Opinion ID: 543624
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: adequacy of validation procedures and failure to measure

Text: AEROBIC CAPACITY 51 The standard of review in Title VII cases is strict. As this court recently recognized, 52 [w]hen reviewing the district court's factual findings in a Title VII discrimination case, we may not reverse unless we find that the district court committed clear error. If the district court's account of the evidence is plausible ... the court of appeals may not reverse it even though ... it would have weighed the evidence differently. 53 Wrenn v. Gould, 808 F.2d 493, 499 (6th Cir.1987) (citing Anderson v. Bessemer City, 470 U.S. 564, 573, 105 S.Ct. 1504, 1511, 84 L.Ed.2d 518 (1985)). 54 The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has developed guidelines to assist employers ... to comply with requirements of Federal law prohibiting employment practices which discriminate on grounds of race, color, religion, sex and national origin ... [and] to provide a framework for determining the proper use of tests and other selection procedures. 29 C.F.R. Sec. 1607.1(B). Under the guidelines, employers may use three types of studies to validate an employee selection procedure: content, construct, or criterion-related validity studies. The particular device that is chosen depends upon the nature of the job, the way in which the test will be interpreted, and the type of data that is available. 55 A content validity study is appropriate when test items directly measure abilities that are prerequisites to entry-level job performance (for example, a shorthand test for a secretarial position). Content validity studies must include a thorough job analysis identifying the most important knowledge, skills, and abilities necessary to successful job performance. Guardians Association v. Civil Service Comm'n of New York, 633 F.2d 232, 242 (2d Cir.1980). An employer who seeks to validate a physical examination on the basis of a content validity study must therefore focus on the job's actual physical requirements. In addition, an employer must avoid testing for those skills that can readily be learned on the job. 6 56 A construct validity study tests for abstract qualities that are difficult to test but that are, nonetheless, important characteristics for proper job performance. Such studies are appropriate where the necessary qualities, such as creativity, cannot be measured directly. Construct validity studies are usually not appropriate for validating physical exams because these qualities are readily observable and quantifiable. 57 Finally, a criterion-related study, which also makes use of empirical data, indirectly tests for those skills necessary for successful job performance. According to the guidelines, a criterion-related study should consist of empirical data demonstrating that the selection procedure is predictive of or significantly correlated with important elements of job performance. 29 C.F.R. Sec. 1607.5(B). 58 The district court found that the 1983 examination was properly validated according to content, construct, and criterion validation principles. Nonetheless, plaintiffs attack the district court's finding on the ground that the test that Dr. Henderson developed was not properly validated and, in addition, did not test for all of the attributes he identified in his job analysis as important to an effective firefighter. Although Dr. Henderson recognized that successful firefighters must possess a high level of aerobic capacity and aerobic fitness, as well as muscle strength, muscular endurance, flexibility, coordination, muscle balance, and speed, the physical portion of the 1983 examination measured anaerobic--maximal speed and strength--but not aerobic--stamina or paced performance--traits. 59 We first note that there was substantial evidence before the district court supporting the conclusion that the examination was properly validated. Each event in the physical examination was designed to test a representative firefighting task. The barbell lift was designed to simulate the use of a pike pole to tear out ceilings. The fire scene set-up and tower climb event was intended to duplicate critical firefighting tasks performed where speed is the most critical factor, such as setting up ladders and climbing stairs. The dummy drag simulated the rescue of a disabled person under circumstances where heat and smoke make it difficult to stand upright. Although plaintiffs attack the content validity of these events as only superficially replicating an actual sequence of job tasks, an expert testified that these events did, in fact, simulate actual firefighting tasks. Plaintiffs may find fault with the way in which the district court came to certain conclusions but there is an insufficient basis for us to conclude that these conclusions are clearly erroneous. 60 Similarly, plaintiffs argue that there was insufficient evidence supporting the district court's conclusion that the examination was construct and criterion valid. However, plaintiffs ignore the substantial evidence before the district court, including Dr. Henderson's technical report correlating higher test scores with higher supervisor ratings as well as Dr. Henderson's further analyses, supporting the conclusion that the examination was construct and criterion valid. 61 Plaintiffs' most forceful argument is that the 1983 examination failed to measure attributes which are concededly important to effective firefighting, attributes in which it is often argued that women traditionally excel, such as stamina and endurance. By failing to test for these aerobic qualities, plaintiffs argue, Dr. Henderson devised an examination hopelessly biased in favor of male applicants who will almost always score higher than female applicants on tests which solely measure anaerobic qualities such as strength and speed. 62 A similar case was decided recently in the Second Circuit. In Berkman v. City of New York, 812 F.2d 52 (2d Cir.1987) (Berkman IV ), plaintiffs argued that a firefighter exam used by the City of New York to select entry-level firefighters should be invalidated because it failed to measure aerobic capacity and placed undue emphasis on anaerobic performance. Recognizing that aerobic attributes are an important component of effective firefighting, the court nonetheless held that the city's failure to include events that test for such qualities did not invalidate the examination. While the court implied that an examination that included events which tested an applicant's aerobic energy system would be preferable, [i]t does not follow, however, that a physical test of the ability to perform simulated job tasks of firefighters, without a specific measurement of stamina, lacks validity to a degree that renders it vulnerable to a Title VII challenge. Berkman, 812 F.2d at 59. 63 While aerobic ability enables firefighters to sustain a consistent level of energy over a long period of time, speed and strength are critical at the initial stages of a fire where matters of life and death are most acute. A firefighter who tires may be replaced by a fresh recruit but, as the Berkman court recognized, if the first firefighters on the scene are deficient in the speed and strength necessary to handle their tasks, those in need of immediate rescue will not be comforted by the fact that those first on the scene might be able to sustain their modest energy levels for a prolonged period of time. Berkman, 812 F.2d at 60. Here, the district court concluded that anaerobic qualities are more important. Certainly, we are unable to say a fire department is not entitled to select firefighters whose abilities enable them to act more effectively in the first moments of a fire. Accordingly, although a simulated firefighting examination that does not test for stamina in addition to anaerobic capacity may be a less effective barometer of firefighting abilities than one that does include an aerobic component, the deficiencies of this examination are not of the magnitude to render it defective, and vulnerable to a Title VII challenge. Berkman, 812 F.2d at 59.