Opinion ID: 512413
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Fight-Related Discipline

Text: 68 In the five and one-half years following the entry of the parties' 1980 consent decree (from May 15, 1980 to December 4, 1985), the Department issued discipline for only four separate fighting incidents, including the incident involving Jones and Boillot. 4 The district court summarily held that [i]n each [of the four] incident[s], if a black participated he initially received more severe discipline than the white at the hands of the Department. While facially accurate, the court's statement simply ignores several significant nonracial factors which are relevant to explain the Department's apparently inconsistent fight-related discipline. These factors show that in accordance with policies outlined in its Manual, the Department imposed discipline which was both progressive and proportionate to the seriousness of the underlying violation. Indeed, 69 [t]he most important variables in the disciplinary context, and the most likely sources of different but nondiscriminatory treatment, are the nature of the offenses committed and the nature of the punishments imposed. 70 Moore, 754 F.2d at 1105 (emphasis added). 71 In McDonald v. Santa Fe Trail Transportation Co., 427 U.S. 273, 96 S.Ct. 2574, 49 L.Ed.2d 493 (1976), the Court emphasized the importance of analyzing comparable employment decisions in cases involving claims of discrimination: 72 [P]recise equivalence in culpability between employees is not the ultimate question: as we indicated in McDonnell Douglas, an allegation that other employees involved in acts against [the employer] of comparable seriousness ... were nevertheless retained ... is adequate to plead an inferential case that the employer's reliance on his discharged employee's misconduct as grounds for terminating him was merely a pretext. 73 Id. at 283 n. 11, 96 S.Ct. at 2580 n. 11 (quoting McDonnell Douglas, 411 U.S. at 804, 93 S.Ct. at 1825 (emphasis retained)). This mandate sets for lower federal courts the difficult, but not unfamiliar task of assessing the gravity of offenses on a relative scale. Moore, 754 F.2d at 1107. However, factual findings which rest on ... unprincipled conception[s] of 'similarity' and 'comparability,'  are structurally flawed and render the fact-finding process clearly erroneous. Id. at 1106 (citing Miller v. Mercy Hospital, 720 F.2d 356, 361 (4th Cir.1983), cert. denied, 470 U.S. 1083, 105 S.Ct. 1841, 85 L.Ed.2d 141 (1985)). 74 The district court's analysis of the four instances of fight-related discipline imposed by the Memphis Fire Department in this case failed to fully account for the relative seriousness of the underlying violations and the personnel records of the firefighters involved. As a result, instances which were not of comparable seriousness were analyzed as though they were. We agree with the Fourth Circuit that such an analysis is inherently flawed and, as a result, clearly erroneous. Id. at 1106-10. 75  The first fighting incident considered by the district court is of virtually no significance in establishing a pattern and practice of disparate discipline. In August of 1980, Private George Thomas, who is white, received a written reprimand for fighting. The facts surrounding the fight, including the relative seriousness of the incident, the punishment given to Thomas' combatant, and Thomas' personnel history, were not developed at trial or considered by the court. The court simply relied upon the fact that Thomas received a lesser punishment for fighting than did plaintiff Jones. 2 76 The second incident relied upon by the court involved Private William Murphy, white, and Private Boyd Malone, black. In November of 1981, Murphy and Malone were suspended for their involvement in an engine house altercation. Murphy received a forty-hour suspension and Malone initially received a sixty-four hour suspension. Malone appealed the suspension and it was eventually reduced to forty hours by Director Smith. The district court found that the disparate periods of suspension as originally imposed were evidence of a departmental racial animus against blacks. However, a more detailed examination of the nature of each firefighter's participation in the fight suggests otherwise. 77 Malone's original letter of suspension states that during the altercation you [Malone] did admittedly pull a knife on Private Murphy, and at some point the other employee did, in fact, receive a minor cut to his finger. The Department's Manual specifically states that the most significant consideration [in disciplining a firefighter] is for the penalty to be in proportion to the violation. See section II, supra. While the Manual simply provides that fighting is a major violation, it is manifest that a firefighter who is armed with a knife in a fight with a combatant who is unarmed poses a more serious threat than his unarmed adversary. 3 78 The third fighting incident the district court considered was a May 1983 disciplinary action in which Private Jerry Bennett, white, was suspended for ninety-six hours for his participation in a fight with Private Donald Murray, black, who was discharged. The court held that Bennett and Murray were disparately disciplined given that neither had been previously disciplined. However, in October of 1981, Murray, at the Department's suggestion, had undergone a medical examination after making death threats to his fellow firefighters. Dr. David Knott opined that Murray had a personality disorder-paranoid type, and concluded that there should be a behavior contact between the employer and the employee which delineates specific acceptable vocational behavior. Murray was thereafter advised that the Fire Department would not tolerate any more behavior of the [same] type and that if it happened again, [he] would be terminated. Murray also did not follow through with Dr. Knott's prescribed outpatient treatment. 79 The Department notified Murray on June 2, 1983, that his employment was being terminated based upon a hearing and investigation into an incident in which you were fighting with a fellow employee, combined with the fact that you had been previously warned and counseled about just such type of conduct.... The notice continued: 80 From the testimony given at the investigation and from the written statements it has been determined that you were indeed involved in a fight with Private Jerry Bennett on May 25, 1983, which in and of itself is grounds for disciplinary action. Yet, it is not the sole basis of your termination.... 81 From the witnesses, it was learned that you picked up two drink bottles and started toward Private Bennett sometime after the original fight between you and Private Bennett.... [Y]ou had to be physically restrained from attacking Private Bennett and the bottles had to be forcibly removed from your possession, after which you continued to make threatening remarks.... (Emphasis added.) 82 According to the Department's manual, [t]he degree of discipline should increase with each subsequent sustained action which is similar in nature. See section II, supra. Further, the previous record of the employee is relevant to a determination of the appropriate level of discipline. Id. 83 Upon a close analysis of the circumstances underlying the Department's decision to suspend Private Bennett and to terminate Private Murray, it is clear that race was not a factor. Nor can Murray's termination and Malone's suspension be meaningfully compared to Thomas' reprimand or the suspensions of Murphy and Bennett given the differences in the nature of each incident, the conduct of each combatant, and their disparate personnel histories. Under the Department's manual, [t]he most significant consideration is for the penalty to be in proportion to the violation. Under the facts of this case, of the three fighting incidents analyzed, not including the Jones-Boillot fight, no two violations or violators are comparable. This is particularly true because one combatant was armed and another was a repeat offender who had previously been warned about the serious consequences of his conduct. We stress, however, that precise equivalence in culpability between employees is not the ultimate question.... McDonald v. Santa Fe Trail Transportation Co., 427 U.S. at 283 n. 11, 96 S.Ct. at 2580 n. 11, 49 L.Ed.2d 493. What is essential to proof of pattern and practice is a showing that the other employees involved in acts against [the employer] of comparable seriousness  received less stringent discipline. Id. (quoting McDonnell Douglas, 411 U.S. at 804, 93 S.Ct. at 1825 (emphasis retained)). Moreover, [c]onduct violative of a single [fire department] regulation may vary considerably in different cases. Moore, 754 F.2d at 1108 n. 5. 84 We find the district court's finding of a pattern and practice to be clearly erroneous because it is based upon comparisons of a series of factually unique and qualitatively dissimilar incidents and a corresponding series of appropriately individualized disciplinary actions which have been imposed in complete consistency with racially neutral and nonarbitrary guidelines. 5 In sum, plaintiff Jones has failed to eliminate the most common nondiscriminatory reasons for the differences in the fight-related discipline handed down by the Department: the nature of the offenses and the nature of the punishments imposed, particularly in relation to the employees' personnel records. Accordingly, we conclude that Jones' evidence of defendant's fight-related discipline has failed to establish a prima facie case of racial discrimination. 6 4 85 In addition to the three fights previously detailed, the district court included the Jones-Boillot fight in its comparison of fight-related discipline imposed by the Department. For the reasons stated hereafter, we are satisfied that even if that incident were admissible to establish a pattern or practice, its facts are insufficient to remedy the foregoing inadequacies in Jones' case. Before addressing the evidence surrounding the fight itself, we address its admissibility to show the Department's alleged pattern and practice. 86 Under the terms of the consent decree, relief may be predicated only upon conduct which constitutes a pattern or practice of unlawful discrimination on the basis of race. Stotts v. Memphis Fire Dep't, 679 F.2d at 575. The district court concluded that the evidence of Jones' and Boillot's demotions was admissible to show the alleged pattern and practice. The interpretation of a consent decree is a matter of law reviewed de novo. Keith v. Volpe, 784 F.2d 1457, 1461 (9th Cir.1986) (citations omitted). We think a more reasonable construction of the decree is that a jurisdictional pre-requisite to consideration of the facts of the plaintiff's claim is proof of the existence of an unlawful pattern and practice, exclusive of his claim. Logically, under the terms of the decree, the court's jurisdiction to assess the comparability of challenged conduct cannot derive from a determination that the challenged conduct is comparable. Rather, Jones must first establish that the Department disparately disciplines black firefighters because of their race before he can introduce evidence of his fight with Boillot and the subsequent demotions. Nonetheless, even if we consider the evidence of the Jones-Boillot altercation in conjunction with the other three fights involving firefighters, we conclude that no pattern and practice of unlawful discrimination has been shown. 87 Jones has failed to offer any proof that race played a factor in the Department's decision to remove both him and Boillot from supervisory capacities. Nor has Jones proved that he, in fact, was disparately disciplined. Boillot was demoted two ranks, from lieutenant to private II. See note 1, supra. Jones was demoted from captain to private II, seemingly three ranks. However, Jones had never been appointed to the intermediate rank of driver and hence was not qualified for the position even through a demotion. Deputy Chief Bryant testified that Jones would not have been eligible to hold the driver's position because he had never been qualified for it. Hence, Jones was effectively demoted only two ranks, the same as Boillot. 7 88 Nonetheless, even if Jones' demotion is considered more stringent than that of Boillot, there is virtually no credible evidence that such a result was the product of a Departmental racial animus. In analyzing the Department's application of its progressive disciplinary policy, we note that Jones had been disciplined three times previously for fight-related incidents. At the time of the disciplinary panel's investigation, Boillot had only one previous fight-related reprimand. See note 2, supra. In a case involving allegedly disparate discipline, as in a case involving an allegedly discriminatory discharge, an employee's prior discipline record seems likely to be a major, if not the most important, factor.... Coates v. Johnson & Johnson, 756 F.2d 524, 544 n. 20 (7th Cir.1985). The district court's finding that Boillot was the instigator of the fight is a mitigating factor in Jones' favor. However, it is important to emphasize that this was Jones' fourth separate incident of job-related violence. Simply put, even if Jones was disparately disciplined, and we find he was not, and even if Boillot was the instigator of the fight, there is still no evidence in the record to suggest that the Department's decision to take Jones out of a supervisory capacity was motivated at all by race. Accordingly, we conclude that the court's finding of a racially discriminatory pattern and practice is clearly erroneous and that Jones' evidence of the history of the Department's imposition of fight-related discipline therefore fails to establish a prima facie case of discrimination under the terms of the parties' 1980 consent decree.