Opinion ID: 351538
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Written Examination Procedures

Text: 7 Despite a minority population of approximately 29.1% In Los Angeles County, only 3.3% Of the firemen employed by the defendants at the time of trial were black or Mexican-American. Plaintiffs alleged, and the trial court found, that this severe racial imbalance resulted in part from the defendants' utilization of unvalidated written examinations to rank applicants for positions as firemen. The defendants do not, and indeed cannot, dispute that these verbal aptitude tests, administered to applicants in August 1969 and in January 1972, had a discriminatory impact on minority applicants. Of the 244 blacks who took the 1969 examination, 5 were hired; of the 100 Mexican-Americans, 7 were hired, while of the 1080 whites taking the test, 175 were hired. Thus, while approximately 25% Of the 1969 applicants were black or Mexican-American, based on the results of this test only 6.4% Of the hires were minorities. Black and Mexican-American applicants fared no better on the 1972 examination. Specifically, while 25.8% Of the white applicants were among the top 544 scorers on the test, only 5.1% Of the black applicants were included in that group. Applying the now-familiar standards announced in Griggs v. Duke Power Co., 401 U.S. 424, 91 S.Ct. 849, 28 L.Ed.2d 158 (1971), the district court concluded that such statistical data alone established a prima facie case of racial discrimination in employment, thereby shifting the burden to the defendants to establish that the tests were job-related. 4 We agree that defendants failed to satisfy their burden. 5 8 Defendants have challenged the plaintiffs' standing to complain of the use of the unvalidated 1969 written test. In light of the fact that plaintiffs' class did not include any prior unsuccessful applicants, it follows that plaintiffs neither suffered nor were threatened with any injury in fact from the use of the 1969 examination. No firemen were hired on the basis of success on this test after plaintiffs became applicants in October 1971. The parties stipulated that approximately 100 vacancies occur in the ranks of firemen each year, and testimony at trial established that 187 applicants were placed on an eligibility list following the 1969 test. Based on these facts, we must conclude that the 1969 list was depleted before plaintiffs applied for employment as firemen. 9 In the absence of a statute expressly conferring standing, it is well settled that in order to have standing a plaintiff must suffer some actual or threatened injury as a result of the alleged unlawful conduct. See, e. g., Linda S. v. Richard D., 410 U.S. 614, 617, 93 S.Ct. 1146, 35 L.Ed.2d 536 (1973); Moose Lodge No. 107 v. Irvis, 407 U.S. 163, 166-67, 92 S.Ct. 1965, 32 L.Ed.2d 627 (1972); Flast v. Cohen, 392 U.S. 83, 101, 88 S.Ct. 1942, 20 L.Ed.2d 947 (1968); Baker v. Carr, 369 U.S. 186, 204-208, 82 S.Ct. 691, 7 L.Ed.2d 663 (1962). It is thus clear that plaintiffs lacked standing to challenge defendants' prior use of the test in 1969. 6 10 As previously indicated, the district court reached the conclusion that defendants' use of unvalidated written examinations was an illegal employment practice through application of the principles announced in Griggs, a Title VII case. Subsequent to trial on the merits in this case, the Supreme Court in Washington v. Davis, 426 U.S. 229, 96 S.Ct. 2040, 48 L.Ed.2d 597 (1976), held that to establish a prima facie case of unconstitutional employment discrimination, discriminatory intent or purpose must be shown rather than or in addition to a statistical showing of disproportionate impact. Defendants interpret Washington to require similar proof in cases alleging employment discrimination under § 1981. Accordingly, defendants urge us to reverse the decision of the district court, since no showing was made that defendants administered the 1972 examination with any intent or purpose to discriminate against minority applicants. The issue presented is one of first impression in this Circuit. 7 We have carefully reviewed the Court's opinion in Washington and the post-Washington cases brought to our attention by the parties. We must reject defendants' argument. 11 The primary controversy in Washington involved the validity of a qualifying test Test 21 administered to persons seeking employment with the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department. The plaintiffs alleged that Test 21 excluded a disproportionately high number of black applicants in violation of their rights under the Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment, 42 U.S.C. § 1981 and § 1-320 of the D.C. Code. 426 U.S. at 233, 96 S.Ct. 2040. Following various preliminary proceedings before the trial court, plaintiffs moved for partial summary judgment on their constitutional claim alone. Defendants also moved for summary judgment, asserting that plaintiffs were entitled to relief on neither constitutional nor statutory grounds. The district court, after finding that plaintiffs' statistical showing of disproportionate impact established a prima facie case of discrimination, concluded that Test 21 was reasonably and directly related to the requirements of the police recruit training program. Davis v. Washington, 348 F.Supp. 15, 17 (D.D.C.1972). Accordingly, the court granted defendants' and denied plaintiffs' motions. Id. at 18. 12 On appeal, plaintiffs argued that their summary judgment motion, which rested on purely constitutional grounds, should have been granted. The Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit agreed and reversed. Davis v. Washington, 168 U.S.App.D.C. 42, 512 F.2d 956 (1975). Announcing that it would be guided in its decision by the Title VII standards formulated in Griggs, the appeals court agreed that plaintiffs' statistical showing alone, without proof of a purpose on the employer's part to discriminate, made out a prima facie case, shifting the burden of proof to the defendants. 168 U.S.App.D.C. at 47, 512 F.2d at 961. In light of the district court's finding of a nexus between Test 21 and future success in police training school, the court then identified the ultimate issue to be whether that kind of proof (was) an acceptable substitute for the job-relatedness showing required by Griggs. Id., 168 U.S.App.D.C. at 48-49, 512 F.2d at 962-63. Concluding that it was not, the court directed that plaintiffs' motion for partial summary judgment be granted and the defendants' motions denied. 13 The Supreme Court reversed, concluding that plaintiffs were entitled to relief on neither constitutional nor statutory grounds. Washington v. Davis, 426 U.S. 229, 248, 96 S.Ct. 2040, 2052, 48 L.Ed.2d 597 (1976). Mr. Justice White prefaced Part II of the majority opinion with this statement: Because the Court of Appeals erroneously applied the legal standards applicable to Title VII cases in resolving the constitutional issue before it, we reverse . . . . Id. at 238, 96 S.Ct. at 2046 (emphasis added). In holding that proof of racially discriminatory intent or purpose is required to show an equal protection violation, the Court disavowed ever having ruled that a law or other official act . . . is unconstitutional solely because it has a racially disproportionate impact. Id. at 239, 96 S.Ct. at 2047. It is significant that throughout this discussion of constitutional standards and Constitution-based claims, 8 the Court mentioned neither § 1981 nor cases construing that statute. 9 Nor can it be said that in resolving the equal protection question before it, the Court necessarily resolved the § 1981 claim on the same basis. 14 During recent history, every court which has considered the question has construed § 1981 to bar discrimination in employment. See Long v. Ford Motor Co., 496 F.2d 500 (6th Cir. 1974); Macklin v. Spector Freight Sys., Inc., 156 U.S.App.D.C. 69, 478 F.2d 979 (1973); Brady v. Bristol-Meyers, Inc., 459 F.2d 621 (8th Cir. 1972); Brown v. Gaston County Dyeing Mach. Co., 457 F.2d 1377 (4th Cir.), cert. denied, 409 U.S. 982, 93 S.Ct. 319, 34 L.Ed.2d 246 (1972); Young v. International Tel. & Tel. Co., 438 F.2d 757 (3d Cir. 1971); Sanders v. Dobbs Houses, Inc., 431 F.2d 1097 (5th Cir. 1970), cert. denied, 401 U.S. 948, 91 S.Ct. 935, 28 L.Ed.2d 231 (1971); Waters v. Wisconsin Steel Works of Int'l Harvester Co., 427 F.2d 476 (7th Cir.), cert. denied, 400 U.S. 911, 91 S.Ct. 137, 27 L.Ed.2d 151 (1970). The courts consistently have employed Title VII principles as a benchmark not only in cases involving alleged discriminatory impact, see Wade v. Mississippi Coop. Extension Serv., 528 F.2d 508, 516-17 (5th Cir. 1976); King v. Yellow Freight Sys., Inc., 523 F.2d 879, 882 (8th Cir. 1975); Kirkland v. New York State Dept. of Correctional Servs., 520 F.2d 420, 425 (2d Cir. 1975), cert. denied, 429 U.S. 823, 97 S.Ct. 73, 50 L.Ed.2d 84 (1976); Barnett v. W. T. Grant Co., 518 F.2d 543, 549 (4th Cir. 1975), but in other contexts as well. See, e. g., Flowers v. Crouch-Walker Corp., 552 F.2d 1277, 1281 & n. 3 (7th Cir. 1977) (discriminatory discharge of employee); McCormick v. Attala County Bd. of Educ., 541 F.2d 1094, 1095 (5th Cir. 1976) (per curiam) (available remedies). Indeed, the Supreme Court has recognized that Title VII and § 1981 embrace parallel or overlapping remedies against discrimination. Alexander v. Gardner-Denver Co., 415 U.S. 36, 47 & n. 7, 94 S.Ct. 1011, 1019, 39 L.Ed.2d 147 (1973). In the absence of any express pronouncement from the Supreme Court a pronouncement not delivered in Washington we are unwilling to deviate from this established practice. Any unnecessary deviation not only could produce undesirable substantive law conflicts, see Waters v. Wisconsin Steel Works of Int. Harvester Co., 502 F.2d 1309, 1316 (7th Cir. 1974), cert. denied, 425 U.S. 997, 96 S.Ct. 2214, 48 L.Ed.2d 823 (1976), but also would dilute what has been a potent remedy for the ills of countless minority employees subjected to the unlawful discriminatory conduct of their employers. Thus, we cannot conclude that Washington embraced a ruling that a showing of disproportionate impact no longer will suffice to establish a prima facie case of employment discrimination under § 1981. 10 In our view, there remains no operational distinction in this context between liability based upon Title VII and § 1981. 15 The defendants further argue that the district court lacked jurisdiction under either §§ 1981 or 1983 to decide these claims. As to § 1983, the defendants are clearly correct. A municipality is not a person suable under § 1983, 11 and thus the three municipal defendants are not subject to suit under § 1983. See City of Kenosha v. Bruno, 412 U.S. 507, 511-13, 93 S.Ct. 2222, 37 L.Ed.2d 109 (1973); Monroe v. Pape, 365 U.S. 167, 187-92, 81 S.Ct. 473, 5 L.Ed.2d 492 (1961). Since no individual defendants were named in this suit, the plaintiffs' § 1983 claim is barred. 12 Section 1981, however, is not subject to the same jurisdictional limitations. See Sethy v. Alameda County Water Dist., 545 F.2d 1157 (9th Cir. 1976) (en banc). 16 In summary, we believe the district court properly found defendants' use of the 1972 written examination as a selection device to be a violation of § 1981. Plaintiffs produced overwhelming statistical data to establish the test's disproportionate impact upon minority applicants, and the defendants were unable to validate the test in terms of job-relatedness. 13 Defendants' decision, prompted solely by the filing of this lawsuit, to abandon the written exam as a selection device does not moot the claim. United States v. W. T. Grant Co., 345 U.S. 629, 632-33, 73 S.Ct. 894, 97 L.Ed. 1303 (1953) 14 .