Opinion ID: 371157
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: The 50/50 Promotion Ratio

Text: 134 Because the district court focused on other issues, the record is incomplete with respect to the propriety of the 50/50 promotional ratio adopted by the Department. The test to be applied is whether the voluntarily adopted ratio is reasonable. 135 The reasonableness test includes a determination whether the affirmative action plan is substantially related to the objectives of remediation of prior discrimination and improved law enforcement. Bakke, supra 438 U.S. at 359, 98 S.Ct. 2733. A racial preference plan is reasonable when it provides an effective remedy for past discrimination without unnecessarily trammeling the interests of white candidates for promotion. Weber, supra, --- U.S. at ----, 99 S.Ct. 2721. The reasonableness test has been applied by the federal courts on review of quotas ordered by trial courts. See, E. g., Tullio, supra, 493 F.2d at 374-75; Carter v. Gallagher, 452 F.2d 315, 330-31 (8th Cir. 1971) (en banc), Cert. denied, 406 U.S. 950, 92 S.Ct. 2045, 32 L.Ed.2d 338 (1972); see also United States v. Chicago, supra, 549 F.2d at 436-37 (abuse of discretion standard). 136 On remand, the district court must consider the factors enumerated in Weber, supra. It must consider the urgency of effectuating the state's objectives, practical limitations in doing so, and the degree of hardship to be borne by whites. However, concern for the interests of white employees cannot be allowed to thwart achievement of the state's goals. It is reasonable for some persons innocent of wrongdoing to bear some burden 12 in order to correct the harsh effects of a grievous wrong of constitutional dimensions and enhance public safety by improved law enforcement. See Franks v. Bowman Transp. Co., 424 U.S. 747, 774-75, 777-78, 96 S.Ct. 1251, 47 L.Ed.2d 444 (1976); see also Teamsters, supra. 137 The district court should also consider that a goal which seeks the same racial proportion among employees as in the labor force will ordinarily be reasonable. (A)bsent explanation, it is ordinarily to be expected that nondiscriminatory hiring practices will in time result in a work force more or less representative of the racial and ethnic composition of the population in the community from which employees are hired. Teamsters, supra, 431 U.S. at 340 n. 20, 97 S.Ct. at 1856-1857 n. 20. Although no one can say with absolute precision how much of the Department's racial disparity in employment is due to racial discrimination, logic and fairness require a presumption that where racial discrimination has been purposeful and pervasive, all racial imbalance within the discriminating organization occurred as its result. See Keyes v. School Dist. No. 1, 413 U.S. 189, 198-205, 93 S.Ct. 2686, 37 L.Ed.2d 548 (1973). 138 Thus a ratio requirement equivalent to the racial proportion of the labor market ordinarily achieves the racial balance which would have existed but for discrimination.