Opinion ID: 572145
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Proof of Disparate Impact Generally

Text: 19 To prove disparate impact, a plaintiff must first identify the specific employment practice he is challenging, see Wards Cove Packing Co. v. Atonio, 490 U.S. 642, 656-57, 109 S.Ct. 2115, 2124-25, 104 L.Ed.2d 733 (1989); Watson v. Fort Worth Bank & Trust, 487 U.S. 977, 994, 108 S.Ct. 2777, 2788, 101 L.Ed.2d 827 (1988), and then show that the practice excluded him or her, as a member of a protected group, from a job or promotion opportunity. See Watson, 487 U.S. at 994, 108 S.Ct. at 2788. Statistical evidence may be probative where it reveals a disparity so great that it cannot be accounted for by chance, see Bridgeport Guardians, 933 F.2d at 1146, or, to state it in other words, the statistical disparities must be sufficiently substantial that they raise ... an inference of causation. Watson, 487 U.S. at 995, 108 S.Ct. at 2789. 20 Here plaintiffs claim they were deprived of an employment opportunity to advance to the rank of sergeant. As will appear, they offer statistical evidence substantial enough, in certain aspects, to raise an inference of causation. Normally, a plaintiff making such a showing has stated a prima facie disparate impact claim. To avoid a finding of discriminatory impact, the employer must demonstrate the subject employment practice is used for non-discriminatory reasons, for example, the practice serves the employer's legitimate employment goals. See Wards Cove Packing Co., 490 U.S. at 659, 109 S.Ct. at 2125-26. Plaintiff may counter proof of an employer's lawful goal by demonstrating that there are alternative employment practices that will reduce the disparate impact, ones that are equally as effective as the challenged practices in achieving that goal, that is to say, the employer's reason was a pretext for discrimination. Id. at 660-61, 109 S.Ct. at 2126-27. In the matter before us, the parties have stipulated these shifting burdens of proof out of the case, and our review is limited therefore to whether plaintiffs have shown that the promotion procedures used by the Port Authority had a disparate impact on black candidates. This means that if plaintiffs meet the burden of proving a prima facie case, they will prevail in this action. The rule that emerges from prior cases is that a prima facie case is made out by showing either a gross statistical disparity, or a statistically significant adverse impact coupled with other evidence of discrimination. See, e.g., International Bhd. of Teamsters, 431 U.S. at 338-40 & n. 20, 97 S.Ct. at 1856-57 n. 20; Bridgeport Guardians, 933 F.2d at 1146-48. 21 The district judge ruled that the written test did not have a disparate impact because the pass rate of blacks was 87.2 percent of that of whites. See EEOC Guidelines, 29 C.F.R. § 1607.4D (1990). He was of the view that though the disparity may have been statistically significant--since it yielded a standard deviation of 2.68 indicating that there was a one in a 100 chance the outcome was random--it was not meaningful as a practical matter. Judge Duffy reasoned that the results would not have been statistically important had two more black candidates passed the written test. It was on this basis he decided that the results of the written examination failed to show a disparity sufficiently substantial to state a Title VII violation. See 758 F.Supp. at 177. 22 Appellants argue that this finding of no disparate impact was error. Specifically, they insist the trial court incorrectly interpreted the EEOC Guidelines for determining practical significance by using a comparison of the pass rates of black and white candidates, and then employing a hypothetical that changed the statistical meaning of the disparity between those pass rates. Appellants conclude that because the disparity between the pass rates of black and white candidates amounts to a difference of 2.68 standard deviations, a disparate impact should have been found.