Opinion ID: 470317
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: John A. Ratliff

Text: 6 Ratliff applied to the Classification Commission in November 1977 for the position of field representative with the Agency. At that time the Agency employed several field representatives, each of whom was assigned to an area of the state comprising several counties. On his application, Ratliff indicated that he preferred to work in the Jackson area. There was never any question about his qualifications, and the Agency eventually ranked him as one of the best qualified applicants. On July 3, 1978, while Ratliff's application was pending, the Agency hired as temporary, emergency employees two white male field representatives, Gene Sanders and Donny Ray Barber, although neither had been evaluated by the Commission. The Governor had summoned the Agency director to his office and told the Director that he knew Sanders personally and wanted to see if Sanders could be hired on an emergency basis. The Governor also told the Director to have Sanders apply for a permanent position and see that it was filled as rapidly as possible. 7 When he learned that the Agency had hired Sanders and Barber, neither of whom had the college degree that he had attained, Ratliff filed a charge of discrimination with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission on July 12. At about this time, the Classification Commission refused to ratify the employment of the two whites because they had not been certified. 8 In July and August 1978, the Agency had vacancies for field representatives in four different areas of the state. To fill them it requested the Classification Commission to issue four certificates of eligibles, each on a local certificate. A local certificate lists applicants who have specified a preference to work in a particular part of the state. Because it reimbursed field representatives for their duty-related mileage, the Agency used local certificates to ensure that the pool of job applicants consisted of persons willing to live in the area where they would be working. 9 The Classification Commission issued its first certificate, which listed those applicants who had indicated a desire to work in the Jackson area, on July 19. Ratliff's name appeared on the list and he was interviewed. The Agency's records reflect that the interview went well. During his interview, Ratliff stated that, although he would not move his family from Jackson, he was willing to accept employment in any part of the state if he could live there during the week, returning to Jackson only on the weekends. The Agency, however, did not hire anyone listed on that certificate, but requested the Commission to issue another local certificate for the Jackson-area position. 10 The Classification Commission then reissued a certificate for the Jackson field representative position and issued certificates for the three other vacancies as well on July 31. The only person hired from any of these certificates was Gene Sanders, the white male who had previously been appointed on an emergency basis. The Agency then cancelled the remaining certificates, leaving three positions, including the opening in Jackson, unfilled. 11 The Agency offered testimony that the local certificates had listed so many qualified applicants that it would have been inordinately time-consuming for its top officers to conduct the customary interview with each applicant. To reduce the burden of interviewing, the director of the Agency decided to cancel the three local certificates and have the Classification Commission issue one statewide certificate. A statewide certificate lists only those applicants who have indicated a willingness to live in any part of the state. 12 A certificate containing the names of ten persons who were willing to accept employment statewide was issued on August 18. Three of the persons listed were ultimately selected: two black males, Billy Terrell and Benny Frank Paige, and one white male, Michael Hydrick. The selection was made, however, after the EEOC had begun investigating Ratliff's complaint and one week after the director of the Agency wrote a memorandum to the state Attorney General denying Ratliff's charge. The Agency had never before hired a black field representative. 13 Terrell was assigned to the Natchez area but did not relocate his family. So far as the record discloses, the Agency found this acceptable. Paige moved to the area to which he was assigned, which was Jackson, the place where Ratliff lived and where he had wished to work. Hydrick, the white male, did not accept the job. No other field representatives were ever hired and the position was later abolished. 14 Ratliff filed a second charge with the EEOC alleging that he had been discriminated against not only because of his race, but also in retaliation for having filed his first EEOC complaint. The EEOC issued an investigation report, which was received in evidence at the trial. The report concluded that the Agency had not adhered to a policy of requiring field representatives to live in the area to which they were assigned. Accordingly, it found that the only distinguishing factor between Ratliff and those applicants who were hired was that Ratliff had filed a discrimination charge against the Agency. 15 Without discussing any of the evidence or the claim of retaliation, the magistrate found that Ratliff and Williams, another plaintiff whose claim is addressed below, made a prima facie case ... but the defendant has articulated a legitimate non-discriminatory reason for its failure to hire them, that is, the location of the assignments. Inter alia, this takes no account of the fact that Paige was hired to work in Jackson, the location Ratliff desired, and Terrell was hired to work in an area where he did not live, as Ratliff said he was willing to do. The magistrate added that there has been no adequate showing by the two plaintiffs that this reason was pretextural [sic], especially since two of the three positions were filled by blacks, and the third position was in an area not within commuting distance of Hinds County. 16