Opinion ID: 448953
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: dismissal of disparate impact claims

Text: 20 In the court below plaintiffs sought to rely on a disparate impact theory as well as on a disparate treatment theory. Plaintiffs sought to apply the disparate impact theory both to the final results of the multi-component promotion process and to several component parts of that process, including promotion advisory boards, awards, and discipline. In its order of September 8, 1982, the district court granted defendant's motion to dismiss all claims by plaintiff based on a disparate impact theory. The court found that disparate impact analysis is appropriate only to challenge objective, facially neutral employment practices, and not to challenge either the cumulative effect of employment practices or subjective decision-making. The court further found that plaintiffs' pleadings had failed to put defendants on notice as to which employment practices would be challenged on a disparate impact theory. 21 The district court relied on Pouncy v. Prudential Insurance Company of America, 668 F.2d 795 (5th Cir.1982), and on Harris v. Ford Motor Co., 651 F.2d 609 (8th Cir.1981). In Harris, the Eighth Circuit held that a subjective decision-making system cannot alone form the foundation for a disparate impact case. Id. at 611. In Pouncy, the Fifth Circuit stated: 22 The discriminatory impact model of proof in an employment discrimination case is not, however, the appropriate vehicle from which to launch a wide ranging attack on the cumulative effect of a company's employment practices.... We require proof that a specific practice results in a discriminatory impact on a class in an employer's work force in order to allocate fairly the parties' respective burdens of proof at trial.... Identification by the aggrieved party of the specific employment practice responsible for the disparate impact is necessary so that the employer can respond by offering proof of its legitimacy. 23 Id. at 800-01. 24 A recent Eleventh Circuit decision referred to the Pouncy case and indicated that use of the disparate impact model to attack the excessive subjectivity of a personnel system is troublesome. The court stated, however: 25 Former Fifth Circuit precedent, however, indicates that subjective selection and promotion procedures may be attacked under the disparate impact theory. See Johnson v. Uncle Ben's, Inc., 628 F.2d 419, 426-27 (5th Cir.1980), vacated, 451 U.S. 902, 101 S.Ct. 1967, 68 L.Ed.2d 290 (1981), modified and aff'd in part, rev'd in part, 657 F.2d 750 (5th Cir.1981), cert. denied, 459 U.S. 967, 103 S.Ct. 293, 74 L.Ed.2d 277 (1982). 26 Eastland v. Tennessee Valley Authority, 704 F.2d 613, 619-20 (11th Cir.1983), cert. denied sub nom., James v. Tennessee Valley Authority, --- U.S. ----, 104 S.Ct. 1415, 79 L.Ed.2d 741 (1984). In Eastland, the Court declined to decide whether the prior Fifth Circuit case law was distinguishable because the Court found that plaintiffs had failed to prove discrimination under the disparate impact theory. 27 In this case the issues of whether the disparate impact model can be used to challenge the final results of a multi-component selection process and whether the disparate impact model can be used to challenge subjective elements of a selection process are squarely before us. We find that we are bound by former Fifth Circuit precedent to allow disparate impact challenges to the end result of multi-component selection procedures and to subjective selection procedures. 5 Further, we hold that even if these prior Fifth Circuit cases were not binding, use of the disparate impact theory to challenge the end result of multi-component selection processes and to challenge subjective elements of those processes is appropriate. We therefore reverse the order of the district court dismissing plaintiffs' disparate impact claims. 28 Several decisions of the former Fifth Circuit, binding on this panel, applied a disparate impact analysis to the end result of multi-component selection processes containing subjective elements. For example, in Johnson v. Uncle Ben's, Inc., 628 F.2d 419, 426-27 (5th Cir.1980), vacated, 451 U.S. 902, 101 S.Ct. 1967, 68 L.Ed.2d 290 (1981), modified and aff'd in part, rev'd in part, 657 F.2d 750 (5th Cir.1981), cert. denied, 459 U.S. 967, 103 S.Ct. 293, 74 L.Ed.2d 277 (1982), the court applied a disparate impact analysis to a promotion system based on the use of subjective supervisory evaluations. See also, Crawford v. Western Electric Co., Inc., 614 F.2d 1300, 1318 (5th Cir.1980) (applying disparate impact analysis to index review system involving subjective elements); Rowe v. General Motors Corp., 457 F.2d 348, 354-55 (5th Cir.1972) (applying disparate impact analysis to promotion system involving foreman's recommendations). 29 Even if we were not bound by these decisions to allow application of disparate impact analysis to the end result of a multi-component promotion process and to processes involving subjective elements, we would still be inclined not to follow the decision of the current Fifth Circuit in Pouncy. 6 The Supreme Court first articulated the disparate impact model of discrimination, under which proof of discriminatory intent is not necessary, in Griggs v. Duke Power Co., 401 U.S. 424, 91 S.Ct. 849, 28 L.Ed.2d 158 (1971). In Griggs, the Court indicated that Title VII requires the removal of artificial, arbitrary, and unnecessary barriers to employment which operate as 'built-in headwinds' for minority groups and are unrelated to measuring job capability. Id. at 431-32, 91 S.Ct. at 853-54. The Court in Griggs did not differentiate between objective and subjective barriers, and, in fact, the Court made frequent references to practices and procedures, terms that clearly encompass more than isolated, objective components of the overall process. 7 30 In the recent case of Connecticut v. Teal, 457 U.S. 440, 102 S.Ct. 2525, 73 L.Ed.2d 130 (1982), the Supreme Court held that the bottom line result of a promotional process could not be used as a defense to a disparate impact challenge to a particular selection procedure used in that promotion process. The Court emphasized the holding in Griggs that Title VII requires the elimination of artificial, arbitrary, and unnecessary barriers to employment, and again did not differentiate between objective and subjective criteria nor give any indication that a disparate impact challenge could not be made to a promotional system as a whole. See 457 U.S. at 448-452, 102 S.Ct. at 2532-2534. The Court noted the legislative history of the 1972 amendments to Title VII, 86 Stat. 103-113, which extended Title VII to federal government employees. The Court pointed out that Congress recognized and endorsed the disparate impact analysis employed in Griggs. The Court specifically cited the Senate Report (S.Rep. No. 92-415, p. 5 (1971)), which stated: 31 Employment discrimination as viewed today is a ... complex and pervasive phenomenon. Experts familiar with the subject now generally describe the problem in terms of 'systems' and 'effects' rather than simply intentional wrongs. 32 Connecticut v. Teal, 457 U.S. 440, 447 n. 8, 102 S.Ct. 2525, 2531 n. 8, 73 L.Ed.2d 130. The dissenters in Teal, while disagreeing with the Court's conclusion that the bottom line could not be used as a defense, clearly indicated their understanding that disparate impact challenges could be made to the total selection process. The dissenters stated that our disparate-impact cases consistently have considered whether the result of an employer's total selection process had an adverse impact upon the protected group. Id. at 458, 102 S.Ct. at 2537 (Powell, J., dissenting) (emphasis in original). 33 We have repeatedly held that subjective practices such as interviews and supervisory recommendations are capable of operating as barriers to minority advancement. See, e.g., Johnson, 628 F.2d at 426; Rowe, 457 F.2d at 359; Miles v. M.N.C. Corp., 750 F.2d 867, 871 (11th Cir. Jan. 13, 1985). Exclusion of such subjective practices from the reach of the disparate impact model of analysis is likely to encourage employers to use subjective, rather than objective, selection criteria. Rather than validate education and other objective criteria, employers could simply take such criteria into account in subjective interviews or review panel decisions. It could not have been the intent of Congress to provide employers with an incentive to use such devices rather than validated objective criteria. 34 Likewise, limiting the disparate impact model to situations in which a single component of the process results in an adverse impact completely exempts the situation in which an adverse impact is caused by the interaction of two or more components. This problem was recognized in the recent Eighth Circuit decision in Gilbert v. City of Little Rock, Ark., 722 F.2d 1390 (8th Cir.1983), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 104 S.Ct. 2347, 80 L.Ed.2d 820 (1984). The Court there held that the district court's finding of no discrimination under a disparate impact theory was incorrect because the district court neglected to adequately consider the interrelationship of the component factors and, more specifically, whether the oral interview and performance appraisal factors ... had a disparate impact.... Id. at 1397-98. 35 Finally, we note that the Uniform Guidelines on Employee Selection Procedures, 29 C.F.R. Sec. 1607, developed by the four federal agencies with responsibility for enforcing Title VII, interpret the disparate impact model to apply to all selection procedures, whether objective or subjective. The Guidelines define the selection procedures to which a disparate impact analysis applies as follows: 36 Any measure, combination of measures, or procedure used as a basis for any employment decision. Selection procedures include the full range of assessment techniques from traditional paper and pencil tests, performance tests, training programs, or probationary periods and physical, educational, and work experience requirements through informal or casual interviews and unscored application forms. 37 29 C.F.R. Sec. 1607.16(Q). 38 We therefore reverse the order of the district court dismissing plaintiffs' disparate impact claims and remand to that Court for consideration of the plaintiffs' disparate impact challenges to the final result of the defendants' overall promotion process and to specific components of that process whether subjective or objective. 39