While men have held skilled positions, women have been permitted to undertake only tasks considered noncraft, which entail only two-year apprenticeships. Major industrial machines have been set up and operated by men, who have been assisted by women. The only major machines operated by women are the sewing machines. Men perform hand binding tasks. Women also perform various hand tasks, including hand sewing, and serve as assistants on the machines operated by men. This widespread practice in the trade is evidenced by the fact that as late as 1969 the Constitution and By-Laws of the International Brotherhood of Bookbinders (the predecessor of the Graphic Arts International Union, separate locals of which currently represent bookbinders and JBWs in the GPO) provided different registration requirements for men and women; i. e. a four-year apprenticeship period for men and a two-year apprenticeship for women; classified bindery work as men’s and women’s work; set women’s wages at not less than 70% of journeymen’s, or bookbinders’ wages; and stated in Section 64 that “Bindery women shall not be permitted to perform any work classified as journeymen’s work, except in a case where a journeyman is not available.” B. The Classification of JBW and Bookbinder Positions. Prior to the filing of the administrative complaint in this case, grade 4 JBWs, who operate the Smyth sewing machine, made several attempts, beginning in 1963, to have their positions reclassified as craft positions and/or to gain credit toward the four-year craft apprenticeships for their two-year apprenticeships and machine experience. In a 1966 request for reclassification, the JBWs alleged that the classification violated the Equal Pay Act of 1963. In response to an unsuccessful attempt in 1972, the then acting Public Printer stated that a full investigation had been made of the matter. However, the defendant was unable to provide the plaintiffs with a copy of this supposed investigation or name the methods employed or the management employees who participated in it. 1. The O’Connell testimony: Smyth machine operations are equal to bookbinder machine operations in difficulty, responsibility and qualifications. For purposes of the administrative proceeding in this matter, the defendant requested that the Civil Service Commission appoint an investigator to conduct an investigation of job classification issues raised in the complaint on the defendant’s behalf. The Civil Service Commission appointed its regular employee, Mr. James R. O’Connell, who is broadly experienced in job classification and position management in industrial, professional and scientific areas. Mr. O’Connell has been responsible for more than 2,000 job classifications during his federal employment, and is qualified as an expert on position classifications. Using Civil Service Commission standards, he performed a job comparison study of the Smyth sewing machine and the machines set up and operated by bookbinders. Mr. O’Connell followed standard Commission procedures, and based his conclusions on his own observations and the answers of defendant’s employees to particular questions. The defendant offered no objection, at the time of the study, to the 25 machines selected by Mr. O’Connell for his study. Mr. O’Connell concluded that there is no rational basis for distinguishing the grade 4 JBW Smyth operation from work performed by virtually all bookbinders. With few exceptions, Mr. O’Connell was persuaded that the difficulty, responsibility, and qualifications required for all bookbinder machine operations were equal to those required on the Smyth assignment. His evaluation, using these terms, was identical in substance to the assessment of skill, effort, and responsibility required under the Equal Pay Act. His conclusions were stated for purposes of the administrative investigation (see plaintiffs’ exhibit 1, apps. 14 & 16), and were reiterated and amplified in his testimony before the Court in March, 1978 and March, 1979. Mr. O’Connell found it significant that bookbinders and sewing machine operators work as part of one production process— both in physical proximity as well as within the same organizational structure. Thus, the working conditions and materials handled by the two groups are identical. He observed that each machine operator’s job, including that of the Smyth operators, requires manual dexterity, mechanical aptitude, attention to detail, and a sense of responsibility for the machine and the product. He concluded that only the four quad folder machines in the bindery require more physical and manual dexterity to set up and adjust than does the Smyth sewing machine. Defining job content as an analysis of the specific tasks performed for a specific job, Mr. O’Connell found that all the bookbinder machine operations and the Smyth operation involved substantially the same job content. He stated that the Smyth machine operation was virtually identical to the bookbinder machine operations. Perhaps most significantly, he found that, to the extent difficulty, qualifications, and responsibilities could be separately evaluated among the machines, the Smyth operation was more closely related to many of the bookbinder operations than certain bookbinder operations were to one another. Mr. O’Connell’s conclusions as to the comparability of Smyth machine operations and bookbinder machine operations are supported by the statement of H. Kenneth Kingsbury, then Superintendent of the Bindery, at the administrative proceedings. Mr. Kingsbury acknowledged that several machines operated by craft bookbinders are not as complicated to operate as the Smyth. Specific machines mentioned were the stamping machine, the nipper, the stripping machine, the cutter and the tipping machine. William Hammill, defendant’s Director of Personnel at the time, concurred in Mr. Kingsbury’s conclusions as to these machines. Mr. Kingsbury also stated that he knew of no management reason for ex-eluding the Smyth operator function from the bookbinder craft other than that GPO management adhered to the manning practices of private industry, which so categorized them. He explained the inclusion of less complex machines than the Smyth in the bookbinder tasks on the ground of industry tradition. Mr. O’Connell’s conclusions as to the equality of the Smyth operator function with bookbinder operator functions stands unrefuted by any credible evidence presented by the defendants. For the purposes of grade 4 JBW claims under Title VII and the Equal Pay Act, the Court accepts his conclusion that the Smyth sewing machine operations are more like many bookbinder machine operations in skill, effort, and responsibility than many bookbinder machine operations are like one another. 2. The Gottlieb testimony: The skill, effort, responsibility, and working conditions required for JBW positions in general is “substantially equal” to that required for bookbinder positions. Plaintiffs supported their evidence as to their Equal Pay Act and Title VII claims through the testimony of Bertram Gottlieb. Mr. Gottl,ieb is an industrial engineer with 30 years of experience in job classification, evaluation, and wage incentive plans. He has had extensive experience as an arbitrator and was industrial staff engineer for the AFL-CIO for twelve years. He is qualified as an expert in industrial engineering and personnel classification. Over a fifteen-day period, Mr. Gottlieb performed an on-the-job analysis of all the machine and hand functions at the bindery. He observed normal job operations, including set ups and changeovers, and spoke to employees at the bindery. When Mr. Gottlieb performed his study, defendant did not dispute plaintiffs’ contention that individual bookbinders performed individual primary tasks. Therefore, he did not attempt to evaluate the accuracy of this contention. However, his findings are consistent with the truth of this contention. For the study, Mr. Gottlieb evaluated the skill, effort, responsibility, and working conditions under which individual bookbinder and JBW hand and machine operations are performed. He defined skill as basic knowledge that must be brought to the job, experience needed to meet the employer’s standards, and ingenuity or initiative called upon in the performance of the job. His definition of responsibility included responsibility for equipment and material, nonsupervisory responsibility for the work of others, and responsibility for the safety of others. Effort included both physical and mental effort. Based on his observation of JBW and bookbinder functions, Mr. Gottlieb found that within the JBW functions, the Smyth sewing machine required the greatest skill, effort, and responsibility, the Oversewing machine involved somewhat lesser requirements, and the Singer sewing machine involved the least of these factors. He determined that the skill, effort, and responsibility required to operate the Smyth is substantially equal to that required to set up, adjust and, in some cases, operate certain bookbinder machines. These machines include: Gathering-Stitch portion of Gathering Units Inset, Stitch and Trim Round, Back, Crash, Line Unit Moffett Automatic Saddle Sewing Machine In Mr. Gottlieb’s opinion, the following bookbinder machine functions, including set up, adjustment and, in some cases, operation, were equivalent to JBW oversewing functions: Three-Wing Casing In Machine Casing In and Building In Machine Tipping Machine Flat Bed Cutter Rotary Board Cutter Trimmers Cameron Cloth Cutter-Slitter Gang Stitchers Nipper-Gluer Stripping Machine Perforator/Scorer Wrapping and Carton Sealing Magnacraft Mailer Book Carton Machine Upright Smashing Machine Index Cutting Machine He found the following bookbinder machine duties substantially equal to JBW Singer duties: Drills Punches Round Cornering Automatic Sheet Counting Crimping and Scoring Machine Mr. Gottlieb testified that the skill required of bookbinders assigned to the pen ruling and casemaking machines was greater than that required of Smyth operators. He considered the hot stamping machines too different from other binding machines to permit a comparison among them, and felt that he had not observed the adhesive binder sufficiently to permit a comparison. He further determined that all of the bookbinder and JBW machine and hand functions are performed under similar working conditions: all are performed at similar lighting, heat and noise levels, and all work with the same paper products. He found the danger element to be similar on all machine operations involving moving parts. Mr. Gottlieb supported his findings by detailed analyses of the adjustment, changeover and operation of each machine. He testified that adjustments on all the machines can be performed with simple tools; special adjustments and observations are unnecessary and judgments are possible through naked eye measurements. He found that the level of responsibility of bookbinders as to all machines, already found comparable to the various JBW operations, was not substantially increased by the assistance of JBWs or PPWs, because bookbinders have no responsibility for the level or quality of their assistants’ work. With respect to his assessments of physical effort, Mr. Gottlieb compared the frequent moving of light objects required of non-automatic-feed Smyth and Oversew machine operators with the more strenuous, but less frequent movements required of particular bookbinders. Hand work performed by both JBWs and bookbinders as supplements to their primary duties generally requires little skill. However, it appears that, with the exception of hand work in the Library Section, performed only by bookbinders, hand work performed as the primary duties of bookbinders and JBWs at the bindery may be seen as part of a single, qualitatively similar continuum. Various bookbinder and JBW tasks require skill, effort and responsibility at levels interspersed on this scale. All agree that work performed by bookbinders, in the Library Section only, requires a substantial period of apprenticeship in addition to the ordinary bookbinder period. Hand library tasks are qualitatively different from the tasks of other bookbinders as well as JBWs. No other bookbinder tasks require the fine hand work regularly required in the Library Section. Mr. Gottlieb also did an exhaustive study of hand functions performed as primary duties by bookbinders and JBWs. His study supports the conclusion that some hand work performed by JBWs and bookbinders as their primary duties is substantially equal in skill, effort, and responsibility. However, while Mr. Gottlieb’s study on hand functions, like his study of machine operations, is painstakingly detailed, it would seem that the actual requirements of hand operations are inherently more difficult to measure. Therefore, the Court declines to rely upon Mr. Gottlieb’s study of hand functions and finds the more general conclusions of Mr. O’Connell more useful for the purposes of this case. Mr. O’Connell explained that the comparability of these hand functions cannot be assessed “in absolute terms.” He observed as follows: For example, the Bookbinders that spread glue on pads perform work of such a level of difficulty that virtually all Bindery Worker hand operations including the simplest are comparable. However, the functions of inserting and insetting, and hand and machine sewing are the only functions which I personally observed, and considered to be comparable to most work performed by Bookbinders. However, the above Bindery Worker functions are not isolated; they constitute a significant body of work within the Binding Division. I do not consider a job by job comparison of Bindery Worker and Bookbinder functions to be the most significant indicators of the comparability of these two occupations. Even more significant is the fact that both occupations overlap in a broad range of difficulty of hand bindery work. Plaintiff’s Exhibit No. 14. The determination that JBW and bookbinder hand work is similar in kind is further supported by the defendant’s management changes since the commencement of this suit. As of approximately September, 1978, the defendant changed the Passport Inspection task from a job performed by a single bookbinder to a position performed by rotating grade 2 JBWs. At the same time, the daily production requirements for the job were increased from 10,000 to 12,000 passports. There appears to have been no meaningful change in the job duties and the JBWs who were placed on this task were given no wage or status increase. Mr. Gottlieb’s conclusions as to the substantial equality of JBW and bookbinder machine operations are well supported. His equation of Smyth sewing machine operations with certain difficult bookbinder operations significantly underscores Mr. O’Connell’s testimony. In sum, as to both machine and hand functions, Mr. Gottlieb’s study and Mr. O’Connell’s conclusions indicate that, at the very least, across-the-board separation of bookbinder and JBW operations is not justified. 3. The defendant's evidence does not justify its separate classification of JBW and bookbinder positions. Defendant’s sole expert witness on job evaluation was Irwin P. Lazarus, PhD. His overall finding was that JBW tasks required less skill, effort, and responsibility than bookbinder tasks. Dr. Lazarus’ opinion has been considerably less valuable to the Court than Mr. Gottlieb’s. Preliminarily, Dr. Lazarus’ experience between 1974 and 1977 was primarily administrative rather than as a substantive job evaluator. For the GPO study, he used a 12-point evaluation system developed by a team of evaluators at a private firm in 1961. Dr. Lazarus’ had never used the plan before, and had not adapted it for use at the GPO bindery. He admitted that certain aspects of the plan were irrelevant to the tasks performed at GPO. Further, he acknowledged that the plan had been rejected on the ground of built-in sex bias by the Seattle office of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. In particular, the plan grants no points for physical effort for repetitive operations with light objects. Dr. Lazarus conceded that this element might well add points to evaluations of JBW jobs at GPO. Dr. Lazarus’ execution of the plan was flawed. Although he normally spends months on such a study, he reached his final conclusions on the basis of a two-day visit to the bindery. Rather than studying all 105 bindery operations, he evaluated a total of 36 hand and machine operations. He testified that he selected the operations to be studied on the basis of his work experience in a small bindery 20 years previously, and a 90-minute walk-through of the four-story GPO bindery operation. Dr. Lazarus’ notes on his visit to the bindery indicate that he observed the various operations in an order which would have required him to go from one floor to another and back again several times in the course of his visit. It seems clear that he was escorted from machine to machine by defendant’s employees, and that the suggestions of these employees significantly affected his initial choice of machines to be evaluated. Even if Dr. Lazarus’ choice of machines were independent, this Court is not prepared to accept as representative a selection based on less than a minute spent observing each of 105 operations. The method of Dr. Lazarus’ study is also suspect. The defendant argues that this study is more objective, and therefore more reliable, than the plaintiffs’ study because it evaluates each operation on the basis of 12 point-scored factors. However, only 5 of the 480 point assignments in the study contain any reason for Dr. Lazarus’ assignment of particular point values to any factor. His notes contain only 17 instances of reasons given for point scores assigned. On the witness stand, he could give no reasons for any particular point assignments. Rather than being objective, Dr. Lazarus’ study seems based on numerous wholly subjective judgments. The plaintiffs have shown various internal inconsistencies and mistaken assumptions, which indicate the unreliability of Dr. Lazarus’ conclusions. For example, he concluded that a high school education was necessary to adjust the relatively simple two knife Round Cornering machines. However, Ralph Miller, a bookbinder, testified that this machine required no high school background and could be learned in one day. Furthermore, of 180 bookbinders hired from outside GPO, the application forms of at least 92 show that they did not complete high school. There is no minimum educational requirement for entry into the bindery apprenticeship program. Although Dr. Lazarus purported to base his assessment of the time required to learn an operation on the judgment of supervisors, he recorded no notes of interviews with supervisors and could not recall conversations with any of them. Dr. Lazarus gave 48 points for physical effort on the Sheridan upright smashing machine for “continuous heavy work”, defined as continuous work lifting objects weighing an average of 16 to 25 pounds. He based this conclusion on the 15 to 18 pound weight of an uncovered book on the machine at the time of his visit, although this seems unusually heavy for an unbound book. Dr. Lazarus had no knowledge whether this weight was within the normal range for books bound at GPO. Smyth operators are required to sew all books, which are subsequently “smashed”, and to lift these books to a conveyor after they are sewn. Although it is clear that this must require equivalent effort, Dr. Lazarus gave Smyth operators only 12 points for effort. Similarly, he awarded 30 points for handling of confidential data to the bookbinder who sets up and adjusts the Moffet automatic sewer in the passport area and handles numbered passports. However, he gave no points for confidentiality to JBW assistants on this machine, who would necessarily handle whatever the bookbinder handles. In several instances, Dr. Lazarus seriously underestimated the experience and skill factors in JBW work. He awarded no points for training or experience in hand sewing and looked at only one of many types of hand sewing. He stated that no points were given for hand sewing experience because the sewing was of the variety most women knew how to perform. One reason given for Dr. Lazarus’ low rating of the Smyth with automatic feed was his understanding that grade 4 JBWs could learn to operate it in one week. However, Ms. Thompson testified that individuals with experience on non-automatic Smyth machines required four to five weeks of training to become proficient on the automatic-feed Smyth. Finally, at the time of trial, Dr. Lazarus was unaware of the two-year JBW training requirement, and the additional training required for sewing machine operators. The defendant also presented the statistical analysis of Clyde Meade, defendant’s Chief of Quality Control, based on a combination of Dr. Lazarus’ study and the 1977 statistics concerning bookbinder functions. Mr. Meade acknowledged that his analysis was dependent upon the selection of a representative cross-section of bookbinder duties by Dr. Lazarus, and reliable assignment of point scores by him. He expressed no opinion as to the validity of Dr. Lazarus’ sample or his point scores. Due to this heavy reliance on the questionable Lazarus study, Mr. Meade’s evaluation is of little use to the Court. In sum, neither the Lazarus study nor the Meade study, based upon it, impair the Court’s reliance on the plaintiffs’ expert testimony in assessing the legitimacy of the GPO job classification system. C. The Relevant Comparison is Between the Primary Functions of Bookbinders and JBWs. Subsequent to the administrative proceeding in this case, the defendant adopted the position that the separate classification of bookbinders, as well as the four-year bookbinder apprenticeship, were justified because bookbinders in fact rotate from job to job in the craft range of tasks. However, the evidence before this Court clearly establishes that no such rotation is a part of the bookbinder function. In fact, bookbinders appear to perform only minimal duties in addition to their primary tasks. Those additional duties that are performed often require only minimal skills. On November 16, 1973, Mr. Kingsbury stated under oath for purposes of the administrative investigation: In regard to the stability of bookbinder assignments it should be noted that those assigned to Folding Machines, Gathering Machines and Inserters are removed from these machines only in rare cases of emergency. I would estimate that between 75% and 80% of our Bookbinders perform on the same piece of equipment day in and day out through their regular tour of duty. The rest of the Bookbinders are working on less complicated pieces of equipment or performing the other Bookbinder duties such as the Hand Forwarding and Finishing Operations necessary to bind or rebind library books in the library section; and the processing of United States Passports. . Plaintiffs’ Exhibit 1 (Investigation Report, Exhibit 12, pp. 6-7). As a hostile witness for plaintiffs at the trial in March, 1979, he admitted the truth of this statement. In addition, he acknowledged that he had signed a statement on February 15, 1979, which reiterated his 1973 statement: “I would estimate that as of 1973 that between 75% and 80% of all Bookbinders performed on the same piece of major equipment day in and day out through their regular tour of duty, that is, as long as they remained in the same section.” Plaintiffs’ Exhibit No. 39. Mr. Kingsbury’s conclusion was confirmed by Mr. Hammill at the time of the administrative investigation. Mr. O’Connell testified in 1973, 1978, and 1979, that, because of production line specialization, job rotation of bookbinders was not a significant feature of the Binding Division. He testified that many bookbinder operators operate a single machine 100% of the time or operate one machine at least 90% of the time as a primary assignment and fill in on similar or identical machines when necessary. At trial, the defendant attempted to establish that bookbinders did rotate among various machine operations by introducing statistics for the period January 1, 1977, through September 30, 1977, to show the assignment of bookbinders to different jobs within the bindery. However, these statistics are not helpful in determining the extent of bookbinder rotation in 1973. Several witnesses, including Mr. Kingsbury and Charles Enterline, Assistant Superintendent of the Bindery from 1974 to present, testified that bookbinders still had primary assignments in 1977 and 1978, but spent less time on primary assignments in these years than they did in 1973. This reduction in percentage of time spent on primary tasks was attributed to increased contracting out of work and reduction in the bookbinder work force. The 1977 and 1978 statistics establish that, for those years, bookbinder major machine operators spent between 80% and 100% of their time on the same machine, and left that machine only when it was not running, and only to operate simple machines or perform simple hand tasks. Since the defendant gave no reason why such statistics were not offered for the year 1973, the Court can only conclude that they would have established that bookbinder rotation was even less significant at that time. The conclusion that only minimal rotation among jobs is actually required of bookbinders is underscored by the uncontroverted testimony of several bookbinders. Mr. John Sessa testified that he had been assigned to the flat bed cutter almost exclusively since 1949, except for intermittent assignments to simple tasks in the Passport Cage. He further testified that the statistics attributed tasks to him which he is not capable of performing and has never performed. Paul Hiser, a GPO apprenticeship graduate of 1964, testified that he had worked almost exclusively on the board cutting machine since 1965. The 1977 and 1978 statistics show that 99.1% of his time during this period was spent on this machine. He testified that his assignments away from the board cutter during this period were greater than in 1973. Ralph Miller testified that his job for the last 12 years has been the setting up and adjustment of five or six drills operated by PPWs, and that he has no other duties. The 1977 statistics show that he spent all of his time on the drills. The 1978 statistics show 447 of 466 hours spent on the drills. Mr. Miller testified that other assignments in 1978 reflected voluntary overtime. Several JBWs who had worked in the bindery for a number of years gave unrebutted testimony as to specific bookbinders, with whom they had worked closely and constantly, and who performed only their primary tasks for extended periods. One such JBW, Joanne Duckett, has been assigned to the passport area for many years. She testified that seven named bookbinders who had been assigned to the passport area for periods from three to ten years generally leave in alphabetical order when no work is needed on passports. They generally go to Pad Alley, where only very simple hand work (smearing glue on pads) is performed. Such assignments appear to be typical alternatives to bookbinder’s primary duties. In sum, except for the 29 bookbinders assigned to the hand bindery and a few individual bookbinders who performed back-up work or worked on various small machines, there was no significant rotation of bookbinders among various machine jobs in 1973. It was not an integral part of the bookbinder’s job to perform a variety of functions. Some bookbinders were in fact incapable of performing any jobs other than their primary one. Although some additional rotation among bookbinder functions occurred in 1973, at least 50% of the bookbinders continued to spend more than 80% of their time on their primary duties. Finally, in many cases of bookbinders whose time away from their primary duties increased during the period from 1973 to 1978, on-the-job training was required and received. Such training has at no time been made available to JBWs. Therefore, for purposes of comparison of JBW and bookbinder positions, the relevant evaluation is of primary tasks to which individual employees are assigned. Neither the four-year apprenticeship nor the separate classification of JBWs and bookbinders can be justified on the basis of any supposed bookbinder rotation. D. The Separate Classification of Craft and Non-craft Jobs, Combined with the GPO Apprenticeship System, Make Advancement Within the GPO Bindery Virtually Impossible for Female JBWs. JBWs are required to undergo a two-year apprenticeship program at the GPO Bindery, in addition to special six-month to one-year training periods for sewing machine operators. Although bookbinders are given the opportunity to undertake substantial additional training after the completion of their apprenticeships, no such training is available to JBWs. Bookbinders need not train for jobs they prefer not to perform; JBWs, however, are required to accept assignments to jobs at all JBW levels, including those below their current levels. No GPO affirmative action plans contain provisions for upward mobility of JBWs. Manning practices within the bindery allow movement from JBW positions to bookbinder positions only upon completion of the four-year bookbinder apprenticeship. Absent the apprenticeship, lower-level JBWs may only advance to the higher level JBW positions. Grade 4 and 5 JBWs have virtually no advancement opportunities. Bookbinder status in the GPO has been especially difficult for women, including JBWs, to attain. Equivalent experience outside GPO — the second method for attainment of craft status — has been virtually unobtainable for women due to industry practices. Therefore, the GPO apprenticeship has been the sole method by which women could hope to become bookbinders. The last GPO apprenticeship class entered the program in 1974. Prior to the termination of the apprenticeship program, competition for entry was very stiff. For example, 116 GPO employees applied for 14 positions in the January, 1972 class. Serious disincentives would exist for JBWs considering apprenticeship. First, JBWs would be required to take substantial pay cuts to become apprentices. Although other employees, such as PPWs entering the apprenticeship might have to take similar cuts, these employees have had no prior training. JBWs, as already indicated, undergo two to three-year training programs. They are given no credit for this training toward the bookbinder apprenticeship. Some current and former JBWs testified that they already knew how to set up and adjust certain bookbinder machines when they entered the GPO. Furthermore, many JBW tasks are so closely related to bookbinder tasks as to necessarily constitute valuable experience for bookbinder work. No female bookbinder has ever remained at GPO. The evidence as to experiences of individual women within the bindery illustrates the difficulty of advancing across the sex and craft barrier. For example, defendant’s witness Charles Enterline, Assistant Superintendent of the bindery from 1974 to the present, testified that a female bookbinder assigned to the bindery in the early 1960’s had remained only a short time. Plaintiff Thompson testified that her immediate supervisor, bookbinder John Malanka had bragged, “We bookbinders got rid of her.” Apparently, the female bookbinder had been assigned to a machine with which she was unfamiliar and other bookbinders had refused to aid her. Mary Lovely, a female apprentice initially assigned to the bindery in 1971, was reassigned out of it almost immediately. Although defendant’s employees testified that her assignment to the bindery had been the result of a typing error, Ms. Lovely testified that she had been approached daily by bookbinders who told her that the bindery was no place for a woman. She testified that she was happy to be reassigned, because the bindery was not her initial choice and she felt that she was treated badly there. Selma Dillard, a former JBW who became a GPO apprentice in composing in 1972, testified that she had had considerable difficulty attempting to advance in the bindery. Ms. Dillard’s initial entry into the apprenticeship program was blocked by an unfavorable supervisor evaluation. She testified that this experience was shared by many JBWs who applied for the apprenticeship program. She knew of GPO employees who had chosen to compete for the GPO apprenticeship on a nationwide basis through the Civil Service Commission in order to avoid potentially arbitrary supervisory evaluations. Ms. Dillard testified that she was ultimately accepted into the apprenticeship program only after her protestations concerning her evaluation resulted in its modification by the Bindery Superintendent. The testimony of the only women apprentice assigned to the bindery in 1973, Anne Mackay, further indicates the obstacles confronted by women in the bindery. Ms. Mackay testified that, prior to her assignment, she had been under the impression that bindery apprenticeships were not open to women. Defendant’s employee in charge of bindery apprenticeships beginning in 1975 testified on cross-examination that pranks, the like of which had never been played on males, had been played on Ms. Mackay. Ms. Mackay testified that she disliked the bindery because of “loneliness and lack of cooperation,” and the bookbinder’s lack of knowledge about how to treat her because she was a woman. In fact, it appeared to the Court that her testimony, indicating that she did not feel discriminated against, may have been motivated by her desire to advance herself within the bindery. The testimony of defendant’s Assistant Director of Personnel at GPO, Edward A. Blatt, evidenced a more egregious unawareness of the problem women encountered in the bindery. Although actual female representation in the GPO apprenticeship program from 1972 to 1975 was 14%, he testified that females represented 30% of the apprentices. He also testified that there had been no female applications for apprenticeships from outside GPO. However, at least 13 of the 14 female apprentices from 1968 to 1972 came from outside GPO. He testified that bookbinders were frequently hired from outside GPO, but was unaware that the Constitution of the International Brotherhood of Bookbinders effectively prevented women from becoming bookbinders. Although he was aware that the procedure whereby GPO employees become apprentices depended largely upon admittedly subjective supervisor evaluations, he ascribed no importance to the fact that all such evaluations in the bindery are carried out by males. Mr. Blatt was unaware that all 17 GPO employees trained as bookbinders in the GPO upward mobility program were men. Although he admitted that he had never discussed the subject with a JBW, he expressed the view that women were unlikely to be attracted to Bindery Division apprenticeships because the bindery was noisy and dirty. In sum, the Court finds there is little opportunity for advancement for female JBWs within the GPO bindery. Rather than providing female JBWs with such opportunities, the bindery apprenticeship program has been a virtually unobtainable goal. When obtainable, its conditions have made it particularly undesirable for women. Thus, the apprenticeship program and the GPO classification system operate together to effectively eliminate any advancement opportunities for female JBWs within the GPO bindery. E. The Actual Qualifications of GPO Bookbinders Highlight the Unfairness of the Four-Year Apprenticeship Requirement for JBWs. Applicants from private industry who seek to enter the GPO as bookbinders must be qualified to operate at least one piece of bindery equipment in addition to a gathering or folding machine. Prior to 1969, the requirement was two additional pieces of equipment. However, the evidence establishes that information on the application forms of males who entered the GPO with bookbinder status was false, and that the defendant failed to check the accuracy of information contained in such forms. For example, Franklin Shanks, a former bookbinder and now an assistant foreman, admitted that although his form indicated that he had been a bookbinder at a private press from 1957 through 1963, he had only been a helper during that period. Similar evidence of actual experience at very low levels in other bookbinding establishments involved bookbinder Maynard Tedder and Charles Crawford, a former bookbinder who is now Personnel Development Specialist in charge of the GPO apprenticeship program. The positions occupied included such duties as sweeping and stock boy work, which both require less skill than most JBW jobs. Furthermore, many bookbinder application forms indicate little apprenticeship-type training. Of 180 application forms admitted into evidence by plaintiffs, only 61 contain any reference to an apprenticeship in binding. In some cases, this reference is only to a commencement of an apprenticeship, or an apprenticeship of less than four years. In addition, at least 25 application forms of current and former GPO bookbinders indicate that the individuals in question did not meet the stated minimum experience requirements for GPO employment. Moreover, the evidence shows that many individuals hired as bookbinders from outside GPO were actually employed by GPO on tasks not listed on their application forms, for which they were apparently unqualified at the time of their entry. Obviously, these individuals benefited from the extensive on-the-job training made available to bookbinders at GPO. Bookbinders received approximately 8,900 hours of on-the-job instruction on other bookbinder operations during the period of 1977 and 1978 for which statistics are before the Court. This represents the equivalent of full-time instruction for four or more bookbinders during this period. In contrast, JBWs are given virtually no training in addition to their required two-year apprenticeships and machine training periods. The evidence concerning the length of time required to learn operation of certain bookbinder machines indicates that JBWs could usefully acquire bookbinder skills if equivalent training was made available to them. For example, John Sessa testified that he has worked exclusively on the flat cutter for thirty years, although he had no previous experience on the cutter. This assignment . commenced after only two months of on-the-job training on the cutter. Furthermore, defendant’s expert, Dr. Lazarus, admitted on cross-examination that any bookbinder machine operation at the bindery could be learned in on-the-job training of six months or less. Bookbinder Ralph Miller testified that many bookbinder machine operations could be learned by anyone in a matter of days or hours. In sum, the Court finds that the bookbinder’s qualifications and their lack of work experience equivalent to the GPO apprenticeship, indicate that the apprenticeship or four-year experience requirement is not taken seriously for male bookbinder applicants from private industry. This group represents a large proportion of the GPO bookbinder staff. It seems apparent to the Court that experienced JBWs could benefit from the training which has been given exclusively to bookbinders. II. CONCLUSIONS OF LAW. This Court has jurisdiction over this case under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as amended, and under the Equal Pay Act of 1963, as amended. As a unit of the legislative branch having positions in the competitive service, the defendant is subject to the Title VII prohibition against discrimination by an employer against “any individual with respect to his compensation, terms, conditions, or privileges of employment, because of such individual’s sex,” as well as the prohibition against employee classification in any manner which would tend to deprive any individual of “employment opportunities or otherwise adversely affect his status as an employee” on the basis of sex. 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-2(a). It is also subject to the Equal Pay Act provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act, 29 U.S.C. 206(d), which prohibit an employer from paying wages to employees at a rate less than that paid to employees of the opposite sex for equal work on jobs the performance of which require equal skill, effort and responsibility, and which are performed under similar working conditions. ■ A. Title VII Claims. Pursuant to McDonnell Douglas Corp. v. Green, 411 U.S. 792, 93 S.Ct. 1817, 36 L.Ed.2d 668 (1973), proof of employment discrimination under Title VII is subject to a shifting burden of proof. The plaintiff must first establish a prima facie case of discrimination, which the defendant may then attempt to refute. In International Brotherhood of Teamsters v. United States, 431 U.S. 324, 97 S.Ct. 1843, 52 L.Ed.2d 396 (1977), the Court specifically applied the general McDonnell Douglas allocation of proof to sex discrimination cases. Although McDonnell Douglas established a basic four-part test for the establishment of a prima facie case of discrimination in individual cases, the Court made it clear that proving prima facie employment discrimination could not be restricted to one method. 411 U.S. at 802 n.13, 93 S.Ct. at 1824 n.13. Teamsters expressly approved the use of statistics as a way of proving a prima facie case of employment discrimination: “We have repeatedly approved the use of statistical proof, where it reached proportions comparable to those in this case, to establish a prima facie case of racial discrimination in jury selection cases . . . [citations omitted]. Statistics are equally competent in proving employment discrimination [footnote omitted] . . .” 431 U.S. at 339, 97 S.Ct. at 1856. The Court further states: Statistics showing racial or ethnic imbalance are probative in a case such as this one only because such imbalance is often a telltale sign of purposeful discrimination; absent explanation, it is ordinarily to be expected that nondiscriminatory hiring practices will in time result in a work force more or less representative of the racial and ethnic composition of the population in the community from which employees are hired. Evidence of longlasting and gross disparity between the composition of a work force and that general population thus may be significant even though § 703(j) makes clear that Title VII imposes no requirement that a work force mirror the general population. Id. at 339 n.20, 97 S.Ct. at 1857 n.20. In this case, statistical evidence shows gross and long-lasting disparities; thus creating a strong inference of such discrimination. The bare fact that in 1973, all but one of 325 JBWs were female and all 279 craft bookbinders were male, and in 1978, one of approximately 250 bookbinders was female, strongly supports such an inference. As in Teamsters, the testimony of individual class members as to specific instances of discrimination “brought the cold numbers convincingly to life.” 431 U.S. at 339, 97 S.Ct. at 1856. Plaintiffs’ evidence concerning the separate classification of bookbinder and JBW positions, and the application of a four-year apprenticeship requirement to experienced JBWs proves clearly that both of these management practices are relics of pre-Title VII discriminatory practices. The plaintiffs have clearly shown that bookbinder and JBW jobs are so similar in content and working conditions as to make the across-the-board separate classification, and the denial of bookbinder apprenticeship credit for JBW experience unreasonable as a matter of business management. This conclusion is reinforced by the evidence concerning the actual skills used and tasks performed by non-Library Section bookbinders. The separate craft and non-craft JBW and bookbinder job classification system, as well as the four-year apprenticeship requirement for experienced JBWs to enter the craft system — both of which are preserved unaltered from the period before Title VII became applicable to GPO in 1972 —serve to perpetuate the effects of past discrimination. As such, without justification on the basis of business necessity, these practices constitute continuing violations of Title VII. Griggs v. Duke Power Co., 401 U.S. 424, 91 S.Ct. 849, 28 L.Ed.2d 158 (1971). Hazelwood School District v. United States, 433 U.S. 299, 97 S.Ct. 2736, 53 L.Ed.2d 768 (1977), rules that mere evidence of pre-Title VII discrimination does not constitute a violation of the law so long as all post-enactment decisions are made in a non-discriminatory fashion. This rule is inapplicable here because defendant has failed to show any business necessity for its management practices which perpetuate the discrimination between sexes and inequality of opportunity. The defendant argues that the plaintiffs have failed to make a prima facie case under the McDonnell Douglas and Teamsters formulation, because none of the plaintiffs have applied for the apprenticeship program since 1972. The basic four-part prima facie case established in McDonnell Douglas does indeed include the requirement that the plaintiff show that he has applied and been rejected for the desired position. However, no such requirement is relevant here. It has been found that the apprenticeship program is used to perpetuate existing separation on the basis of sex, and the four-year requirement is superfluous for performance of bookbinder tasks. It would be unreasonable to require the plaintiffs to apply for a program which violates their Title VII rights in order to gain standing to enforce those rights. It is sufficient that the plaintiffs showed the serious disincentives to their entry into the program. In addition, the system of access to the apprenticeship program through exclusively male supervisor evaluations appears to be a “ready mechanism for discrimination” in access to the apprenticeship program. See Rowe v. General Motors Corp., 457 F.2d 348 (5th Cir. 1972). Under such circumstances, no proof of application for the program is necessary. As the Court stated in Teamsters, supra 431 U.S. at 367, 97 S.Ct. at 1870: “[A] nonapplicant can be a victim of unlawful discrimination . when an application would have been a useless act serving only to confirm a discriminatee’s knowledge that the job he wanted was unavailable to him.” The defendant attempts to discredit plaintiffs’ statistical evidence. It acknowledges that since 1967, only 52 of the 430 persons accepted into the GPO program have been women. However, it argues that this statistic cannot be relied upon to show unequal access to the apprenticeship program, because the plaintiffs failed to present evidence concerning the pool of available workers for the program. It relies in particular upon the caution of Hazel-wood, supra, that statistical evidence is relevant to show employment discrimination only by reference to the appropriate pool of available workers. However, the defendant’s argument is simply inapplicable to this case. Hazelwood involved a pool of highly skilled workers [schoolteachers] in a discrete geographical area. The delineation of the relevant geographical area to which the defendant could be expected to look for applicants was in dispute, and the determination of the appropriate area made an enormous difference in terms of the number of available candidates. The Court in Hazelwood expressly distinguished the Teamsters situation: In Teamsters, the comparison between the percentage of Negroes on the employer’s work force and the percentage in the general areawide population was highly probative, because the job skill there involved — the ability to drive a truck — is one that many persons possess or can fairly readily acquire. When special qualifications are required to fill particular jobs, comparisons to the general population (rather than to the small group of individuals who possess the necessary qualification) may have little probative value.” 433 U.S. at 308 n.13, 97 S.Ct. at 2742 n.13. Here, as in Teamsters, no special qualifications are required to join the apprenticeship program. The defendant has offered no evidence that special qualifications were necessary, nor any other explanation for the ratio of men to women in the apprenticeship program. While the ratio could be expected to approach 50%, 52 of 430 apprentices amounts to only 12%. This amounts to about 15.7 standard deviations. In Castaneda v. Partida, 430 U.S. 482, 497 n.17, 97 S.Ct. 1272, 1281 n.17, 51 L.Ed.2d 498 (1977), the Court suggested that 2.0 or 3.0 standard deviations from the expected proportion might be considered significant. See also Hazelwood, supra, 433 U.S. at 308-9 n.14, 97 S.Ct. at 2741-42 n.14. In sum, the plaintiffs have established a prima facie case of disparate impact and disparate treatment through statistical evidence of the ratio of men to women in bookbinder positions and apprenticeships, and comparison of their ratios with the percentage of females in the population. The disparities here are so great as to warrant such a finding on the statistics alone. These statistics must be evaluated in light of the intentionally discriminatory practices prevalent in the industry as a whole and in the GPO bindery until recently — the persistent exclusion of women from supervisory positions, the lingering inadequacy of opportunities for advancement available to JBWs, the serious disincentives to JBW attempts at advancement, and the inherent difficulty of upward movement in a hostile atmosphere. See James v. Stockham Valves and Fittings Co., 559 F.2d 310, 328-9 (5th Cir. 1977) cert. denied, 434 U.S. 1034, 98 S.Ct. 767, 54 L.Ed.2d 781 (1978); Pettway v. American Cast Iron Pipe Co., 494 F.2d 211, 225-34 (5th Cir. 1974). Defendant relies on Teamsters, supra, to argue that the current disparity is the result of a “bona fide” apprenticeship system, which it maintains is the equivalent of the seniority system found to be bona fide in that case, and therefore expressly exempted from the Act by § 703(h) of Title VII, 42 U.S.C. 2000e-2(h). It argues that, because it is the result of a pre-existing “bona-fide” system, the apprenticeship program cannot be invalidated under Griggs, supra. However, the Teamsters decision made it clear that the system there was exempted only by the express exception for seniority systems within the Act. The GPO apprenticeship is clearly outside that express exception, because it is unrelated to seniority. The Teamsters Court explained the Griggs prohibition and reaffirmed its validity apart from the seniority exception: One kind of practice “fair in form, but discriminatory in operation” is that which perpetuates the effects of prior discrimination. As the Court held in Griggs, supra: “Under the Act, practices, procedures, or tests neutral on their face, and even neutral in terms of intent, cannot be maintained if they operate to ‘freeze’ the status quo of prior discriminatory employment practices.” 401 U.S. at 430, 91 S.Ct. at 853. Were it not for § 703(h), the seniority sys