Opinion ID: 339209
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Discrimination in Promotions to Salaried Positions

Text: 9 Plaintiffs' case that discrimination existed in promotions to salaried positions is also based on statistical evidence. For example, prior to any legal pressure, only two out of ninety-seven salaried jobs were held by black people. As of the time of trial, twenty-one percent of the white employees at Broadview, compared with only nine percent of the black employees, held salaried positions. Given that the district court's statistical findings are supported by substantial evidence, we agree that the plaintiffs have again made out a prima facie case of discrimination. 10 Unlike its argument in the case of promotions to the position of hourly clerk, defendant does not contend that it is relying on a bona fide seniority system in filling vacancies for salaried jobs. Rather, it admits that promotions to the salaried workforce are awarded on a subjective basis which is intended to recognize merit. It then asserts that the district court's finding of a Title VII violation should be reversed because plaintiffs had failed to meet their burden of demonstrating that individual employees had been denied salaried positions because of racial discrimination. 11 Defendant's argument misconceives the nature of what must be proved to show discrimination under Title VII. For plaintiffs to prevail, it is not necessary that they prove scienter by showing that in individual cases General Motors consciously excluded black employees from salaried positions simply because of their race. Rather, they need only show that black employees as a group were promoted at a significantly lower rate than white employees. At that point, as we stated earlier, the burden would be on the defendant to demonstrate that racial disparity was the product of nondiscriminatory factors. The Supreme Court has defined this burden in the following way: 12 The Act proscribes not only overt discrimination but also practices that are fair in form, but discriminatory in operation. The touchstone is business necessity. If an employment practice which operates to exclude Negroes cannot be shown to be related to job performance, the practice is prohibited. Griggs v. Duke Power Co., 401 U.S. 424, 431, 91 S.Ct. 849, 853, 28 L.Ed.2d 158 (1971). 13 General Motors has failed to meet this test. The district court characterized the promotion process with respect to salaried jobs as highly subjective and loosely structured. It noted that supervisory recommendations play an important role in the promotion process, but that no significant safeguards exist to ensure that the recommendations are focused on the relevant issues in promotion. Foremen asked to make recommendations have no objective way of rating the employees whom they are evaluating. Moreover, they are never given written guidelines delineating the criteria for which they are supposed to be looking or describing the jobs for which they are making recommendations. Finally, almost all of the foremen at the Broadview plant are white. 14 We hold that such a system of filling vacancies is not job-related within the meaning of Griggs. The process described, while perhaps intended only to recognize merit, is highly susceptible to abuse. While some subjectivity is inevitable in filling jobs of an executive character, the total lack of objective standards at Broadview could only reinforce the prejudices, unconscious or not, which Congress in Title VII sought to eradicate as a basis for employment. In condemning promotional systems where employees of a minority race have been excluded by a process in which objective standards are lacking, we are in accord with a number of other courts. See, e. g., Muller v. United States Steel Corp., 509 F.2d 923, 929 (10th Cir.), cert. denied, 423 U.S. 825, 96 S.Ct. 39, 46 L.Ed.2d 41 (1975); Pettway v. American Cast Iron Pipe Co., 494 F.2d 211, 240-43 (5th Cir. 1974); United States v. N. L. Industries, Inc., 479 F.2d 354, 368 (8th Cir. 1973); Rowe v. General Motors, 457 F.2d 348, 358-59 (5th Cir. 1972). 15 We therefore affirm the district court's holding that defendant's promotional practices with respect to salaried positions violate Title VII.