Opinion ID: 1515484
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: The Remedial Quota as Retroactive Relief

Text: The majority argues that the relief ordered by the Director serves an injustice to the white applicant who is passed over for hiring or promotion in favor of a putatively less qualified black candidate. In its view, quotas distort the basic policy of the Law Against Discrimination by instituting a temporary regime which is race-aware rather than color blind and by discarding the fundamental precept in a democratic society that merit, not skin color, should determine an individual's place in society. Ante at 22. It would avoid this pitfall by awarding retroactive relief solely to the individual who files the complaint, and trusting in prospective nondiscriminatory selection methods to eradicate the effects of past discrimination. While I do not underestimate the impact of quotas on the prospects of white candidates, I must nonetheless uphold their validity as the only effective means in many situations of making any significant inroads on racial discrimination. Although our previous decisions have only considered situations in which prospective relief was sought, in no instance did we rule out more far-reaching retroactive remedies in appropriate cases. On the contrary, our willingness in the past to imply a variety of remedies without express statutory support has been animated by a belief that the State's commitment to equal rights would be ill-served by grudging, half-way applications of the Law Against Discrimination. Ante at 32 (Pashman, J., dissenting). To now limit the Director's remedial powers to the measures cited by the majority undermines constitutional and statutory guarantees against unequal treatment by permitting the racial imbalance in the work force caused by this discrimination to persist indefinitely. It may be true that the natural processes of replacement as vacancies occur will ultimately alter the character of the departments, but such a result is unlikely to occur soon. As of 1972, the Montclair Fire Department had a force of 89 firemen, of whom three were black (3.4%). Of this number, 41 firemen had been appointed prior to the institution of testing in 1952; only three new employees, including one black, had been hired since 1970. Unless proportionally more blacks are hired through the selection process in the future, it is plain that the department will retain its lopsided racial character. Continued reliance upon educational background as the sole hiring criterion enhances that probability. Even under the suggested quota, the number of blacks on the force would have reached only 15, or roughly 17% in seven years. [14] Of course, a concern for expeditious change assumes that a finding of racial discrimination requires vigorous efforts to eradicate that condition. Quotas often prove to be the only practicable means of vindicating the rights of victims of discrimination when there is an egregious pattern of past discrimination, see U.S. v. International Union of Elevator Constructors, Local Union No. 5, 538 F. 2d 1012 (3d Cir.1976), or noncompliance with less drastic, court-ordered remedies, see Western Addition Community Org. v. Alioto, 369 F. Supp. 77 (N.D. Cal. 1973). In these instances, the ready availability of effective remedies discourages a recurrence of intentional discrimination. Moreover, their use demonstrates to all concerned that the law's proscriptions can have a sharp bite when flagrantly violated. Although this case presents no such examples of official recalcitrance or purposeful wrongdoing, I fear that the majority's wholesale rejection of the quota as a remedial device will hamper the Division on Civil Rights in disputes with less cooperative employers. Given the novelty of this question in our own courts and the recommendation of the Division on Civil Rights, it seems unwise for the majority to rule out the use of numerical standards in those situations. Quotas are also appropriate when the employer is a public agency which has an affirmative duty to make special efforts to eradicate the vestiges of past discrimination, whether or not intentional. [15] See, e.g., N.A.A.C.P. v. Allen, supra , Pennsylvania v. O'Neill, 473 F. 2d 1029 (3 Cir.1972) ( en banc ); Carter v. Gallagher, supra . We should expect the government to make more than token efforts in providing equal employment opportunities to minority citizens, particularly in light of the beneficial role that they can serve in promoting the welfare of the community. Bridgeport Guardians, Inc. v. Members of Bridgeport Civil Service Com'n, supra, 482 F. 2d at 1341. The majority insists that class-wide relief is inappropriate in this case. However, the dual policies of N.J.S.A. 10: 5-3 encompass both a general societal interest in upholding the institutions and foundation of a free democratic State against the corrosive effects of discrimination, as well as a more particularized interest in safeguarding individual rights and privileges. The relief in this case is vital to eradicate the cancer of discrimination. The majority, however, seizes upon individual grievances as the primary focus of the act, and construes N.J.S.A. 10:5-17 to restrict compensatory relief to minority applicants against whom discrimination has been practiced by the employer. It states: Curing an illegally imposed racial discrimination against an individual is understandable and justifiable  but race is not an appropriate standard to apply on a class basis. [ ante at 23] I disagree for two reasons. First, this reading of the act contradicts its language. Even though N.J.S.A. 10:5-12 does define an unlawful employment practice or an unlawful discrimination in terms of an employer's treatment of an individual, N.J.S.A. 10:5-17 refers to affirmative action affecting employees and all persons. Neither the specific wording nor the general import of the section warrants a distinction between relief to cure a wrong to an individual and relief to remedy a wrong to a class. On the contrary, the language indicates that the individual complaint, if sustained, triggers the Director's power to take affirmative action which will effectuate the purpose of this act, a formulation which goes beyond compensating the complainant for his own loss. See N.J.S.A. 10:5-3. Many of the measures expressly contained in the statute are clearly directed at the class of persons represented by the complainant, as this Court has recognized in upholding class-wide remedies. Indeed, the majority concedes the point by allowing some forms of affirmative action as a way of reducing the effects of past discrimination against a particular group of persons. Ante at 18. Second, though I would limit hirings to qualified applicants in this instance, the only effective remedy for past discrimination may be to make relief available to the entire minority group. In some cases, the applicants who are turned away or who are unsuccessful on the examination may not be identifiable after the fact. Others may be deterred from even applying because they are aware of an employer's discriminatory practices. See United States v. Sheet Metal Workers, Local 36, 416 F. 2d 123, 132 (8 Cir.1969); Carter v. Gallagher, supra at 331; Morrow v. Crisler, 491 F. 2d 1053, 1056 (5 Cir.1974). As I interpret the majority's decision, none of the black applicants who failed the 1971 test  including Mr. Lige  will be given preferential treatment in the future. Although free to take a nondiscriminatory examination and submit to the revised interviewing procedure (if they pass the test), they will not be given any advantages vis-a-vis future non-minority candidates. The order, as modified by the majority, is limited to a re-examination of injured claimants; [16] past discrimination affords them no special status. In fact, it requires a minority applicant, whether or not he has been discriminated against, to demonstrate his superiority to either past or present non-minority candidates. As long as the majority's concerns lie with prohibiting the innocent stranger who was not a victim of discrimination from being hired, the problem of remedying discrimination will go unresolved. Moreover, the majority ignores those potential plaintiffs who may have failed the biased examination, but who are unwilling to travel the rigorous road to relief outlined by today's decision. Because the damage done by the unlawful hiring practices in this case extends beyond the few individuals who will be willing to submit to a re-examination, I would hold that all past applicants be given meaningful relief, as the Director's order indicates. The majority favors a fully nondiscriminatory set of procedures which will yield the best qualified candidate. Unfortunately, it can offer no assurances that more blacks will be hired. Recruiting and special training may conceivably increase the number of black employees in the Montclair Department of Public Safety, but I doubt whether they can be effective in all instances. Therefore, because they will often be the only effective means of remedying discrimination within a reasonable length of time, I find a mandate for the use of racial quotas in the Legislature's declaration that racial discrimination menaces the foundations of our society.