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In June and July 1971, Judy Gaddis, Rebecca Starr, and Zettie Smith applied for jobs as 'picker-packers,' 'picking' ordered parts from storage, and 'packing' them for shipment. All of the women were qualified for the positions. D filled the three vacant positions with men, and Gaddis filed a charge with P, claiming that D had discriminated against her because of her sex. In January 1973, GM recalled Gaddis and Starr to their former positions at its warehouse. The following July, while they were still working at GM, a single vacancy opened up at D. D offered the job to Gaddis, without seniority retroactive to her 1971 application. D's offer did not require Gaddis to abandon or compromise her Title VII claim against D. Gaddis refused the offer. D then made the same unconditional offer to Starr, who also declined. Gaddis and Starr continued to work at the GM warehouse, but in 1974, the warehouse was closed, and they were laid off. Smith applied again for work at Ford in 1973, but was never hired. She worked elsewhere, though at lower wages than she would have earned at D, during much of the time between 1971 and the District Court's decision in 1977. Two of the three men hired by Ford in 1971 were still working at the warehouse at the time of the trial in 1977. In July 1975, P sued D alleging violations of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. P sought injunctive relief and back pay for the victims. The District Court found that Ford had discriminated against the three women on the basis of their sex and awarded them back pay in an amount equal to 'the difference between the amount they would have earned had they been hired in August 1971, and the amounts actually earned or reasonably earnable by them' between that date and the date of the court's order. It rejected D's contention that Gaddis and Starr were not entitled to back pay accruing after the dates on which they declined D's offer of employment. The Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit affirmed. The court suggested that, had Ford promised retroactive seniority with its job offer, the offer would have cut off D's back pay liability. The court held that, without retroactive seniority, D’s offer was incomplete and unacceptable. D appealed.

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