Opinion ID: 427033
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 7

Heading: Sincerely,

Text: Bernadine Denning Director, Office of Revenue Sharing The City apparently took no action in response to the suggestions contained in the letter. 6 On July 18, 1979, the parties were notified that a trial date of September 26, 1979 had been set. On August 22, trial was rescheduled for October 23. Later, the trial was reset for November 14 7 The District court certified the class pursuant to Fed.R.Civ.P. 23(b)(2). The class is defined in the consent decree as follows: All past, present and future Black applicants for employment in the Police Department; all past, present and future Black employees of the Police Department who have been discriminated against on the basis of their race and color; and on behalf of all Black persons who would apply or would have applied and completed the processing procedures for employment with the Police Department but for the Defendants' allegedly racially discriminatory hiring and employment practices and reputation therefor. Although the Hispanic plaintiffs were not included in the class named in the consent decree, the district court in the sentence following its definition of the class, stated, [t]he named Hispanic plaintiffs have been admitted to this action as intervening plaintiffs. 8 We do not reach the issue of whether Paul Gains, S. Gresh, and Nicholas E. Modarelli have standing on appeal 9 For example, in Stotts v. Memphis Fire Department, 679 F.2d 546 (6th Cir.1982), cert. granted, --- U.S. ----, 103 S.Ct. 2451, 77 L.Ed.2d 1331 (1983), this Court held that the strong policy favoring voluntary settlement of discrimination claims compels the entry of a consent decree without determining whether the union seniority system is bona fide. The consent decree, therefore, could modify the seniority system without violating the prohibition contained in International Brotherhood of Teamsters v. United States, 431 U.S. 324, 97 S.Ct. 1843, 52 L.Ed.2d 396 (1977). Id. at 564-65. See also EEOC v. Safeway Stores, Inc., 611 F.2d 795, 801 (10th Cir.1979) 10 Leonard Williams, Sr. has been employed by the Youngstown Police Department since March 26, 1970. He passed a sergeant's and detective's examination prior to 1975. In 1976, he also passed both the examinations. He was promoted to sergeant in 1979 as a result of this litigation. The State of Ohio has designated Williams as a certified instructor in police work. He has received law enforcement training from the Ohio Peace Officer Training School, Narcotics & Dangerous Drugs Training School, Ohio Peace Officers Criminal Code Training Program and Criminal Investigation School. In 1968, he entered Youngstown State University. His major is law enforcement administration Clarence Green has been employed by the Youngstown Police Department since 1965. He passed the detective examination in 1976. He has attended traffic investigation school. In 1973 he entered Youngstown State University. His major was Criminal Justice. He was promoted to detective prior to 1980. Louis Averhart has been employed by the Youngstown Police Department since 1969. He received Tactical Unit Training, Ohio Peace Officers Training, and Disaster and Disorder Training. He attended Youngstown State University for at least two years. His major was sociology. The present record does not contain meaningful information about the other minority police officers who were promoted. 11 The Final Decree is also problematic. It gives preferential treatment to the named plaintiffs while only perfunctory relief to unnamed class members. Most named plaintiffs receive a promotion. Yet, unnamed class members receive little more than the slight possibility of a promotion should a vacancy occur in the minority track. This contingency, moreover, will probably never occur. Therefore, the instant case may be analogous to Plummer v. Chemical Bank, 668 F.2d 654 (2d Cir.1982). There, the decree awarded the named plaintiffs cash compensation and promotions. Unnamed class members, by contrast, did not receive back pay awards or advancement in rank. In fact, they received little unless the defendant promoted them in the normal course. The Second Circuit held that the action must be remanded to determine if there was a factual basis for the grossly disparate benefits awarded the named plaintiffs. Like the Plummer court we, too, find the benefits awarded the instant named plaintiffs unsettling. We do not, however, hold that the promotions are disproportionate. We simply suggest that the record should contain some justification for future awards which have the appearance of being maldistributed 12 The decree would be satisfied, for example, if the percentage of Blacks passing the entrance test is at least fifty-five percent of the percentage of Whites passing the test. The fifty-five percent figure used to illustrate the extent of departure from this decree from the eighty percent E.E.O.C. requirement in 29 C.F.R. Sec. 1607.4(D) (1982) is derived from the provision in the decree at paragraph thirteen that a test may be used if eighty-one percent of Whites pass it while at least forty-four percent of Blacks similarly pass, forty-four percent being fifty-five percent of eighty-one percent