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On June 1, 1979, a class action lawsuit, Kraszewski v. State
Farm Gen. Ins. Co., was filed against State Farm in the U.S.
District Court for the Northern District of California.3 The
class representatives alleged that State Farm had engaged in
statewide discrimination in California in the recruiting, hiring,
and training of women for sales agent trainee positions in
violation of title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (CRA of
1964), Pub. L. 88-352, 78 Stat. 241. The representatives sought
backpay, as well as injunctive and declaratory relief.
The District Court bifurcated the litigation into a
liability and a remedy phase. On April 29, 1985, the court ruled
in the liability phase that State Farm was liable under title VII
for classwide discrimination on the basis of gender.4 On July
17, 1986, the court held that individual hearings were
appropriate to determine the relief for class members. The court
determined that class members were entitled to show that they
were actual victims of discrimination as to any of the vacancies
at State Farm which occurred during the period of liability and
were filled by men.
3On Sept. 9, 1981, the District Court for the Northern
District of California certified a class in Kraszewski to
maintain the action. See Kraszewski v. State Farm Gen. Ins. Co.,
27 Fair Empl. Prac. Cas. (BNA) 27 (N.D. Cal. 1981).
4See Kraszewski v. State Farm Gen. Ins. Co., 38 Fair Empl.
Prac. Cas. (BNA) 197 (N.D. Cal. 1985).
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