Opinion ID: 347588
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Selection and Training of Craftsmen

Text: 143 The plaintiffs and EEOC insist that the district court erred in holding that Stockham has never discriminated against blacks in the selection and training of craftsmen. In essence they say that the company's practices with regard to craft positions contain elements of present discrimination and  neutral policies which perpetuate past bias in hiring. 144 First, the plaintiffs contend that the same discriminatory practices that denied blacks particular jobs and positions in certain departments have denied blacks training and advancement to craft positions. They point to evidence of the gross statistical disparities in the number of black and white craftsmen and the total exclusion of blacks from craft training programs until April, 1971. Second, the plaintiffs and the amicus point to the screening requirements used by Stockham in selecting employees for the apprenticeship training program. Since 1953 a passing score on the Bennett Mechanical Test has been required. Between 1965 and 1971 a score of 18 on the Wonderlic Personnel Test was required. Since 1970 an applicant for apprentice training has been required to have a high school diploma, or its equivalent, and to be thirty years old or younger, excluding time in military service. Finally, the plaintiffs stress the total discretion of an overwhelmingly white supervisory staff in selecting employees for the apprenticeship program and for on-the-job training. 145 In response to these contentions the defendants emphasize the trial court's finding that the plaintiffs failed to show a single instance involving the company's failure to select a qualified black craftsman in favor of an equally or less qualified white. In addition, the defendant stresses the differences in skill level and productivity between black and white employees allegedly revealed by the regression analysis of earnings differences in the study conducted by Dr. Gwartney. We have already discussed the Gwartney study and rejected it as a basis for rebutting the prima facie case of discrimination established by the plaintiffs' evidence. 46 That analysis applies equally well here. The defendant's first argument, that the plaintiffs have failed to show that a qualified black has been rejected for craft training, is legally irrelevant. In Rowe v. General Motors, supra, 457 F.2d at 355 n.14, we explained how the burden of proof is allocated in Title VII cases: 146 The Trial Court took the simple position that the employees failed to carry the burden of establishing that GMAD maintained a policy of discrimination in employment practices . . . . (With Griggs ) the Supreme Court has made clear that the employer has the burden of showing that any given requirement which has a tendency to reduce job opportunity because of race has a demonstrable relationship to the employment in question. Griggs, supra, 401 U.S. at 431, 91 S.Ct. (849) at 853, 28 L.Ed.2d at 164. 147 Thus, the trial court here concluded that the plaintiffs failed to meet their burden of proof under an erroneous view of controlling legal principles. 47 148 We must examine the requirements and procedures for selecting employees into craft training programs to determine whether they operate to discriminate against blacks. 149
150 The company defines craft jobs as those in job classes 9 through 13. As to the representation of blacks in craft positions at the time of trial the district court found: 151 Black employees fill 10 (5%) of approximately 200 craft jobs at Stockham. Five percent is not an underrepresentation of blacks in craft jobs compared to the local and national labor markets. 152 394 F.Supp. at 455. The court's conclusion that a five percent representation of blacks in craft jobs is not disproportionate because it compares favorably with local and national labor markets is clearly erroneous. The relevant work-force for comparison purposes is Stockham where 66 percent of all maintenance and production workers are black. 48 When compared with that figure, 5 percent looks paltry indeed. In fact, statistical evidence shows that in June 1973, while only 6 blacks were working in craft jobs at Stockham, 227 whites were employed as craftsmen. Further, in June 1965 there were 70 white craftsmen and no blacks; similarly in June 1968 there were no black craftsmen and 85 whites in craft jobs. 153 In addition, the court cited as evidence that Stockham does not discriminate against blacks with regard to craft positions the fact that no black employee who has completed the apprentice program at Stockham or elsewhere is not employed in a craft position. See 394 F.Supp. at 455. This finding fails to prove a lack of discrimination because it ignores three facts: (a) the testimony of company officials that a substantial number of craftsmen at Stockham have been trained in the company's apprenticeship program; 49 (b) that no black was admitted to the apprenticeship training program until April 1971; and (c) that only 6 of 101 employees selected by the company for apprenticeship training since July 2, 1965, have been black. 154 The district court however found that the apprentice program has never been restricted to whites. 394 F.Supp. at 475. As evidence for this conclusion the court cited the following statistics: 155 From 1965 through 1973, a total of 65 timely applications for apprentice positions were filed, 14 by black and 51 by white employees. Of that total 38 were granted, 6 for black and 32 for white employees. 156 394 F.Supp. at 477. These statistics do not serve factually or legally to counter the inference of discrimination raised by the plaintiffs' statistics on black participation in the apprentice program. The filing of a timely application has never been a requirement for admission to the apprentice program. Of 101 employees admitted to the program since 1965, 63 did not file timely applications. More significantly, every employee who entered the program without filing a timely application was white. Thus, the court's citation of statistics to show that a comparable number of timely applications to the apprenticeship program were granted for black and white employees is largely irrelevant. Further, no black filed an application for the program until 1971. Such applications were apparently seen by black employees as useless acts, Teamsters, 431 U.S. at 368, 97 S.Ct. 1843, because of the total exclusion of blacks from the program until 1971. Thus, the court's reliance on the number of timely applications filed and granted by race to prove a lack of discrimination in apprentice training was erroneous. As we asked in another case, (i)f an employee realizes full well that blacks simply are not hired (for certain positions), why should he bother to apply? Bing v. Roadway Express, Inc., 485 F.2d at 451. Just recently the Supreme Court recognized, as no new principle, that unlawful employment practices may be so successful as to totally deter victims of gross and pervasive discrimination from applying for jobs. Teamsters, 431 U.S. at 368, 97 S.Ct. 1843. 157 We conclude that the district court was clearly erroneous in finding that Stockham has never had a policy of excluding blacks from craft jobs and the apprenticeship program. 50 The next question is whether the procedures established by Stockham for screening and selecting apprentices served to accentuate and to perpetuate the effects of such discrimination.
158 Since 1953 applicants for apprentice training have been required to achieve a passing score on the Bennett Mechanical Test. The district court found that the Bennett test did not have an adverse impact on blacks because beginning in 1969 or 1970 the company did not require black employees to attain the same scores on the test as whites. See 394 F.Supp. at 483. That finding is clearly erroneous. Edward Glenn, the Stockham manager in charge of administering and grading that test in 1969 and 1970, testified without qualification that the examinations completed by black and white employees were graded the same way and the results were treated equally. He denied that a dual scoring system had been employed. That no blacks were admitted to the apprenticeship program before 1971 raises a prima facie case of discrimination. Watkins v. Scott Paper Co., 530 F.2d at 1185-86. The defendant Stockham failed to present evidence of the job-relatedness of the test. Therefore, the use of the Bennett test for selection of apprentices was unlawful. 159 The Wonderlic Personnel Test was used for screening employees seeking admission to the apprenticeship program from August 1965 until March 1971. Stockham required a score of 18 on that test. In subsection III.B. of this opinion we discussed the lawfulness of the Wonderlic testing program and concluded that the plaintiffs made a prima facie case of the adverse impact of the test on blacks seeking jobs, including apprentice training, for which higher scores were required. As we stated, because the defendant offered no evidence of job-relatedness, we have concluded that the plaintiffs are entitled to equitable relief from the effects of the Wonderlic testing program.
160 In 1970 Stockham instituted a requirement that all apprentices have a high school diploma or its equivalent. Before 1970 only a grammar school education was required. Under Title VII, practices and procedures cannot be maintained if they operate to 'freeze' the status quo of prior discriminatory employment practices. Griggs v. Duke Power Co., 401 U.S. at 430, 91 S.Ct. at 853. If an employment practice which operates to exclude Negroes cannot be shown to be related to job performance, the practice is prohibited. Id. at 431, 91 S.Ct. at 853. The plaintiffs contend that the high school education requirement is a neutral employment practice that operates to perpetuate the effects of past discrimination because it has an adverse impact on black employees and has not been shown to be job-related. The district court reached a contrary conclusion, finding: 161 There has been no showing on the part of plaintiffs that the education and age guidelines produce a disproportionate impact on black applicants, . . . as there is no significant difference between the percentage of black and white employees at Stockham possessing high school educations. Until a showing of disproportionate impact is made, Stockham is not required to demonstrate that the education and age requirements are job related. (Footnotes omitted.) 162 394 F.Supp. at 497. The evidence shows that 61.5 percent of the white hourly workers have a high school education; whereas, only 50.1 percent of the black hourly workers meet that requirement. Because 66 percent of the production and maintenance workers are black, these percentages mean that 280 white employees as compared with 772 blacks are disqualified from the apprenticeship program by this requirement. Further, while 58 white workers have been selected for apprentice training since the requirement was imposed in 1970, only 6 black employees have been chosen. Apparently as a second reason for finding there was no adverse impact on blacks from the operation of the education requirement, the district court found that the requirement is not automatically applied, citing the following statistics: 163 Since 1965 the high school education level requirement for the apprentice program has been waived on 4 occasions, 3 times for white employees and once for a black employee. 164 394 F.Supp. at 477. The statistics cited by the court fall of their own weight. While fewer blacks have a high school diploma than whites, the requirement has been waived for only four employees out of 64; three of these were white. 165 The evidence that fewer blacks than whites proportionately have attained a high school education and that only 9 percent of the employees chosen for the program during the operation of the educational requirement have been black when two-thirds of the work force is black compels us to conclude that the high school requirement is discriminatory in its effect. Therefore, Stockham had the burden of showing that the requirement has a manifest relationship to the apprenticeship program. Griggs v. Duke Power Co., supra, 401 U.S. at 432, 91 S.Ct. at 854. The defendant offered no evidence to satisfy this burden.
166 In 1970, at the same time that Stockham imposed the high school education requirement for selection to the apprenticeship program, the company added a maximum age limit for apprenticeship training of thirty, excluding time in military service. The plaintiffs cite this as another requirement that serves to freeze in the effects of past discrimination. As we cited in the preceding section of this opinion, the district court found that the requirement had no disproportionate effect on black employees. 394 F.Supp. at 497. We do not agree. 167 Because of the company's policy of excluding blacks from the apprenticeship program in the past, the age requirement operates to prevent all blacks who reached the age of thirty before 1971, the first year any blacks were admitted into the program, from having an opportunity for apprenticeship training. In comparison, no white has been excluded by the age requirement who was not subject to consideration for the program before he became thirty years of age. 168 The age requirement thus operates as a practice neutral on its face but perpetuating the effects of past discrimination. For such a practice to be lawful under Title VII, it must be related to job performance or the employer must show that the requirement is a business necessity. As we observed in Local 189, United Papermakers and Paperworkers v. United States, 5 Cir. 1969, 416 F.2d 980, 989: 169 When an employer or union has discriminated in the past and when its present policies renew or exaggerate discriminatory effects, those policies must yield, unless there is an overriding legitimate, nonracial business purpose. 170 The company contends that the age limit is necessary to protect its investment in the lengthy apprenticeship training program. This justification, without more, cannot meet the burden imposed by the doctrine. The business necessity of a practice is not shown merely with evidence that it serves legitimate management functions. 171 Necessity connotes an irresistible demand. To be preserved, the seniority and transfer system must not only directly foster safety and efficiency of a plant, but also be essential to those goals. . . . If the legitimate ends of safety and efficiency can be served by a reasonably available alternative system with less discriminatory effects, then the present policies may not be continued. United States v. Bethlehem Steel Corp., 2d Cir. 1971, 446 F.2d 652, 662 (1971). 172 United States v. Jacksonville Terminal Co., 451 F.2d at 451. The thirty-year maximum age limit has not been shown to be essential to the goals of safety and efficiency. Any lesser showing is insufficient. There is nothing particularly compelling about the company's decision to protect its training investment when the employee is thirty. The unfairness becomes apparent when it is considered in view of Stockham's imposition of the age requirement on apprenticeship applicants in 1970, before beginning to admit blacks to the program and when no whites had ever been excluded on the basis of age. See EEOC Guideline 29 C.F.R. § 1607.11 (1974) and footnote 43. The plaintiffs are entitled to equitable relief from the continued application of this requirement. 51 5. Supervisory Discretion 173 The plaintiffs and the EEOC contend that the disproportionately small number of blacks selected for the apprenticeship program since 1971 is also caused by subjective, discretionary selection procedures. The evidence shows several critical facts. The foreman or superintendent of the department in which a craft vacancy occurs selects a candidate for the apprenticeship program; that recommendation is almost invariably followed by the apprenticeship committee, which makes the final selection. Supervisors in other departments may also recommend employees. There are no formal written guidelines for the selection decision. Only such general factors as desire and aptitude for the craft position are considered. Just five of 120 foremen and none of the 26 superintendents or six general foremen are black. Thus, the plaintiffs are complaining of a largely subjective selection process involving white supervisors. 52 This procedure presents a ready mechanism for discrimination. Rowe v. General Motors Corp., 457 F.2d at 359. Such subjective procedures when combined with statistical evidence on the grossly disproportionate number of blacks selected for the apprenticeship program since 1971; 53 the unvalidated testing, educational, and age requirements that adversely affect blacks and the continuation of segregated facilities and programs until 1974, make a conclusive showing of present discriminatory practices. In Pettway v. American Cast Iron Pipe Co., 494 F.2d at 239, this Court reached a similar determination: 174 The historical formal exclusion and the statistical and testimonial evidence demonstrating disproportionate exclusion of blacks by the testing and educational requirements, when combined with the continuing use of the high school education or its equivalent standard and the present age requirement and lengthy apprenticeship term, constitutes not merely a prima facie case, but conclusive proof of present effect from past discrimination. (Footnotes omitted.) 175 See also United States v. Jacksonville Terminal Co., 451 F.2d at 442. We think that conclusion is equally applicable here.