Opinion ID: 347588
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Tabaka Testing Program

Text: 135 The district court found that the Tabaka tests had been in use at Stockham since July 17, 1973. The court also concluded: 136 The Tabaka tests are actively considered in selection decisions; however, no employee has been disqualified on the basis of the Tabaka tests, even though some have failed to attain the failure probability score. 137 394 F.Supp. at 486. The plaintiffs, however, say that they were stymied in their efforts to collect information on whether the Tabaka tests adversely affect blacks because of the emphatic assertion of Stockham's employee testing manager that the Tabaka tests have not been used in any employment decisions. 138 The district court's finding that the Tabaka tests have been in use since July 17, 1973, is apparently based on the testimony of E. Reeves Sims, the company employee relations manager. We have concluded that the factual finding is clearly erroneous. Jack H. Adamson, whose direct responsibilities include Stockham's testing program, testified that the tests were administered only for the purpose of collecting data on their effect and not as part of employee selection decisions. 45 Therefore, we do not reach the question whether Stockham has succeeded in proving the job relatedness of the Tabaka tests. Instead, we remand that issue to the district court so that additional evidence can be taken. In more than three years since the trial, the company must have accumulated a substantial quantity of data. Such statistical information should be sufficient both for a determination of whether the Tabaka tests have an adverse impact on blacks and for augmentation of the validation study. 139 If the district court finds on remand that the Tabaka test has an adverse impact on blacks, then it should evaluate the defendant's proof of job relatedness in light of the Supreme Court's opinion in Albemarle Paper Co. v. Moody, 422 U.S. 405, 95 S.Ct. 2362, 45 L.Ed.2d 280. In addition, if the defendant continues to rely on the Tabaka concurrent criterion study as the basis for its assertion that the tests are job-related, the district court should consider whether the job analysis conducted by Victor Tabaka meets EEOC requirements specified in 29 C.F.R. § 1607.5(b)(3) and (4) and conforms with the professional standards of the American Psychological Association (APA). In United States v. City of Chicago, 7 Cir. 1977, 549 F.2d 415, 431, the Seventh Circuit applied the EEOC Guidelines and quoted the APA standards in emphasizing the importance of the quality of criteria chosen for criterion-related validity studies: 140 (T)he logic of criterion-related validity assumes that the criterion possess validity. All too often, tests are validated against any available criterion with no corresponding investigation of the criterion itself. The merit of a criterion-related validity study depends on the appropriateness and the quality of the criterion chosen . . . . Criterion-related validity studies based on the 'criterion at hand' chosen more for availability than for a place in a carefully reasoned hypothesis, are to be deplored. 141 As that court concluded, The entire rationale of a criterion-related study requires that the criterion with which the test results are compared be a good measure of job performance. Id. at 433. 142 Finally, in the event the district court should conclude that the Tabaka tests are job-related, the court should permit the plaintiffs to present evidence that alternative selection devices, without similarly undesirable racial effect, are available to the company. Albemarle Paper Co. v. Moody, 422 U.S. at 436, 95 S.Ct. 2362. We remand the issue of the lawfulness of the Tabaka tests to the district court.