Timken Co. v. Vaughan

Timken Co. (plaintiff) operated a bearing plant and distribution center in Bucyrus, Ohio. Timken was a federal contractor and thus subject to Executive Order 11246, which bound government contractors to certain nondiscrimination and affirmative-action requirements. Bucyrus was a small city located in Crawford County, which bordered Richland County, where the larger and more diverse city of Mansfield was located. In 1973, the Defense Supply Agency (DSA) (defendant) reviewed Timken’s affirmative-action plan (AAP). The DSA issued a final decision and order concluding that Timken’s AAP was defective because it failed to include Mansfield in its 15-mile recruiting area, finding that the AAP should have done so because Mansfield was within reasonable commuting distance of Bucyrus. The DSA relied primarily on the fact that Mansfield was about 25 miles away from Bucyrus and the drive was between 35 and 45 minutes. An administrative-law judge affirmed the DSA’s final decision and order. The DSA relied upon additional evidence, including that (1) many people commuted in the opposite direction, from Bucyrus to Mansfield; (2) 6 percent of Timken employees resided outside the recruiting area (none in Mansfield); and (3) 7.6 percent of Mansfield residents worked outside Richland County (few in Bucyrus). Timken introduced evidence that, in a survey of 12 major employers in Bucyrus, only four Mansfield residents were found to be employed. Timken sought review of the DSA’s order in the district court.