Opinion ID: 448953
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: disparate treatment in promotions, details, discipline, and awards

Text: 40 After the district court eliminated plaintiffs' disparate impact claims, plaintiffs proceeded to trial on a disparate treatment theory. After consideration of plaintiffs' statistical and anecdotal evidence, the district court held that plaintiffs had failed to prove any class-wide discrimination. 41 In a disparate treatment case proof of discriminatory motive or intent is essential. International Brotherhood of Teamsters v. United States, 431 U.S. 324, 335-36 n. 15, 97 S.Ct. 1843, 1854-55 n. 15, 52 L.Ed.2d 396 (1977). In an action alleging class-wide discrimination plaintiffs must establish by a preponderance of the evidence that racial discrimination was the company's standard operating procedure--the regular rather than the unusual practice. Id. at 336, 97 S.Ct. at 1855. A prima facie case of disparate treatment may be established by statistics alone if they are sufficiently compelling. Eastland, 704 F.2d at 618 (11th Cir.1983). The prima facie case is enhanced if the plaintiff offers anecdotal evidence to bring the cold numbers convincingly to life. Teamsters, 431 U.S. at 339, 97 S.Ct. at 1856. 42 Once plaintiff establishes a prima facie case of disparate treatment, the burden shifts to defendant to rebut the inference of discrimination by showing that plaintiffs' statistics are misleading or by presenting legitimate non-discriminatory reasons for the disparity. The defendant does not have to persuade the court that it was actually motivated by the proffered reasons. It is sufficient if the defendant raises a genuine issue of fact as to whether it discriminated. Texas Department of Community Affairs v. Burdine, 450 U.S. 248, 254, 101 S.Ct. 1089, 1094, 67 L.Ed.2d 207 (1981). If the defendant carries this burden, the presumption raised by the prima facie case is rebutted, and the plaintiff must prove that the reasons offered by the employer were pretextual. Id. at 256, 101 S.Ct. at 1095. 43 This Court may not reverse the decision of the district court unless plaintiffs establish that the court's findings of fact, whether of subsidiary or ultimate fact, are clearly erroneous or that the court erred as a matter of law. Pullman-Standard v. Swint, 456 U.S. 273, 285-90, 102 S.Ct. 1781, 1788-91, 72 L.Ed.2d 66 (1982); Giles v. Ireland, 742 F.2d 1366, 1374 (11th Cir.1984). We now consider the court's findings as to each of the four challenged practices under this standard.
44 Although, as noted above, the district court was critical of plaintiffs' statistics for several reasons, a key reason for the court's discrediting of the statistics concerning promotion to first level supervisor, was that plaintiffs used the craft work force as the labor pool rather than using those employees on the supervisory registers. In making this criticism, the court erred as a matter of law because it excluded the first step of the promotion process, that of getting on the supervisory register. During the time period covered by this suit, that first step involved both objective elements, such as passing the written examination, and subjective elements, such as supervisory evaluations. When promotions to supervisory positions are made almost exclusively from the internal work force and when the primary qualification for promotion is experience in the craft work force, the appropriate comparison is to this work force rather than to those on the supervisory register, who have already been screened by the agency through the use of various procedures. See Johnson, 628 F.2d at 425; Carroll, 708 F.2d at 192. Because it is unclear whether the district court would have found plaintiffs' statistics sufficient to establish a prima facie case if it had considered the craft work force to be the appropriate labor pool, we must remand this issue for further proceedings. 45 On remand if the plaintiffs establish a prima facie case of disparate treatment, the burden will shift to defendant to rebut the inference of discrimination by showing that plaintiffs' statistics are misleading or by presenting legitimate non-discriminatory reasons for the disparity. Burdine, 450 U.S. at 254, 101 S.Ct. at 1094. The district court relied in part on defendant's statistics concerning the percentages of employees on the supervisory registers to find plaintiffs' statistics misleading. Appellants contend that defendant cannot rely on the supervisory registers to rebut the presumption of discrimination unless the written tests used in determining eligibility for the registers have been validated in compliance with Griggs. The Postal Service argues that it can rebut a prima facie case by articulating a reason which is non-discriminatory on its face and that it is not required to prove or validate its reason. 46 The necessity of validating selection devices identified by employers to rebut a prima facie case of disparate treatment was exhaustively analyzed in a recent opinion by Judge Wright for the District of Columbia Circuit. In Segar v. Smith, 738 F.2d 1249 (D.C.Cir.1984), the Court discussed the nature of the burden on a defendant in a pattern or practice disparate treatment case as follows: 47 The defendant must at least make a clear and reasonably specific showing, based on admissible evidence, that the alleged nondiscriminatory explanation in fact explains the disparity. Burdine, supra, 450 U.S. at 253-255, 101 S.Ct. at 1093-1095. In the context of an individual plaintiff's claim of disparate treatment, the Court in Burdine suggested that a defendant need do no more than make such an articulation. Id. at 253-254, 101 S.Ct. at 1093-1095. Though the principles on which Burdine is based are fully applicable to pattern or practice cases, the specific definition of the rebuttal burden on an employer in an individual plaintiff's disparate treatment case should not be unthinkingly applied to class actions such as the present case.... 48 In the context of an individual's suit, the bare articulation of a legitimate non-discriminatory explanation generally suffices to undermine a plaintiff's initial proof ... because the plaintiff's prima facie case will typically consist of the low-threshold showing of McDonnell Douglas Corp. v. Green, 411 U.S. 792, 93 S.Ct. 1817, 36 L.Ed.2d 668 (1973). 49 When a defendant in a pattern or practice class action offers such an explanation, the circumstances differ in two crucial ways. First, to make an initial showing of disparate treatment in such cases the plaintiff class will typically have presented statistical evidence showing pervasive disparities and eliminating most, if not all, potential nondiscriminatory explanations for the observed disparities. Though the employer is not required to meet a burden of persuasion in rebutting the disparate treatment claim, the nondiscriminatory explanation must cast sufficient doubt on the plaintiffs' proof to permit the trier of fact legitimately to decline to draw an inference of discrimination from that proof. The bare articulation of a nondiscriminatory explanation, while sufficient to rebut an individual plaintiff's low-threshold McDonnell Douglas showing, generally will not suffice as a rebuttal to a typical class-wide showing of pervasive discrimination.... 50 Second, the employer's effort to rebut the pattern or practice claim by articulating a legitimate nondiscriminatory explanation may have the effect of putting before the court all the elements of a traditional disparate impact case. By its explanation of an observed disparity the employer will typically pinpoint an employment practice (or practices) having a disparate impact on a protected class. And to rebut plaintiffs' case the employer will typically be required to introduce evidence showing that the employment practice in fact caused the observed disparity. See Burdine, supra, 450 U.S. at 258, 101 S.Ct. at 1096 (defendant will normally attempt to prove the factual basis for its explanation). In this situation, between the plaintiffs' prima facie showing of disparity and the defendant's rebuttal explanation of the disparity, the essential elements of a disparate impact case will have been placed before the trier of fact. Such a case is ripe for resolution using disparate impact analysis. Though the plaintiffs in a disparate treatment case bear the burden of persuasion as to the existence of a disparity, the defendant bears the burden of proving the business necessity of the practices causing the disparity. Albemarle Paper Co. v. [Moody], supra, 422 U.S. at 425, 95 S.Ct. [2362] at 2375 [45 L.Ed.2d 280 (1975) ]. Thus when an employer defends a disparate treatment challenge by claiming that a specific employment practice causes the observed disparity, and this defense sufficiently rebuts the plaintiffs' initial case of disparate treatment, the defendant should at this point face a burden of proving the business necessity of the practice. 51 Id. at 1268-70 (some citations and footnotes omitted). 52 Judge Wright noted that some other circuits, including the Fifth Circuit in Pouncy, have expressed a reluctance to apply disparate impact analysis in this situation. The reluctance of these courts is based in part on the perceived unfairness of placing on the defendant the dual burden of articulating which of its employment practices caused the adverse impact and of proving the business necessity of the practice and in part on the risk that an employer will be forced to justify the entire range of its employment practices when a plaintiff shows only that a disparity exists. Id. at 1270. 53 The Segar Court found these concerns to be both unpersuasive and difficult to harmonize with the purposes of Title VII. The Court noted that the rebuttal burden will be placed upon an employer only after a plaintiff class has shown a disparity in the positions of members of the class and the majority group who appear to be comparably qualified. The Court pointed out: 54 The defendant will in all likelihood point to a specific job qualification or performance/evaluation rating as the explanation for the observed disparity. Thus application of disparate impact in this situation will not, the fears of the Pouncy court notwithstanding, place on the employer any additional burden of articulation; to rebut the disparate treatment claim the employer will have had to articulate which employment practices cause an observed disparity. Nor will the employer be forced to justify all of its employment practices. The employer will be required to show the job relatedness of only the practice or practices identified as the cause of the disparity. 55 Id. at 1271. The Court also noted that the purpose of Title VII is the removal of artificial, arbitrary and unnecessary barriers to employment which operate invidiously to discriminate on the basis of race or other impermissible classifications. The Court stated: 56 This purpose is not well served by a requirement that the plaintiff in every case pinpoint at the outset the employment practices that cause an observed disparity between those who appear to be comparably qualified. Such a requirement in effect permits challenges only to readily perceptible barriers; it allows subtle barriers to continue to work their discriminatory effects, and thereby thwarts the crucial national purpose that Congress sought to effectuate in Title VII. It is abundantly clear that Title VII tolerates no discrimination, subtle or otherwise. McDonnell Douglas Corp., supra, 411 U.S. at 801, 93 S.Ct. at 1824. Thus when unnecessary employer-created barriers have been brought into the open through adjudication of a pattern or practice disparate treatment claim, these barriers should be evaluated under the disparate impact theory, as Congress intended them to be. 57 Id. at 1271-72. 58 We agree with the analysis by the Court in Segar. Thus on remand, if the plaintiffs are able to establish a prima facie case of disparate treatment, the defendants may not rebut the presumption of discrimination by reliance on the supervisory registers or the written tests unless those procedures have been validated as required under a disparate impact analysis. 59 Although the focus of plaintiffs' appeal concerning discrimination in promotions is on promotions to initial supervisory positions, plaintiffs also challenge defendant's system for promotions to higher level supervisory positions and to non-supervisory positions. The district court found that plaintiffs' statistics on these promotions showed a mix of positive and negative deviations and that such results are typical of a non-discriminatory environment. We cannot say that these findings by the district court are clearly erroneous.
60 Plaintiffs alleged that blacks were discriminated against in the awarding of details, i.e., temporary assignments to higher level positions to fill in for absent employees and to gain experience in those jobs. The plaintiffs contend that being assigned to a detail increases one's chances for permanent promotion at a later date. The district court found plaintiffs' statistics on details unconvincing for a number of reasons, but a primary reason was that plaintiffs' statistics compared the number of employees detailed to the number of employees in the craft work force. The Court thus found that plaintiffs failed to control for other variables which were important in determining who was assigned to details, including the nature of the detail, and the experience, availability, and location of the employee. The Court found defendant's statistics on details more convincing. Defendant's statistics compared the number of employees detailed to a combination of the total number of employees in the craft and the number of employees on the supervisory register. Apparently, preference in details is given to employees on the supervisory register, but employees who are not on the register also often receive details. The Court's conclusions with respect to details are infected by the same error that infected its conclusions as to promotions to initial level supervisory positions. The Court erroneously relied upon statistics by the defendant comparing those employees detailed to those employees on the supervisory register. As discussed above, this is not the appropriate comparison. Therefore, the Court's conclusions with respect to details are reversed and remanded for further proceedings.
61 The plaintiffs alleged that blacks were discriminated against in the giving of awards. The district court found that the studies by both plaintiff and defendant showed that blacks were sometimes awarded fewer awards than whites and sometimes more. The court also found that other characteristics, including performance levels, may account for any unequal distribution of awards. We cannot say that the court's findings as to awards are clearly erroneous.
62 Both parties and the court agree that black employees at the Jacksonville Post Office receive a higher percentage of discipline as a group than white employees. The court nevertheless found that race was not a statistically significant factor in the imposition of discipline at the Jacksonville Post Office. In so finding, the court relied both on the fact that there are internal and external review mechanisms for disciplinary actions at the Post Office and on data produced by the defendants showing that there are significant differences in the characteristics of the black and white postal employees. The court stated: 63 The system by which discipline is imposed at the Jacksonville Post Office, however, has innumerable checks and balances. Both internal reviews and several methods of appeal are available to all employees. Disciplinary actions are subjected to such scrutiny as to substantially reduce the likelihood of unwarranted discipline. Thus, there is the clear likelihood that the disciplinary actions are reflective of the employee's conduct, not race. 64 Consistent with that likelihood are data which showed that there are significant differences in the characteristics of the black and white postal employees. The data shows, and the court finds, that black employees at the Jacksonville Post Office are younger and take more leave than their white counterparts ... It is likely that there are other different characteristics, patterns of conduct, or reactions to circumstances which exist between groups of employees.... [The defendant's statistics], thus, permit the Court to infer that race is not a statistically significant factor in the imposition of discipline at the Jacksonville Post Office. 65 We cannot say that the court's findings with respect to discipline are clearly erroneous.