Opinion ID: 777187
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Dr. Polissar's Testimony.

Text: 30 The centerpiece of the plaintiffs' disparate impact case was the expert testimony of Dr. Polissar. Dr. Polissar testified that statistical analysis of Tidyman's' management revealed gender disparities in promotions and wages. In its pretrial motion to exclude Dr. Polissar's testimony, Tidyman's argued that Dr. Polissar's analysis included improper comparisons, which lacked probative value and would improperly prejudice the jury. The district court denied the motion, and ruled that any flaws in the analysis could be addressed through cross-examination or impeachment. The district court also stated if it determined that portions of Dr. Polissar's analysis were improper, it would give a limiting instruction to the jury. 7 31 Tidyman's provided Dr. Polissar with information about the names, gender, starting salary and position, and ending salary and position of the employees in Tidyman's' management. Dr. Polissar testified about the statistical analysis he performed using this data. 8 Dr. Polissar concluded that women in management at Tidyman's earn an average of $12,000 less than men in management. The mean starting salary for women in management at Tidyman's was $26,400, while the mean starting salary for men was $38,400. 32 Dr. Polissar also testified that he analyzed the progression of wages of women and men over time as a method of controlling for factors other than gender — such as experience — that might explain the initial wage differential. Dr. Polissar used regression analysis 9 to control for differences in experience, and reached the same conclusion — that gender predicted a statistically significant wage differential. Dr. Polissar also performed a step analysis, which compared the number of women to the number of men within each rank of Tidyman's' management hierarchy. Dr. Polissar explained that some of the step levels had no women employees, which made comparison analysis impossible for those levels. Where comparisons were possible, Dr. Polissar testified that the step analysis revealed wage differentials between men and women for most of the ranks. For example, at the step four level, which includes assistant store manager, office manager, system analyst, and controller, the average salary for female workers was $29,400, while the average salary for male workers was $40,800. 33 Finally, Dr. Polissar analyzed the distribution of men and women in different job categories at Tidyman's and concluded that the distribution reflected a pattern of segregation of men and women that was unlikely to be due to chance. 10 He also testified that the percentage of women in hourly positions was higher than the percentage of women in salary positions. 34 On cross-examination, Tidyman's attempted to show that Dr. Polissar's analysis was fundamentally flawed because it assumed that each individual was equally qualified. Tidyman's elicited testimony from Dr. Polissar that his analysis failed to take into account individual qualifications, preferences, motivations, and individual fields. 35