Opinion ID: 354271
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: whether the promotional process employed by appellees violates title vii

Text: 38 Having determined that no showing of intentional discrimination is required, it is necessary to consider whether the promotional exams and the efficiency ratings the two variable components of the promotional process are violative of Title VII under the discriminatory impact standard of Griggs and Albemarle.
39 Plaintiff-appellant presented evidence in the district court relating to the pass rates on seventeen promotional exams given from 1960-1973. Of these, appellant contends only the eight tests during this period for engineer, lieutenant, and captain are relevant for this appeal. 40 Title VII did not become applicable to the City of Chicago until 1972. Of the eight tests challenged on appeal, only the 1973 captain's examination was given after this date. Of the seven tests given before the effective date of the statute, five are no longer posted. Since these five tests were given before the effective date of the statute and eligibility lists based on these tests are no longer in use, these five tests cannot be subject of a Title VII violation. 41 There remain for consideration the 1969 engineer's exam and the 1970 lieutenant's exam. Both of these tests were given before the effective date of the statute but are still posted. Thus promotions based on these allegedly discriminatory tests will occur after the effective date of the statute. 42 In International Brotherhood of Teamsters v. United States, 431 U.S. 324, 97 S.Ct. 1843, 52 L.Ed.2d 396 (1977), the Supreme Court held that a seniority system adopted before the effective date of Title VII was not unlawful, absent an intent to discriminate, even if it locked in the effects of prior discrimination. The Court's holding was premised on an interpretation of § 703(h) of Title VII which provides in relevant part: 43 (h) Notwithstanding any other provision of this subchapter, it shall not be an unlawful employment practice for an employer to apply different standards of compensation, or different terms, conditions, or privileges of employment pursuant to a bona fide seniority or merit system . . . provided that such differences are not the result of an intention to discriminate because of race . . . . 44 Amicus Local No. 2, International Association of Firefighters, AFL/CIO, argues, relying on the language of § 703(h) which exempts a bona fide seniority or merit system  (emphasis added), that the two tests given before the effective date of Title VII are bona fide merit systems and are therefore exempt from Title VII under the Teamsters rationale. Neither the parties nor the district court addressed this argument. In the typical case, our normal procedure would be to decide this question ourselves, possibly with the assistance of additional briefing by the parties. However, since it will be necessary to remand this case to the district court for other reasons, we leave the question of the applicability of § 703(h) as interpreted by Teamsters to the 1969 engineer's exam and the 1970 lieutenant's exam for consideration in the district court. We emphasize that we intimate no views on this question.B. Further Findings Regarding The Promotional Exams Which Must Be Made On Remand By The District Court 45 The district court in this case concluded that a prima facie case of discrimination had been shown because the three examinations presently posted had a disproportionate impact on minorities. The district court further concluded, however, that defendants had satisfied their burden of proof by demonstrating that the tests were job related. Defendants-appellees contend, relying on our decision in United States v. City of Chicago, 549 F.2d 415 (7th Cir. 1977), that the findings of the district court should be upheld unless clearly erroneous. While we agree with this statement in principle, we cannot apply the clearly erroneous standard because the district court made inadequate findings of fact on the key issues involved in this appeal.
46 The district court resolved the question of whether a prima facie case had been established in one sentence: 47 In the first place, defendants have in effect admitted that plaintiff made out a prima facie case of discrimination on three promotional exams (Engineer, Lieutenant and Captain) by merely showing the disparate marks received by whites and blacks (defendants' proposed Finding of Fact 37(c)). 48 We have examined the record and are unable to locate the proposed finding referred to or any other admission by defendants that a prima facie case had been established. On appeal, defendants dispute whether a disproportionate impact had been shown. Because of the complexity of the evidence on this point, findings of fact will be necessary to resolve the issue. 49
50 Assuming that a prima facie case has been shown, defendants-appellees attempt to justify the use of the 1973 captain's exam by arguing that it was  content valid. For a test to be content valid, its content must closely approximate tasks to be performed on the job by the applicant. Washington v. Davis, supra 426 U.S. at 247, n. 13, 96 S.Ct. 2040. Constructing a content valid examination requires a thorough task analysis of the job to be performed. Once this task analysis is performed, an examination can be devised which is carefully tailored to reflect relevant job functions. The E.E.O.C. Guidelines, 29 C.F.R. § 1607.5(a), state that an examination can be content valid if it consists of suitable samples of the essential knowledge, skills or behaviors composing the job in question. Similarly, the Standards for Educational and Psychological Tests of the American Psychological Association, which the reader is referred to in the E.E.O.C. Guidelines state at p. 29: 51 An employer cannot justify an employment test on grounds of content validity if he cannot demonstrate that the content universe includes all, or nearly all, important parts of the job. (Emphasis added.) 52 In holding that the 1973 captain's exam involved in the present case was content valid, the district court stated: 53 . . . plaintiff's expert acknowledged that the description for the Captain's position was thoroughly done. She did not attempt to rebut the content validation for this test, the only one given after defendant became subject to Title VII. 54 The district court appears to have confused the requirement of a job analysis with the further requirement that an examination, to be content valid, must closely approximate tasks to be performed on the job. Thus the district court made no findings as to whether the 1973 captain's exam tested all or nearly all important parts of the job of captain as required by the APA Standards. 7 What is required on remand is for the district court to ascertain from the job analysis the various functions of the job of captain and then analyze the captain's exam to determine whether these various functions are tested in proportion to their importance. It is not enough, therefore, that the various functions of a captain are tested there must be a correlation between the importance of a job function as determined by the job analysis and the weight given to this function on the examination. Without such findings comparing the job analysis to the test itself, no decisions can be made on whether the captain's examination is content valid. 55
56 No argument has been made by defendants-appellees that the 1969 engineer's exam and the 1970 lieutenant's exam are content valid. Instead, appellees have attempted to demonstrate that these examinations are criterion valid. A criterion validity study is one in which test scores are shown to be correlated with identifiable criteria which indicate successful job performance. Washington v. Davis, supra at 247, n. 13, 96 S.Ct. 2040. Appellees relied upon two criterion related validity studies. First, appellees correlated the test results with pre-existing efficiency ratings of candidate's performance in the positions they held before they took the promotional exam. 8 Second, a correlation was made between the candidate's efficiency rating and ratings given in drill tests. 57 The district court recognized that the two criterion validity studies are not in accord with the E.E.O.C. Guidelines which require a correlation between test scores and important elements of work behavior which comprise or are relevant to the job or jobs for which candidates are being evaluated.29 C.F.R. § 1607.4(c) (emphasis added). See also, Albemarle, supra 422 U.S. at 431, 95 S.Ct. 2362. In this case, the efficiency ratings measured performance in a lower level job rather than the job for which the test was being administered. For a criterion validity study of this type to be consistent with the E.E.O.C. Guidelines, it would have been necessary to correlate test scores with post-promotion efficiency ratings rather than performance ratings in lower level jobs. As we stated in our order granting in part appellant's motion for an injunction pending appeal, the only way a correlation between pre-promotion efficiency ratings and test scores could comply with the E.E.O.C. Guidelines would be if the employer could establish that requirements of the lower level job and the job for which the test is being administered are identical. However, no such showing has been made in this case. 58 Similarly, the correlation between drill test scores and the efficiency ratings as a basis for showing criterion validity do not comply with the E.E.O.C. Guidelines. Since there was no job analysis nor any findings by the district court to establish that drill test scores measure relevant aspects of job performance in the job tested for, 9 data based on drill tests fails to predict performance in promotional ranks. 10 59 Despite this non-compliance with the E.E.O.C. Guidelines, the district court concluded that the criterion related studies were adequate to satisfy the defendants' burden apparently because (t)he tests themselves . . . appear on their face to be job-related. The APA Standards, however, specifically reject face validity as a method for validation of tests. APA Standards, p. 29. Moreover, the district court did not give adequate weight to the fact that the criterion validity studies failed to comply with the E.E.O.C. Guidelines. The Supreme Court has stated that the Guidelines are entitled to considerable deference as the administrative interpretation of Title VII by the agency whose task it is to enforce it. Albemarle, supra at 430-31, 95 S.Ct. 2362; Griggs, supra, 401 U.S. at 433-34, 91 S.Ct. 849. This court has stated that (c) ompliance with these Guidelines is generally required absent some showing that a cogent reason exists for non-compliance. United States v. City of Chicago, supra at 430. In our order granting in part appellant's injunction pending appeal, we emphasized that while compliance with the E.E.O.C. Guidelines was not the only possible validation method, the City's burden is much heavier if it has not used such a method. 60 On remand, therefore, the district court should make a detailed step-by-step analysis to determine whether the appellees have met their heavy burden of establishing job-relatedness in the absence of compliance with the E.E.O.C. Guidelines. Appellees should be required to make a strong showing that the two criterion validity studies are predictive of successful performance in the jobs being tested for.
61 Efficiency rating scores are weighted 30% In the determination of a candidate's composite score. 11 The district court stated that any disparity in the efficiency rating scores and those of minorities does not trigger Griggs analysis and therefore held that no violation of Title VII was shown: 62 Plaintiff relies solely upon statistical tabulations which show that blacks generally received lower efficiency ratings than whites, but evidence is lacking as to why this occurs. Griggs does not shift the burden to defendants to show that efficiency ratings, as distinguished from written tests which are not job related, must be validated merely because blacks are rated lower than whites. The five efficiency components on their face are job related, and we know of no way to eliminate a subjective element from the ratings. . . . In short, we do not believe that Griggs or Albemarle Paper Co. v. Moody, 422 U.S. 405, 95 S.Ct. 2362, 45 L.Ed.2d 280 (1975) require defendants to go forward with proof of nondiscrimination on the issue of allegedly discriminatory efficiency ratings in this case. 63 We think the district court applied the wrong legal standard in evaluating the efficiency rating scores. Face validity does not justify the use of efficiency ratings any more than it justifies the promotional exams. Moreover, we do not agree with the district court that the Griggs standard is inapplicable to efficiency ratings because they are not written tests. In United States v. City of Chicago, supra at 427, 429-430, for example, we affirmed a finding that a Police Department's background investigation disqualified a significantly greater percentage of minority applicants than white applicants and was not demonstrably related to job performance. 12 64 On remand, the district court should follow this approach in analyzing the legality of the efficiency ratings. The district court should first make specific findings on whether whites received higher efficiency rating scores than minorities. 13 If such a disparity exists, the district court should make additional findings on whether defendants have met their burden of establishing job relatedness. This determination should involve more than face validity; an inquiry into whether the efficiency ratings accurately predict performance in the job being tested for will be required. 14 65