Opinion ID: 449050
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Dean Memorandum

Text: 18 Plaintiffs offered the memorandum written November 19, 1976, by Dominic Dean, a white who was then director of personnel, and sent to Dean's supervisor, Bart Corradino, a white who was national director of personnel for Johnson & Johnson Baby Products Company. The memorandum was issued in response to a letter sent by Ben West, director of contract compliance for the United States Energy Research and Development Administration, the government compliance agency for defendants. West had written that defendants' 1975 affirmative action plan reflected a decline in the percentage of minorities employed by defendants during 1975. The Dean memorandum reflected Dean's concern that West's criticism was unjustified, but nevertheless included a statement that plaintiffs contend evidenced defendants' policy of intending to reduce the number of black employees. The memorandum stated: 19 As you know, last year our compliance officer, Mr. Ben West, had indicated that we should be at higher percentages in the areas of both female and minority employment. He felt strongly about this, to the point of writing a letter to the President of the Baby Products Company, Mr. D. Johnston, indicating that we, rather than increasing our percentage of minority participation, had decreased it. It was our intention to reduce the number of minorities in our plant in 1975, based on maintaining parity with the community, which we found ourselves above. Anderson's letter written in early October spells out our position on Mr. West's letter. It was my intention to meet with Mr. West to discuss our downward trend in minority employment. However, per discussions with L. Larsonneur and yourself, I have been advised not to do so. 20 You should be aware that the likelihood of the compliance officer again becoming very concerned, perhaps to a greater degree than last time as mentioned in his letter to Mr. Johnston, is a very strong possibility, in my opinion. Perhaps we should write a letter to Mr. West to advise his office that after a review of the statistical information we are making changes in our 1975 Affirmative Action Plan that will affect our ultimate goals and objectives and cause a reduction in minorities in the plant; as opposed to his finding that out at the time that the 1977 Affirmative Action Plan is submitted. 21 Defendants responded to plaintiffs' interpretation of the memorandum by explaining that the intention to reduce language referred to nothing more than the recognition by Dean that, because of normal attrition and some changes in defendants' hiring policies occurring in the fall of 1974, they expected fewer minorities and women in the plant. The major change in hiring policy was a requirement that new applicants have three to five years industrial work experience. That change was instituted at the suggestion of Ather Williams, Jr., a black who was hired in May, 1974 as manager of administration and whose responsibilities included the task of reducing the number of employee turnovers at the plant. Defendants pointed out that the memorandum merely corroborated the conclusions of Anderson Fain III, a black and the company's EEO/Affirmative Action coordinator. Prior to the writing of the Dean memorandum, Fain had written a memorandum entitled 1975 Affirmative Action Compliance in response to the West letter. Fain observed that the small decline in the percentage of blacks in defendants' work force reflected the effects of the sharp reduction in hiring activity in 1975 and the new requirement of three to five years prior industrial work experience. Fain stated that he thought statistics prepared by the United States Department of Labor would substantiate his view that fewer qualified minorities and females were available. 22 Defendants maintained that after Dean wrote his memorandum, but before he sent it to Corradino, he went over a draft of the memorandum with Williams. In their conversation, Dean allegedly told Williams that he believed Fain's observations explained the reduction in the percentage of minorities at the plant in 1975 and that this explanation should be communicated to West. Dean stated that although the hiring changes would, given normal attrition, reduce minority representation at the plant, he believed that, because the minority representation in defendants' work force then actually exceeded the representation of minorities in the available work force, defendants could properly float above parity and need not take affirmative steps to hire minorities or females lacking the required industrial work experience. Williams apparently agreed with Dean, but emphasized that in no event could defendants go below the parity level. The company claims that neither at this meeting nor at any other meeting during the short life of this plant did company officials discuss any intent to discharge black employees. Furthermore, the company generally denies that any such policy or practice was ever formed or adopted. Judge Leighton so found. Dean then wrote the memorandum to Corradino to inquire whether floating above parity was consistent with corporate policy. Defendants assert that because of concern about the connotation to which the memorandum was susceptible, Dean wrote on one copy of the memorandum, Need advice from corporate--where we are. Plaintiffs maintain that there is no evidence in the record to show that Dean was concerned or that he wrote the phrase. 23 According to defendants, others in the company also expressed concern about the possibility that the memorandum could be misinterpreted. This was the position of Frank R. Steele, a black who was then director of corporate equal opportunity for Johnson & Johnson, and William O'Brien, a white who was then vice president of personnel for Johnson & Johnson Baby Products Company. As a result, Steele prepared a document, dated December 17, 1976, and signed by O'Brien, that was sent to all Baby Products facility directors and personnel managers. The memorandum stated that as part of defendants' affirmative action policy, they should make every effort to maintain minority and female representation levels, even when the levels exceeded parity. 9 All of this occurred prior to this lawsuit. 24 The district court adopted defendants' view of the Dean memorandum and found that the memorandum did not and was not intended to express a policy of defendants to discharge black employees in 1975 or in any other year. In commenting on the plaintiffs' attorneys' persistence on a construction of the Dean Memorandum which its content does not reasonably support, Judge Leighton stated that: 25 A reasonable mind will readily grasp that taking this sentence out of the context of the others to which it refers, giving that one sentence special meaning without regard to the substantive matters that modify its intention, is a deliberate attempt to give it a distorted construction. Only a mind bent on litigation mischief can pursue such a course of conduct. 26 Coates (COL 16). 27 We have no reason to find that Judge Leighton's view of the memorandum was clearly erroneous. It would be a business faux pas of the first degree for any company, much less a company with a high percentage of upper-level black personnel, to put in writing and circulate a memorandum suggesting discriminatory discharges. Plaintiffs' insistence on its own distorted and unlikely interpretation may be explained by plaintiffs' perception that the memorandum plays a crucial role in their case. Plaintiffs' interpretation of the memorandum, it was no doubt noted, could make up for deficiencies in plaintiffs' other evidence.