Opinion ID: 386015
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Plaintiffs' Entitlement to Backpay

Text: 17 In Title VII class litigation, once it has been established that an employment practice is unlawful, class members victimized by the discrimination become presumptively entitled to backpay. E.g., Albemarle Paper Co. v. Moody, supra, 422 U.S. at 421, 95 S.Ct. at 2373; Sledge v. J. P. Stevens & Co., 585 F.2d 625, 637 (4th Cir. 1978), cert. denied, 440 U.S. 981, 99 S.Ct. 1789, 60 L.Ed.2d 241 (1979). See also Grant v. Bethlehem Steel Corp., 635 F.2d 1007 at 1015-1016 (2d Cir. 1980). Where there has been an unlawful refusal to hire, individual class members establish their prima facie entitlement to backpay simply by showing that they applied for the job and were not hired. Sledge v. J.P. Stevens & Co., supra, 585 F.2d at 637. See also Rodriguez v. Taylor, supra, 569 F.2d at 1239; Swint v. Pullman-Standard Co., 539 F.2d 77, 103 (5th Cir. 1976); EEOC v. Local 638 ... Local 28 of the Sheet Metal Workers' Int'l Ass'n, 532 F.2d 821, 832-33 (2d Cir. 1976). Cf. International Brotherhood of Teamsters v. United States, 431 U.S. 324, 361-62, 97 S.Ct. 1843, 1867-68, 52 L.Ed.2d 396 (1977). The defendant may then rebut this prima facie showing by proving that the class member would not have been hired even absent discrimination 10 for example, because no vacancies existed or because the claimant failed to meet nondiscriminatory requirements for employment. E.g., Sledge v. J.P. Stevens & Co., supra, 585 F.2d at 637; Rodriguez v. Taylor, supra, 569 F.2d at 1240; cf. Franks v. Bowman Transportation Co., 424 U.S. 747, 772-73 & n.32, 96 S.Ct. 1251, 1267-68 & n.32, 47 L.Ed.2d 444 (1976). When the defendant has attempted to prove the existence of a nondiscriminatory reason for the failure to hire but it remains uncertain whether the plaintiff would have been hired in the absence of the discriminatory practice, and the uncertainty flows from that practice, the issue should be resolved against the defendant, the party responsible for the lack of certainty. Stewart v. General Motors Corp., 542 F.2d 445, 452 (7th Cir. 1976), cert. denied, 433 U.S. 919, 97 S.Ct. 2995, 53 L.Ed.2d 1105 (1977); Day v. Mathews, 530 F.2d 1083, 1086 (D.C.Cir.1976) (per curiam). See also Rodriguez v. Taylor, supra; United States v. United States Steel Corp., 520 F.2d 1043, 1050 (5th Cir. 1975), cert. denied, 429 U.S. 817, 97 S.Ct. 61, 50 L.Ed.2d 77 (1976). 18 In denying backpay in the present case, the trial court did not adequately evaluate the City's attempt to rebut plaintiffs' prima facie case. It was undisputed that Cohen and Horwitt applied for positions with the police department, that they met all criteria for employment except successful completion of an agility test, and that they were denied placement on the appointment list solely because they failed the discriminatory Blesh test. The court properly recognized that their prima facie entitlement to backpay had been established. The court concluded, however, that their failure of the new test in August 1978 constituted conclusive proof that legitimate, nondiscriminatory reasons existed for their rejection in January 1977. 485 F.Supp. at 964. We disagree. 19 Assuming that a defendant is allowed to show that the plaintiffs were not in fact victims of ... discrimination, Franks v. Bowman Transportation Co., supra, 424 U.S. at 772, 96 S.Ct. at 1267, by offering the results of a test it has developed subsequent to the refusal to hire, 11 it is nevertheless inappropriate to allow such a justification unless the new test can reasonably be thought to measure the applicant's qualifications as of the time of the earlier refusal to hire. The reasonableness of such an inference will vary, depending principally on the nature of the qualities to be measured and the length of time between the refusal and the new test. 12 Thus although a test of general intelligence or knowledge, for example, may have retrospective validity for a substantial period of time, we have no such confidence in a test of physical agility. It is obvious that physical conditioning will have an important impact on measurable agility. 13 While one's basic physical conditioning normally varies little from week to week, there is no a priori reason to presume that it would remain unchanged after a period of many months. Here, the new test was administered more than 1 1/2 years after the discriminatory test had been failed. There was no basis for concluding, as the district court did, that plaintiffs would have failed the new test at the earlier time. 20 Indeed, as to Horwitt, the record suggests the contrary, even without regard to her representations that she was in substantially better physical condition at the time of the first test. On the discriminatory Blesh test, Horwitt scored 495 literally a hop, a skip, or a jump away from the passing score of 500. The new test incorporated many of the features of the Blesh test, but eliminated those features that were found to have almost a total adverse impact upon women. Thus, if given the new test in January 1977, instead of the Blesh test, it is far more likely that Horwitt would have passed than that she would have failed. While the situation is less clear as to Cohen, any uncertainty in either case must be laid to the City. 21 We are compelled to conclude that the results of the August 1978 test did not constitute the requisite proof that plaintiffs were disqualified at the time the City rejected them. Since the City produced no other evidence that plaintiffs would not have been hired absent the unlawful discrimination, the City failed to rebut plaintiffs' prima facie case. 22 Nor do we agree with the trial court's conclusion that special circumstances precluded an award of backpay to plaintiffs. In so ruling, the district court relied on three factors: (1) what it characterized as the windfall nature of an award in light of plaintiffs' inability to pass a nondiscriminatory agility test; (2) the absence of any need to deter future violations by the City; and (3) the City's good faith efforts to recruit women and minority group members for police work. Although backpay is an equitable remedy and, as such, lies within the trial judge's discretion, that discretion is to be exercised with a view to  'fashion(ing) ... the most complete relief possible.'  Albemarle Paper Co. v. Moody, supra, 422 U.S. at 421, 95 S.Ct. at 2373 (quoting 118 Cong.Rec. 7168 (1972) (remarks of Sen. Williams)) (brackets in original). Accordingly, once the trial court has found unlawful discrimination, backpay should be denied only for reasons which, if applied generally, would not frustrate the central statutory purposes of ending employment discrimination and compensating its victims. Id. Measured against this standard, the factors relied upon by the district court were insufficient, either singly or in combination, to justify denying an award. 23 The first factor, plaintiffs' inability to pass the new test, has no significance in determining their entitlement to backpay, as we have shown above. To deny an award on this basis would encourage other employers to delay the development of valid employment tests in the hope of escaping monetary liability and would subject victims of discrimination to prolonged periods of uncertainty. See Rodriguez v. Taylor, supra. Such results would plainly be incompatible with the central purposes of the Revenue Sharing Act. An award of backpay would not be a windfall to the plaintiffs in these circumstances; on the contrary, under Title VII standards, denial of an award would be a windfall to the City, whose posture in this appeal is that of a proven discriminator. 24 The second factor, the City's willingness to comply with federal antidiscrimination laws, is comparatively unimportant in determining whether to award backpay. By focusing on the apparent lack of deterrent value in a backpay award against these defendants, the trial court overlooked the essential compensatory purposes of federal antidiscrimination laws. However extensive the City's cooperation in this suit, the fact remains that the plaintiffs have shown, prima facie, that they were injured by the City's policy, and the City has failed to counter this showing. To make whole these victims of the unlawful policy, therefore, an award of backpay was in order. 25 Finally, the trial court's third factor, the City's good faith in seeking to enhance the representativeness of its workforce, is insufficient by itself to warrant a denial of backpay. As the Supreme Court has observed with respect to Title VII, the mere absence of bad faith simply opens the door to equity; it does not depress the scales in the employer's favor. Albemarle Paper Co. v. Moody, supra, 422 U.S. at 422, 95 S.Ct. at 2373. While the trial court in this case found a demonstrably good faith on the employer's part, rather than the simple absence of bad faith, we think that the court's emphasis on the employer's aspirations and intentions accords too little weight to the legal standards that govern under Title VII. That Act focuses on effects, not purposes. E.g., Griggs v. Duke Power Co., 401 U.S. 424, 432, 91 S.Ct. 849, 854, 28 L.Ed.2d 158 (1971). To condition the availability of backpay on the subjective considerations relied upon below would undermine the twin statutory goals of eliminating the effects of discrimination and compensating its victims. Thus good faith efforts at compliance with federal antidiscrimination mandates, standing alone, will not justify a denial of backpay. 26 For the reasons stated above, the judgment below must be vacated and the matter remanded for computation of backpay awards to the plaintiffs.