Opinion ID: 417702
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The March Order

Text: 6 The March Order granted immediate, long-term, and interim relief. Effective immediately, the court permanently enjoined further use of Eligibility List 3040 except upon a showing of compelling necessity. As long-term relief, the court directed the City to begin preparation of new, properly validated selection procedures that would have the least adverse impact on women. For the interim, the court ordered the City to reserve entry-level firefighter positions for the hiring of up to 45 members of the plaintiff class who remained interested and were adequately qualified. 7 The court arrived at the number 45 with respect to interim hiring as follows. It found that some women who had passed the written portion of Exam 3040 had been deterred from taking the physical portion by pre-test publicity suggesting that no woman could pass the physical test. 3 536 F.Supp. at 217. The district court correctly concluded that a sex-neutral exam would have been followed by an equal decline (26%) in interest between both groups. Id. The court reasoned that absent the actual and anticipated disparate impact of the physical test, the decline in interest among women who had passed the written portion could reasonably have been expected to be proportionately no greater than the decline in interest among the men who had passed the written portion. Since 74% of the men who had passed the written portion of Exam 3040 took the physical portion, the court estimated that 74% of the 389 women who passed the written portion, or 288, would have taken a sex-neutral physical test. Then, noting that 16% of the men who had taken the physical test had been called up for appointment, 4 and taking 16% of 288, the court arrived at a figure of close to 45 women who one would expect to have been called up under a sex-neutral exam. Id. 8 The March Order directed the parties to attempt to agree upon a procedure for determining which members, if any, of the plaintiff class were adequately qualified to become entry-level firefighters and hence to be appointed to the reserved positions. Paragraph 4 of the order provided, in pertinent part, as follows: 9 4. In order to determine which, if any, members of the plaintiff class are entitled to further remedial relief, the parties shall forthwith determine which members of the plaintiff class (a) continue to be interested in the position of firefighter, and (b) are adequately qualified for that position. In this connection plaintiff shall, on or before April 2, 1982, serve and file on 3 days' notice to all parties its proposed form of notice to the class, directing members to notify plaintiff's counsel of their intent to qualify for appointment within a reasonable period of time to be specified in the notice. In the event that the parties are unable to agree expeditiously upon procedures for the determination of which class members responding to such notice are adequately qualified, then the procedures for determination of whether interested class members are adequately qualified for the position shall be, on notice to the parties, established by the Court. In the event that more than 45 members of the plaintiff class are found to be interested in and adequately qualified for appointment to the position of entry-level firefighter, notices of appointment shall be sent to 45 of those qualifying, selected by lot. In the event that 45 or fewer members of the plaintiff class are found to be interested in and adequately qualified for appointment, notices of appointment shall be sent to all those qualifying. 10 The court refused to order that the City affirmatively recruit women to fill the 45 reserved places, finding that Berkman had failed to prove either a pattern of significant prior discrimination or that the City's discrimination against women had been intentional. 536 F.Supp. at 217.