Opinion ID: 456029
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Hiring, Promoting, Paying, Firing

Text: 20 When confronting the bevy of evidence below, the district court began its intentional discrimination inquiry by dividing the at-issue (non-cannery worker) jobs into two groups: skilled and unskilled. Both the plaintiffs and defendants had introduced labor-market statistics in an effort to bolster their contentions. For reasons discussed below, the district court rejected plaintiffs' labor-market statistics, while crediting those of defendants. In addition, the plaintiffs introduced comparative statistics, which the court only credited in scrutinizing the unskilled jobs group. 21 Taking each group in turn, the court first found that the unskilled jobs were fungible, and, thus, comparative statistics were appropriate for use in establishing a prima facie case of discrimination. Since the comparative statistics showed a pattern of job segregation throughout the cannery work forces, the court found that the plaintiffs had put on a prima facie case with respect to the unskilled jobs. Nevertheless, for reasons discussed below, the court found that defendants had met their burden of production in showing motivation other than discriminatory animus, and that plaintiffs had failed in their ultimate burden of proving pretext. 22 Moving on to the skilled positions, the district court had more difficulty in finding a prima facie case of intentional discrimination, because the plaintiffs' statistical evidence had been discredited. The court did find a marginal prima facie case, but only by way of combining all of plaintiffs' evidence and claims of nepotism, individual instances of alleged discrimination, deterrence, failure to post openings, general lack of objective qualifications, lack of a formal promotion procedure, re-hiring past employees in their old jobs, and the discredited statistical evidence. The court found that none of these had significant probative value when considered alone. In conclusion, the court held that defendants had met their burden of production and that plaintiffs had failed to meet their ultimate burden of persuasion. 23 Appellants contend that the district court erred in not giving more credit to their evidence of nepotism. The district court noted that [r]elatives of whites and particularly nonwhites appear in high incidence at the canneries. However, defendants have established that the relatives hired in at-issue jobs were highly qualified for the positions in which they were hired and were chosen because of their qualifications. The court also found that plaintiffs' statistics failed to recognize that a number of persons became related through marriage after starting work at the canneries, and that the testimony showed that numerous white persons who 'knew' someone were not hired due to inexperience, and whites hired were paid no more than non-whites. Therefore, the court concluded that there existed no preference for relatives at the canneries. 1 24 After carefully reviewing the record, we cannot say that the district court was clearly erroneous in making these findings. The Supreme Court has recently reiterated our role in reviewing these findings of fact. If the district court's account of the evidence is plausible in light of the record viewed in its entirety, the court of appeals may not reverse it even though convinced that had it been sitting as the trier of fact, it would have weighed the evidence differently. Where there are two permissible views of the evidence, the factfinder's choice between them cannot be clearly erroneous. Anderson v. Bessemer City, --- U.S. at ----, 105 S.Ct. at 1512, 84 L.Ed.2d at 528 (emphasis added). The fact finder's account of the evidence, concluding that there were legitimate and nonpreferential reasons for the hires of friends and relatives, is entirely plausible in light of the whole record. Consequently, we will not disturb it. 25 For the same reasons, we will not overturn the district court's findings with respect to alleged individual instances of discrimination. A number of plaintiffs alleged that they were either overtly discriminated against in the hiring for at-issue positions, or that they were deterred from seeking at-issue positions because of the defendants' alleged history of pervasive discrimination. Using the four-part test of McDonnell Douglas as a guideline, 2 the district court did not give greater credit to the alleged instances because it found that the respective plaintiffs had not been hired for nondiscriminatory reasons. Primarily, the district court found that the individuals had made oral inquiries, which were not considered applications, or that the applications were untimely. 3 The court also found that some applicants had been unavailable for preseason work and, therefore, unavailable for the positions they desired. There is ample evidence in the record to support the district court's findings regarding these individual claims. 26 Nevertheless, appellants argue that the fact that the companies use separate hiring channels, word-of-mouth recruitment, and fail to announce vacancies should serve to excuse appellants from the necessity of establishing the timeliness of their applications and automatically elevate oral inquiries to the status of applications. We disagree. Appellants take this idea from a discussion of damages issues in Domingo. 727 F.2d at 1445. We find that discussion inapposite because, unlike the Domingo plaintiffs, the appellants have not first established wide-ranging discrimination. Appellants failed to convince the district court that they had been intentionally discriminated against, and they may not rely on Domingo in this manner to establish what they have failed to prove. We cannot find the district court clearly erroneous. 27 Appellants also contend that the district court erred in failing to credit their comparative statistics when analyzing the skilled positions. As previously indicated, the district court accorded these statistics, which compare the racial composition of the various job categories, little probative value because they did not reflect the number of employees possessing the requisite skills or those available for preseason work. 28 This court has recognized the importance of statistics as circumstantial evidence of discriminatory intent. In the same breath, however, the court often admonishes that statistics are inherently slippery and the weight given to them depends on proper supportive facts and the absence of variables. Spaulding v. University of Washington, 740 F.2d 686, 703 (9th Cir.), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 105 S.Ct. 511, 83 L.Ed.2d 401 (1984) (quotations omitted). The district court's evaluation of conflicting statistics and determination of the probative weight they are to be accorded is a factual inquiry. Accordingly, we apply the clearly erroneous standard of review. Gay v. Waiters' and Dairy Lunchmens Union, 694 F.2d 531, 550 (9th Cir.1982); see also Allen v. Prince George's County, Md., 737 F.2d 1299, 1303 (4th Cir.1984). 29 Appellants fail to recognize the importance of minimizing variables to increase the reliability and significance of statistical evidence. In Domingo, we said that [i]n many cases, it is necessary to consider the qualifications of the applicant pool because without that information, no inference of discrimination may be drawn; the lack of minority representation in the workforce might simply be due to a lack of qualified applicants. 727 F.2d at 1436. Although we permitted the Domingo district court to credit comparative statistics in that case, it was because sufficient evidence of discriminatory treatment had already been presented, and the statistics were not necessary to raise an inference of discrimination. Id. We allowed them merely to demonstrate the consequences of the defendant's already-proven discriminatory hiring practices. 30 The appellants at bar, however, have not previously presented sufficient evidence of discriminatory intent, and they desperately need these comparative statistics credited for that very purpose. This is a precise example of the type of putting the cart in front of the horse of which we were wary in Domingo. Appellants cannot use these general, unrefined statistics to meet their burden with respect to skilled positions. This case clearly illustrates why courts and litigants must carefully examine proffered statistics to avoid the distortion of fact that they have the potential to produce. 31 The percentage of nonwhites employed in the Alaska salmon canning industry during the relevant time period was approximately 50 percent. Of these, approximately 88 percent were Alaska Natives or of Filipino descent. It is undisputed that the racial composition of cannery workers is predominantly nonwhite, and, therefore, those positions are primarily held by Filipinos and Alaska Natives. We know that this is because four of the canneries, Ekuk excluded, have a contract with Local 37 in Seattle to supply cannery workers, and we know further that Local 37 membership is predominantly Filipino. We also know that the Alaska Native cannery workers primarily come from sparsely populated areas immediately adjacent to four of the canneries. 32 Yet, the district court found that Filipinos constitute only about 1 percent of the population and labor force in the geographical region from which the canneries draw employees. Further, the district court found that Alaska Natives constitute only a small portion of the overall general population in the section of Alaska where canneries are located, which includes predominantly white city populations. From this comparison, it could easily be deduced that Alaska Natives and, more particularly, Filipinos are significantly overrepresented in the cannery worker jobs. 33 On the other side of the coin, the district court found that the available general labor supply in the relevant geographic area was approximately 90 percent white. And, it is undisputed that the majority of at-issue jobs were held by whites. 34 With this background in mind, it is obvious that the institutional factors involved tend to distort the racial composition of the work force. Thus, when considering the skilled positions, statistics which merely highlight the segregation of whites and nonwhites between the at-issue and cannery worker jobs, without more, cannot serve to raise an inference that the segregation is attributable to intentional discrimination against any particular race. They can, as Domingo pointed out, serve to demonstrate the consequences of discriminatory practices which have already been independently established. 35 When jobs are not fungible, as in this case, statistics must reflect the qualifications of the applicant pool in order to be probative and credible on the discrimination issue. The fact that the qualifications themselves are subjective does not obviate this requirement as a matter of law. In this case, the district court found that the qualifications most needed for the skilled positions were skill and/or experience in performing the respective jobs. Certainly, there is a degree of subjectivity present when an employer chooses the applicant that he or she feels is best qualified. But it is not necessary that plaintiffs' statistics show that they were the best qualified. It is enough that they reflect the percentage of qualified nonwhites--in this case, those with some skill and/or experience in the desired jobs and who were available to begin work in the preseason. Whether or not such statistics have sufficiently reflected the minimum qualifications actually imposed by the employer so as to raise an inference of intentional discrimination is then a question of fact left for the fact finder. For these reasons, we do not hesitate to find that the district court did not clearly err in assigning appellants' comparative statistics little probative value as to the skilled jobs. 36 The appellants further allege the district court erroneously held that the labor-market statistics offered by the defendant companies rebutted the appellants' prima facie case of intentional discrimination. The district court, however, did not so hold. It found defendants' labor-market statistics more probative than those of appellants because appellants' statistics had counted re-hires of employees during successive seasons and at successive canneries within the same season. Important considerations apart from the statistics played a determinative part in the court's conclusion that defendants had met their burden of production. As previously discussed, the court concluded from the evidence that all applicants were evaluated according to job-related criteria, albeit subjectively, and that oral inquiries and untimely applications served to eliminate hopeful employees, including some plaintiffs. Thus, appellants are incorrect in their basic assertion. 37 We further cannot find the district court clearly erroneous in its findings concerning job-related criteria. Appellants assert that the criteria were never imposed. The district court found otherwise. In so doing, the court took certain listed job qualifications verbatim from the defendants' pre-trial order. These lists, however, merely supported the court's conclusion that skill and/or experience were the general qualifications looked for in the hiring of employees for the specified jobs. After reviewing the record, we cannot conclude that the district court was clearly erroneous. See Anderson v. Bessemer City, --- U.S. at ----, 105 S.Ct. at 1510, 84 L.Ed.2d at 527. 38 Appellants also urge reversal on the ground that the district court's findings failed to address the discriminatory nature of separate hiring channels and word-of-mouth recruitment. We decline to do so. Findings of fact are adequate if they are explicit enough on the ultimate issues to give this court a clear understanding of the basis of the decision and to enable us to determine the grounds on which the trial court reached its decision. Nicholson v. Board of Educ., etc., 682 F.2d 858, 866 (9th Cir.1982). See also Barber v. United States, 711 F.2d 128, 130-131 (9th Cir.1983); United States v. Alpine Land & Reservoir Co., 697 F.2d 851, 856 (9th Cir.) cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 104 S.Ct. 193, 78 L.Ed.2d 170 (1983); De Medina v. Reinhardt, 686 F.2d 997, 1011-1012 (D.C.Cir.1982). 39 The ultimate fact, that there existed no pattern or practice of discrimination in hiring, promoting, paying and firing, is supported by the numerous subsidiary findings of the district court. Throughout the findings, the court discusses the manner in which the canneries hire and promote employees. Included are findings about the fact that cannery workers are hired routinely through Local 37, but that skilled positions are filled through individual screening. It would have been convenient had the district court labelled certain findings as addressing separate hiring channels and word-of-mouth recruitment. It is inconsequential in the end, however, because it is abundantly clear from the district court's opinion that these challenged practices were included in the ultimate finding. The court stated, regardless of the manner in which a prospective employee came to the attention of the hiring personnel, the person was evaluated according to job related criteria. Thereafter, in concluding the case, the court encompassed all of the claims when it said defendants did not discriminate in the hiring, firing, promoting, or paying ... The decision of the district court will not be disturbed.