Opinion ID: 419216
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Application of Disparate Impact Analysis

Text: 15 Moore has insisted that her action be litigated solely under the disparate impact model of employment discrimination. In an impact case, an employee must show that a facially neutral employment practice has a significantly discriminatory impact upon a group protected by Title VII. Connecticut v. Teal, --- U.S. ----, ----, 102 S.Ct. 2525, 2531, 73 L.Ed.2d 130 (1982). Discriminatory intent need not be proven. International Brotherhood of Teamsters v. United States, 431 U.S. 324, 335 n. 15, 97 S.Ct. 1843, 1854 n. 15, 52 L.Ed.2d 396 (1977); Bonilla v. Oakland Scavenger Co., 697 F.2d 1297, 1303 (9th Cir.1982), petition for cert. filed, 51 U.S.L.W. 3775 (U.S. April 15, 1983) (No. 82-1699). Once an employee has demonstrated that an employment practice has a disparate impact upon protected persons, the employer must demonstrate that the particular employment practice has a manifest relationship to the employment in question, Griggs v. Duke Power Co., 401 U.S. 424, 432, 91 S.Ct. 849, 854, 28 L.Ed.2d 158 (1971), or that the employment practice is justified by business necessity, Gay, supra, 694 F.2d at 537 (citing Contreras v. City of Los Angeles, 656 F.2d 1267, 1275-80 (9th Cir.1981), cert. denied, 455 U.S. 1021, 102 S.Ct. 1719, 72 L.Ed.2d 140 (1982)). The employer may also rebut the employee's prima facie case by showing the inaccuracy of the employee's statistics. Contreras v. City of Los Angeles, 656 F.2d 1267, 1273 (9th Cir.1981), cert. denied, 455 U.S. 1021, 102 S.Ct. 1719, 72 L.Ed.2d 140 (1982). If the employer demonstrates a business justification the employee may still prevail by demonstrating that the employment practice is a mere pretext for discrimination, Teal, supra, --- U.S. at ----, 102 S.Ct. at 2531, or that the employer's purpose could be served by selection devices with less discriminatory impact, Dothard v. Rawlinson, 433 U.S. 321, 329, 97 S.Ct. 2720, 2726, 53 L.Ed.2d 786 (1977). 16 Normally, when a Title VII plaintiff alleges widespread, systemic employment discrimination, such as in this case, courts have analyzed the claims under the disparate treatment mode of analysis. See, e.g., Teamsters, supra. This is particularly true in the case of subjective hiring systems that select employees in a manner disproportionately adverse to persons protected by Title VII. Subjective hiring systems provide a convenient pretext for discriminatory practices, Nanty v. Barrows Co., 660 F.2d 1327, 1334 (9th Cir.1981), and are thus well suited to the disparate treatment focus on intentional discrimination. 17 Since disparate impact analysis is traditionally concerned with employment practices that are facially neutral, Teamsters, supra, 431 U.S. at 335 n. 15, 97 S.Ct. at 1854 n. 15, there is some question as to whether it may be applied at all to subjective employment decisionmaking. The law in this court is unsettled. Compare Heagney v. University of Washington, 642 F.2d 1157, 1163 (9th Cir.1981) (subjective salary decisions not susceptible to impact analysis), with Wang v. Hoffman, 694 F.2d 1146, 1148 (9th Cir.1982) (In order to prevail on [disparate impact] theory, [plaintiff] need only demonstrate the lack of objective criteria and a disparity in job promotions.). 4 Because it is not necessary for us to attempt to resolve this conflict, we assume, without deciding, that Hughes' employment decisions are susceptible to analysis under the disparate impact method of proof. 18 Disparate impact benefits Title VII plaintiffs by enabling them to shift a substantial burden of persuasion to the employer upon establishing a prima facie case. See Gay, supra, 694 F.2d at 537 n. 4; Contreras, supra, 656 F.2d at 1271. However, this benefit must be weighed against the requirements of a disparate impact prima facie case, which are in some respects more exacting than those of a disparate treatment case. A disparate impact plaintiff must not merely prove circumstances raising an inference of discriminatory impact; he must prove the discriminatory impact at issue. Johnson v. Uncle Ben's, Inc., 657 F.2d 750, 753 (5th Cir.1981), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 103 S.Ct. 293, 74 L.Ed.2d 277 (1982). The parties in this case clash sharply on what constitutes the required proof of impact. They disagree in particular over the question of which statistical labor pool is measured for purposes of determining impact. A related question is which party bears the burden of demonstrating whether a proffered labor pool is or is not overinclusive.
19 Bearing in mind that the focus of a disparate impact inquiry is those employment practices that have a discriminatory effect, see Griggs v. Duke Power Co., 401 U.S. 424, 431, 91 S.Ct. 849, 853, 28 L.Ed.2d 158 (1971), [i]dentification of the appropriate candidate pool and its racial [or ethnic or sexual] makeup is usually the starting point for impact analysis. Bartholet, Application of Title VII to Jobs in High Places, 95 Harv.L.Rev. 945, 970 (1982). The best evidence of discriminatory impact is proof that an employment practice selects members of a protected class in a proportion smaller than their percentage in the pool of actual applicants, or, in promotion and benefit cases, in a proportion smaller than in the actual pool of eligible employees. See Rowe v. Cleveland Pneumatic Co., Numerical Control, Inc., 690 F.2d 88, 93 (6th Cir.1982); Hester v. Southern Railway Co., 497 F.2d 1374, 1379 (5th Cir.1974). 20 Disparate impact should always be measured against the actual pool of applicants or eligible employees unless there is a characteristic of the challenged selection device that makes use of the actual pool of applicants or eligible employees inappropriate. Commonly, such a characteristic would occur in discriminatory hiring cases where the employment practice in question is in the nature of an entrance requirement. In these cases, persons who lack the challenged requirement will self-select themselves out of the pool of applicants. Examples of such entrance requirements include height and weight specifications, see Dothard v. Rawlinson, 433 U.S. 321, 97 S.Ct. 2720, 53 L.Ed.2d 786 (1977), and high school graduation, see Griggs, supra. When an employer requires such qualifications, the makeup of the pool of actual applicants does not fairly reflect the pool of individuals affected by the challenged requirement. See Dothard, supra, 433 U.S. at 330, 97 S.Ct. at 2727. In these cases, disparate impact may be established through reference to a reasonable proxy for the pool of individuals actually affected by the alleged discrimination. The choice is usually between general population statistics and the statistics of a relevant labor market. 21 General population statistics are useful as a proxy for the pool of potential applicants, if ever, only when the challenged employer practice screens applicants for entry level jobs requiring little or no specialized skills. 5 If special skills are required for a job, the proxy pool must be that of the local labor force possessing the requisite skills. See Valentino v. United States Postal Service, 674 F.2d 56, 71 (D.C.Cir.1982); Kinsey v. First Regional Securities, Inc., 557 F.2d 830, 839 (D.C.Cir.1977); Rich v. Martin Marietta Corp., 467 F.Supp. 587, 609-10 (D.Colo.1979); cf. Dothard, supra, 433 U.S. at 338, 97 S.Ct. at 2731 (Rehnquist, J., concurring); Hazelwood School District v. United States, 433 U.S. 299, 308 n. 13, 97 S.Ct. 2736, 2741 n. 13, 53 L.Ed.2d 768 (1977) (similar analysis of proper labor pools in disparate treatment case); United States v. Ironworkers Local 86, 443 F.2d 544, 551 (9th Cir.) (necessity of accurate statistical comparison for inference of discrimination), cert. denied, 404 U.S. 984, 92 S.Ct. 447, 30 L.Ed.2d 367 (1971). This rule is a natural deduction from the commonsense observation that if a person is not otherwise qualified for a job, he is not deterred from applying by any particular employment requirement unrelated to his ability to perform the job. 6 22
23 Both sides have drawn upon the Fourth Circuit case of EEOC v. Radiator Specialty Co., 610 F.2d 178 (4th Cir.1979), to support their arguments concerning the allocation of the burden of proof regarding whether general statistics or a qualified labor pool must be used to determine disparate impact. 7 In Radiator Specialty, the court divided the possible burden allocations into three categories. First, there will be cases where it is manifest as a matter of law that no special skills or qualifications are required for a job. In these cases, the plaintiff may establish his prima facie case using general population statistics. Id. at 185. At other times, the need for special qualifications will be manifest as a matter of law. In these cases, the plaintiff will be required to show a disparate impact on the qualified labor market to establish his prima facie case. Id. In still other cases, it will not be immediately obvious that a job requires any special qualification. In these cases, it will be the defendant's burden to establish that generalized statistics do not adequately reflect the pool of presumptively qualified individuals. Id. 24 We agree with the allocation of the burden of proof as described in Radiator Specialty. We should note that when the allocation is applied to promotion cases, it will be necessary for the plaintiff to show that the pool of eligible employees is qualified for promotion to a position for which it is manifest that special skills are required.