Opinion ID: 439066
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Faculty and NTP Salary

Text: 30 Plaintiffs' statistical studies in support of their claims of salary discrimination against women NTP's purported to show that men were paid more than women within each NTP rank. Judge Pratt concluded, however, that plaintiffs' studies were both unrealistic and illogical because they took no account of either prior work experience or existing duties at Stony Brook. 587 F.Supp. at 603. He concluded that plaintiffs' regression analyses could not realistically predict salaries or establish proof of salary discrimination among NTP's unless such variables are taken into account. We agree. 31 NTP ranks are established on a statewide basis without considering Stony Brook's particular employment needs. At Stony Brook, each NTP rank encompasses a wide variety of discrete jobs which require different qualifications and experience. They also vary widely as to responsibilities and are not linked in a promotion chain. The NTP rank itself merely establishes outside parameters for salary and does not reflect the tasks or responsibilities of a particular job except in a highly general fashion. Existing duties and prior work experience are thus crucial variables that must be taken into account in comparing relative salaries of NTP's. Since plaintiffs' data failed in this regard, it is not probative of discrimination. 32 Finally, the record clearly shows that NTP rank and salary are fixed for each position before persons are interviewed or hired to fill the slot. In view of that and the fact that NTP jobs are separate rather than links in a promotion chain, plaintiffs' salary claim with regard to NTP's seems merely to reargue their placement at hire claim. 33 Plaintiffs make their strongest showing in the area of faculty salaries. Both parties focused heavily, at trial and on this appeal, on the statistical evidence relating to salaries. After carefully reviewing the record, we conclude that Judge Pratt's finding that plaintiffs failed to prove a pattern or practice of discrimination with respect to faculty salaries is not clearly erroneous. 34 We begin by observing that the determination of faculty salaries at Stony Brook is decentralized. Initial salaries normally are determined by a department chairman based on a combination of factors including education, qualifications, experience, the salary scale in the appointee's discipline at Stony Brook, the rank of appointment, and the salaries of peers at other educational institutions in the same field. The department chairman recommends an initial salary, but then must obtain final approval from a university official and, when the starting salary exceeds $24,000, from the Chancellor of the State University system. Raises occur through across-the-board percentage increases, usually as a result of collective bargaining, and merit increases occur in the discretion of the department chairman subject to approval by SUNY Central. Raises also occur upon promotion. 35 Plaintiffs' primary evidence of gender-based discrimination in faculty salaries was a statistical report prepared by their expert, Dr. Killingsworth. Based on a multiple linear regression analysis of personnel data supplied by defendants, the report concluded that women employed as faculty at Stony Brook during the 1976-77 academic year were underpaid between $1706 and $2000 as compared to similarly qualified men. 36 Judge Pratt found that plaintiffs' report did not prove salary discrimination. He relied in part on a report prepared by defendant's expert, Dr. Meier, which criticized Dr. Killingsworth's study. The design of the competing studies largely reflects the parties' different theories of this case. As Judge Pratt noted, much of the difference between plaintiffs' and defendants' studies stems from Dr. Killingsworth's omission from his regression analysis of any variable reflecting prior experience. While this is consistent with the contention that recognition of these criteria merely perpetuates prior discrimination that occurred elsewhere, Judge Pratt rightly rejected that contention on the grounds that prior experience is job related. 37 There were also other differences between Dr. Killingsworth's and Dr. Meier's studies. Dr. Meier's study separately compared faculty in each of Stony Brook's academic divisions. Dr. Killingsworth's study, on the other hand, aggregated faculty into broader groups by fields of degree and used inconsistent aggregations. Dr. Killingsworth's study also included the salaries of visiting faculty, lecturers, artists and performers, and other categories that Judge Pratt found not comparable to regular faculty. 587 F.Supp. at 602. 38 Even defendants' study, however, found a smaller but statistically significant female salary disadvantage as of 1976-77. 3 Dr. Meier nevertheless argued that this figure did not prove salary discrimination. First, he pointed out that his study found no statistically significant salary disadvantage for women hired after 1972, a finding confirmed by Dr. Killingsworth's study. Second, Dr. Meier concluded that the rate of salary increase for pre-1972 hires in every year after 1972 was either the same for men and women, or slightly favored women. 39 Thus, the statistical evidence arguably shows that defendants discriminated with respect to salary before 1972 and that a residual effect of that discrimination continues to exist. However, Dr. Meier also concluded that the salary difference resulting from inclusion of the pre-1972 group disappears when unique categories of employees such as faculty members at the defunct Education Department, artists, performers and the Nobel Laureate are excluded from the study. When these employees are excluded and results for the pre-1972 and post-1972 hires are averaged, women faced no statistically significant salary disadvantage as of the 1976-77 academic year. 40 Moreover, women faculty presently at Stony Brook who were hired before 1972 are a very small group, and easily identified individually. Nevertheless no direct evidence of discrimination as to them other than the statistical study was produced. In the context of Stony Brook's comprehensive affirmative action program and Dr. Meier's explanation of the disparity in salary revealed in his study, the failure to produce such direct evidence is significant. Judge Pratt's conclusion that the statistical evidence of possible salary disparities is too insubstantial to prove a pattern and practice of discrimination is not, therefore, clearly erroneous. 41 Affirmed.