Opinion ID: 2295666
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Teamsters

Text: Another form of disparate treatment exists where the employer has regularly and purposefully treated women less favorably than men. Evidence proving that unlawful discrimination has been a regular procedure or policy followed by an employer or group of employers, Teamsters v. United States, supra 431 U.S. at 360, 97 S.Ct. at 1867, will constitute a prima facie case as to unlawful discrimination against the particular plaintiff. Statistical evidence as well as evidence of overt and intentional discrimination can be evidence tending to prove such a pattern or practice. Id. at 337-40, 97 S.Ct. 1843. In Teamsters, as here, there were specific instances when applicants from the protected group were told that the defendant was not yet ready to hire them. [14] In this case there was also evidence of the CSC chairman's expressed opinion that female police officers would be a luxury and of his remark to plaintiff Hall that she was just a pretty face. The Superior Court thus erred in finding no evidence that officials of the city of Auburn had discouraged women in their pursuit of jobs as police officers. [15] In Teamsters, the Supreme Court warned against an employer's subtle discrimination of discouraging applicants by his consistent discriminatory treatment of actual applicants, by the manner in which he publicizes vacancies, his recruitment techniques, his responses to casual or tentative inquiries, and even by the racial or ethnic composition of that part of his work force from which he has discriminatorily excluded members of minority groups. Teamsters v. United States, supra at 365, 97 S.Ct. at 1870. It is also noteworthy that height and weight requirements such as those imposed by the city of Auburn up until 1975 have been held to deter potential applicants. Dothard v. Rawlinson, 433 U.S. 321, 330, 97 S.Ct. 2720, 53 L.Ed.2d 786 (1977) (striking down height and weight requirements for prison guards). Indeed, the CSC's certification of Jean Greeley was restricted because she failed to meet the physical requirements, and eight other female applicants out of a total of thirteen were rejected for similar reasons. The height and weight requirements are significant in relation to the statistical evidence. Defendants argued, and the Superior Court agreed, that the number of females who applied for police jobs and the number screened by the CSC were too small to be of statistical significance and that the use of statistics regarding the percentage of women in service jobs in the Lewiston-Auburn area was impermissible. However, general population statistics have probative value where potential female applicants may have been deterred by the past practices of defendants. [16] Small statistical samples may become significant where the small number of female applicants may be due to unequal recruitment and past discriminatory practices. Boston Chapter NAACP, Inc. v. Beecher, 504 F.2d 1017, 1020-21 (1st Cir. 1974), cert. denied, 421 U.S. 910, 95 S.Ct. 1561, 43 L.Ed.2d 775 (1975). Also, even if the statistical sample is small, the results can be probative if corroborated by evidence of intentional and overt discrimination. Commonwealth v. Rizzo, 466 F.Supp. 1219, 1232 (E.D.Pa.1979). See also E. E. O. C. v. N. Y. Times Broadcasting Service, Inc., 542 F.2d 356, 360-61 (6th Cir. 1976). Still further, where there exists the inexorable zero  zero female police officers, zero female applicants fully certified by the CSC  the prima facie inference of discrimination becomes strong. Teamsters v. United States, supra 431 U.S. at 342 n. 23, 97 S.Ct. 1843; Lee v. City of Richmond, 456 F.Supp. 756, 767 (E.D.Va. 1978).