Opinion ID: 392022
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: summary judgment and the applicability of weber

Text: 12 In United Steelworkers v. Weber, 443 U.S. 193, 208, 99 S.Ct. 2721, 2730, 61 L.Ed.2d 480 (1979), the Supreme Court observed that it was not defin(ing) in detail the line of demarcation between permissible and impermissible affirmative action plans. The Court distinguished, but did not overrule, McDonald v. Santa Fe Trail Transportation Co., 427 U.S. 273, 96 S.Ct. 2574, 49 L.Ed.2d 493 (1976), in which a unanimous court had affirmed that Title VII extends its protections to white workers as well as black. The Court has thus made clear that recitation of a benign purpose for disparate treatment based on race will not necessarily immunize a private employer from liability to the disadvantaged class of employees. 13 In the present case, the district court found that B&O's actions did not require Parker's discharge, did not permanently bar his possible employment advancement, and did not constitute an intentional maintenance of racial balance. These features had also characterized the affirmative action plan upheld in Weber, and had entered into the Court's conclusion that the plan does not unnecessarily trammel the interests of the white employees. 443 U.S. at 208, 99 S.Ct. at 2730. The district court apparently accepted B&O's argument that such findings always compel the conclusion that the rights of white workers are not unduly trammeled. We do not believe that Weber supports the proposition that no purported affirmative action plan is ever unlawful unless it requires discharge, permanently bars advancement, or maintains racial balance, and, as we explain below, we find that the record simply does not contain enough information to demonstrate whether B&O's policies unnecessarily trammel the interests of white employees. We therefore conclude that a crucial fact remained disputed, and that summary judgment was premature. A. B&O's Hiring Decisions 14 Parker claims that his efforts to become a locomotive fireman were defeated by illegal preferences given to black and female applicants. 1 B&O agrees that in 1976 the six fireman openings were filled by two white men, one white woman, two black men, and one black woman. In 1977, all nine positions went to white men. In 1978, eight positions went to white men, and a ninth job was taken by a black man. Thus, 1976 and 1978 are the periods in dispute for Parker's claims of race and gender discrimination. 2 15 B&O relies on an affidavit acknowledging that the company has engaged in affirmative action .... to overcome the underutilization of minorities and women in various jobs, and that this action has included using race and sex as factors in the selection of some applicants in December 1976 for transfer to locomotive fireman positions. Affidavit of Robert E. Upton, Ass't to the Senior Vice President, (hereinafter cited as Upton Affidavit), Joint Appendix (J.A.) at 96-97. In particular, the record contains evidence of Seniority Modification Agreements between B&O and unions representing its employees, permitting preferential transfer without loss of seniority by eligible minority and female employees. 3 The agreement apparently governing the decisions in this case was signed on November 6, 1975 by B&O's multiemployer bargaining representative and the Brotherhood of Railway, Airline and Steamship Clerks, Freight Handlers, Express and Station Employees (BRAC). 16 The record indicates that eligibility for transfer under the BRAC agreement was limited to workers continuously employed by B&O since August 31, 1971. No copy of any Seniority Modification Agreement itself, however, appears in the record. In fact, it was Parker who introduced the only document that sheds light on the theoretical workings of this aspect of B&O's affirmative action efforts, an Explanation of Rights of Minority and Female Employees under Seniority Modification Agreements addressed to B&O employees. Exhibit 1 to Plaintiff's Memorandum of Points and Authorities, J.A. 154-58. 4 In arguing its entitlement to summary judgment, B&O points to no further details concerning its methods of considering race and sex as factors in hiring decisions, except by its assertion that (o)ther than in connection with B& O's affirmative action, race and sex have not been used as factors in the selection of applicants for positions at B&O. Upton Affidavit, J.A. 97. 17 It appears from the record that the two black workers who transferred to the position of locomotive fireman in 1976 were eligible for preference under the BRAC agreements, but that the two women had joined the company after the eligibility date. 5 Counsel for B&O suggested at oral argument that the time limit for eligibility had been waived for their benefit. The black locomotive fireman who was hired in 1978 was not previously a B&O employee at all, but had been referred by the Maryland State Employment Service. 6 These facts suggest that the lawfulness of B&O's actions could not be judged entirely from the face of the Seniority Modification Agreements, even if those agreements were in the record. 18 B. Applicability of Weber to B&O's 1976 Decisions 19 In Weber, the employee challenged on its face an affirmative action plan of mathematical simplicity. Craft trainees were chosen on the basis of seniority from the plant's production workers, subject to the limitation that at most fifty percent of the new trainees were to be white. 443 U.S. at 199, 99 S.Ct. at 2725. The training program was itself created as an affirmative action effort, and the selection process did not abrogate pre-existing seniority rights. Id. at 199, 99 S.Ct. at 2725; Id. at 215, 99 S.Ct. at 2734 (Blackmun, J., concurring). The Court noted that the craft admission plan was a temporary measure, effective only until the percentage of black skilled craft workers in the plant approximated the percentage of blacks in the local labor force. Id. at 208-09, 99 S.Ct. at 2730-2731; but see id. at 223 n.3, 99 S.Ct. at 2738 n.3 (Rehnquist, J., dissenting) (disputing this finding). 20 The relative clarity of the facts in Weber contrasts starkly with the obscurity of the present record. Initially, B&O relied on self-serving conclusory statements in the Upton Affidavit, assuring the court that it never considered race and gender as factors except in the context of its efforts to overcome underutilization. Next, B&O defended the Seniority Modification Agreements, which, the record indicates, were strictly applicable to only two of the challenged hirings. B&O has provided no information concerning affirmative action policies, if any, for employees not covered by the agreements; we note that the BRAC agreement was designed to expire at the end of 1976, 7 and presumably does not govern B&O's current employment policy. 21 Self-serving statements for purposes of litigation do not automatically validate a purported affirmative action program. The Supreme Court's Weber opinion strongly suggests that an affirmative action plan can be so invasive of the interests of majority workers that it violates Title VII. We do not believe that the only impermissible actions against employees' interests are discharging them and permanently barring their advancement. Since the record in this case does not sufficiently illuminate B&O's practices to enable a court to decide whether they unnecessarily trammel the interests of the white employees, a genuine issue of material fact remained unresolved, and summary judgment was premature. 22 C. The 1978 Hiring Decision and the Prima Facie Case 23 In granting summary judgment, the district court did not distinguish between claims regarding 1976 hiring decisions and the claim involving 1978. Apparently the court was convinced by B&O's affidavits that, if race was used as a factor in 1978, then that use was part of a permissible affirmative action program. The court's ruling on the 1978 claim must be reexamined when more information is available concerning B&O's affirmative action efforts. We observe, however, that Parker has not yet demonstrated that race was a factor in the 1978 hiring although B&O conceded its deliberate use of race and gender under the rubric of affirmative action in 1976, the record reflects no such concession concerning 1978. It will therefore be necessary on remand for Parker to adduce evidence of an intent to discriminate. This court has recently clarified the standards for establishment of a prima facie case of discriminatory promotion in Title VII suits brought by white employees, see Daye v. Harris, No. 79-2371 (D.C. Cir. Jan. 15, 1981), and Parker may avail himself of these standards in proving racial motivation. 24 The Supreme Court held that racially discriminatory intent could be inferred from circumstantial evidence in McDonnell Douglas Corp. v. Green, 411 U.S. 792, 93 S.Ct. 1817, 36 L.Ed.2d 668 (1973), and the standard enunciated in that case remains the cornerstone of evidentiary analysis in disparate treatment cases under Title VII. The Court held that for a black job applicant to establish a prima facie case without direct evidence of discriminatory motive, it is enough to show 25 (i) that he belongs to a racial minority; (ii) that he applied and was qualified for a job for which the employer was seeking applicants; (iii) that, despite his qualifications, he was rejected; and (iv) that, after his rejection, the position remained open and the employer continued to seek applicants from persons of complainant's qualifications. 26 411 U.S. at 802, 93 S.Ct. at 1824 (footnote omitted). 27 The McDonnell Douglas test is not an arbitrary lightening of the plaintiff's burden, but rather a procedural embodiment of the recognition that our nation has not yet freed itself from a legacy of hostile discrimination. The Supreme Court has explained this standard as 28 a sensible, orderly way to evaluate the evidence in light of common experience as it bears on the critical question of discrimination. A prima facie case under McDonnell Douglas raises an inference of discrimination only because we presume these acts, if otherwise unexplained, are more likely than not based on the consideration of impermissible factors. 29 Furnco Construction Corp. v. Waters, 438 U.S. 567, 577, 98 S.Ct. 2943, 2949, 57 L.Ed.2d 957 (1978). 8 30 The Court recognized in McDonnell Douglas that modifications in the standard would be required to adapt it from the context of a discriminatory refusal to hire to other employment situations. This court has recently stated a version of the McDonnell Douglas test for discrimination in competitive promotion decisions. The first three elements are the same, while the fourth is replaced by the requirement that other employees of similar qualifications who were not members of the protected group were indeed promoted at the time the plaintiff's request for promotion was denied. Bundy v. Jackson, 641 F.2d 934 at 951 (D.C.Cir.1981). 31 Before this test can be applied to Parker's claim, however, a further adjustment must be made. The original McDonnell Douglas standard required the plaintiff to show that he belongs to a racial minority. Membership in a socially disfavored group was the assumption on which the entire McDonnell Douglas analysis was predicated, for only in that context can it be stated as a general rule that the light of common experience would lead a factfinder to infer discriminatory motive from the unexplained hiring of an outsider rather than a group member. Whites are also a protected group under Title VII, but it defies common sense to suggest that the promotion of a black employee justifies an inference of prejudice against white co-workers in our present society. 32 This court has allowed majority plaintiffs to rely on the McDonnell Douglas criteria to prove a prima facie case of intentionally disparate treatment when background circumstances support the suspicion that the defendant is that unusual employer who discriminates against the majority. 9 In Daye v. Harris, No. 79-2371 (D.C.Cir. Jan. 15, 1981), the court analyzed a contested promotion within the nursing staff at St. Elizabeth's Hospital. A majority of the nurses at St. Elizabeth's were black, and they received an overwhelmingly large proportion of the promotions. 10 Practices inconsistent with the usual procedure at St. Elizabeth's focused further suspicion on this particular choice, which the plaintiff claimed to be the result of a conspiracy between the retiring chief nurse, who was white, and the division medical director, who was black. Under these circumstances, the court held that the plaintiff was entitled to use the McDonnell Douglas standard for the prima facie case, and that she was not required to provide direct evidence that the irregular acts of favoritism toward the successful candidate were motivated by her race rather than other factors. Thus, evidence of a racially discriminatory environment served as a functional equivalent of the first McDonnell Douglas criterion, membership in a racial minority. 33 Parker's claims of unlawful discrimination in 1976 will be subjected to further inquiry by the district court on remand. If the court finds that evidence of B&O's unlawful consideration of race as a factor in hiring in the past justifies a suspicion that incidents of capricious discrimination against whites because of their race may be likely, Parker should not be required to adduce direct evidence that race was a factor in the 1978 hiring decision. If Parker's qualifications enable him to meet the other criteria of McDonnell Douglas, the burden of going forward would then shift to B&O to articulate a legitimate nondiscriminatory reason for its actions in 1978, in accordance with the usual McDonnell Douglas analysis.