Court Opinion

ID: 9467761
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 01:56:10.13184+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:40:31.046799
License: Public Domain

BUTZNER, Circuit Judge, with whom WINTER and SPROUSE, Circuit Judges,
join, dissenting:
This case illustrates once again the racial discrimination black employees encounter when they seek advancement to the higher echelons of the federal establishment.1 Although Carl F. Page was well qualified for the promotions he sought, he was twice denied advancement by illegally constituted, racially segregated promotion review committees. Having failed to conform to a regulation designed to put an end to this practice, the Postal Service justified its refusal to promote Page by relying on the self-professed fairness of the members of its committees. The district court accepted this testimony as dispositive of this case.
Abuse of the power to select review committees, coupled with the improbability that any federal official is likely to confess that he discriminated on the basis of race in recommending a promotion, has enabled the middle ranks of the postal bureaucracy to erect an almost impregnable barrier to the goal of equal opportunity that Congress sought to achieve. This barrier should be breached by rejecting as a basis of decision the self-serving, subjective testimony of the illegally appointed committee members. Employees protesting racial discrimination with respect to promotion should prevail when, upon proper analysis of the evidence, they prove that the Postal Service has violated the regulation that was intended to abolish racially segregated review committees.
I
The Postal Services’ Personnel Handbook2 provides that a review committee shall be designated to screen the applicants for promotion to positions classified within the postal executive salary level (PES) and recommend the “most outstanding candidates” to the appointing officer, who in this case was the postmaster.3 The committee must consist of at least three members.4 Section 544.2 of the Handbook requires the appointing officer to make “every effort” to assure diversity in the committee. It states in part:
The official who designates a review committee is responsible for making every effort to select at least one woman and/or one minority group member. In the absence of available women and/or minority employees at the appropriate level, committee members must be furnished by the next-higher organizational unit, where available.
The genesis of this regulation is found in the 1972 Amendments of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Section 717 of Title VII as amended5 provides in subsec*235tion (a) that “[a]ll personnel actions affecting employees ... in the United States Postal Service ... shall be made free from any discrimination based on race .... ” Subsection (b) authorizes the Civil Service Commission to enforce the provision of subsection (a) and directs the Commission to “issue such rules, regulations, orders and instructions as it deems necessary and appropriate to carry out its responsibilities under this section.” The statute also provides that “[t]he head of each department, agency, or unit shall comply with such rules, regulations, orders, and instructions
In compliance with the mandate of § 717, the Civil Service Commission promulgated regulations6 in 1972 which require the head of each government agency, including the Postal Service, to establish, maintain, and carry out “a continuing affirmative program designed to promote equal opportunity in every aspect of agency personnel policy and practice in the ... advancement . . . of employees.” 7 A specific directive of the regulations provides that the agency shall “[c]onduct a continuing campaign to eradicate every form of prejudice or discrimination based upon race, color, religion, sex, or national origin, from the agency’s personnel policies and practices and working conditions ....”8 Further the agency must “[djevelop the plans, procedures, and regulations necessary to carry out its program of [equal opportunity].” 9
The regulations of the Postal Service include “[t]he Headquarters Manual, Regional Instructions, handbooks, delegations of authority, and other regulatory issuances and directives of the Postal Service or the former Post Office Department.”10 Consequently, the Postal Service’s Personnel Handbook is a part of the Service’s regulations. The edition applicable to these proceedings was issued as Publication 194, entitled Guide to Promotion and Reassignment, in May 1975.11 The Guide’s release was announced in Postal Bulletin 21038 which states that it will govern “all promotions and reassignments to covered positions .. .. ” A memorandum from the Eastern Regional Postmaster General dated June 6, 1975, directed every manager to follow it in filling PES positions. The memorandum offered “any assistance needed for implementing this vital program affecting our employees.” The Guide was incorporated in the Personnel Handbook §§ 540 to 553 on December 31, 1975.
In United States v. Caceres, 440 U.S. 741, 99 S.Ct. 1465, 1470, 59 L.Ed.2d 733 (1979), which dealt with the application of the exclusionary rule to evidence obtained in violation of an agency regulation, the Court said, “A court’s duty to enforce an agency regulation is most evident when compliance with the regulation is mandated by the Constitution or federal law.” This principle is applicable to Page’s claim. The equal protection component of the fifth amendment’s due process clause bars federal agencies from discriminating against their employees because of race. Congress implemented this constitutional provision by enacting the Equal Opportunity Act of 1972.12 The lineage of the Handbook can be traced from § 717 of this Act,13 through the Civil Service regulations,14 and the Postal Ser*236vice’s regulations.15 Thus, it is apparent that § 544.2 of the Handbook, pertaining to the racial composition of review committees, was promulgated to enforce the fifth amendment and § 717 of Title VII. Therefore, in accordance with Caceres, § 544.2 of the Handbook is mandatory, and the Postal Service was under a duty to follow it.
It was error for the district court to buttress dismissal of Page’s claim on its ruling that “no law requires that there be any particular racial composition in Review Committees.” While it is true in a literal sense that Congress did not enact the regulation, it specifically required the promulgation of regulations to implement § 717 of Title VII. The regulation therefore has the force of law.
It is also true that the regulation is procedural, but this affords no justification for refusing to afford Page its protection in his effort to attain promotion. Procedural rights are not second class rights. Their enforcement is essential to the preservation of substantive rights. Anti-Fascist Committee v. McGrath, 341 U.S. 123, 149-74, 71 S.Ct. 624, 636-50, 95 L.Ed. 817 (1951) (Frankfurter, J., concurring).
The regulation embodied in § 544.2 was promulgated to protect the substantive rights of black postal employees, secured by the fifth amendment and Title VII, to be free of racial discrimination in the selection of applicants for promotions. As Parts II and III of this dissent demonstrate, denial of Page’s procedural right to be judged by a review committee that was not illegally segregated according to race, defeated his substantive right to be considered for appointment regardless of his race.
II
Although § 544.2 does not require every review committee to have a minority member, it places on the official designating the committee the responsibility of making “every effort” to select such a member. Moreover, in the absence of a qualified minority employee at the local level, “members must be furnished by the next-higher organizational unit, where available.”16
Drawing on principles explained in Furn-co Construction Co. v. Waters, 438 U.S. 567, 575-78, 98 S.Ct. 2943, 2948-50, 57 L.Ed.2d 957 (1978), “a sensible, orderly way to evaluate the evidence,”17 on this issue is as follows: (1) When a qualified, minority employee proves that a review committee was composed only of white males, (2) the Postal Service must articulate some legitimate, nondiscriminatory explanation for the absence of a minority member — that is, despite reasonable efforts to secure such a member, none was available. (3) The burden then shifts to the employee to establish that the “proffered justification is merely a pretext for discrimination.” 438 U.S. at 578, 98 S.Ct. at 2950. To carry his burden, the employee must prove discriminatory motive which can be established by either direct or circumstantial evidence as well as by inference. Teamsters v. United States, 431 U.S. 324, 335 n.15, 97 S.Ct. 1843, 1854 n.15, 52 L.Ed.2d 396 (1977); McDonnell Douglas Corp. v. Green, 411 U.S. 792, 804-05, 93 S.Ct. 1817, 1825, 36 L.Ed.2d 668 (1973).
With regard to the PES-17 committee, the district court found that at the local level there was no black employee of suffi*237cient rank qualified to serve. Page asserts that this finding should be set aside because the postmaster testified that he would have furnished a black station master had he been asked to do so. Page’s argument must be rejected because the Postal Service presented testimony that station masters, although of sufficient rank, lack the necessary experience. Page did not show that this explanation was a pretext. Applying the analysis adopted from Furnco, the district court’s finding must be accepted.
The designating officer’s duty, however, was not discharged by simply canvassing the local level. Section 544.2 obliged him to secure a minority member from the next higher organizational unit, where available. The record does not disclose, and the Postal Service does not contend, that any effort was made to obtain a black employee from the next higher level. Since the Service has articulated no reasonable explanation for not selecting a minority member from a next higher organizational unit, it is apparent that it has not satisfied step 2 of the modified Furnco analysis. The Postal Service therefore did not comply with § 544.2 when the PES-17 committee was named.
The district court’s findings and conclusions concerning the composition of the second PES-18 committee are based largely on the administrative hearing transcript and the decision of the appeals examiner which were made a part of the record of this civil action. The administrative record discloses that a black employee from Richmond and another from Norfolk were qualified to serve on review committees. The Postal Service offered an explanation for the absence of the Richmond employee, which Page did not show was a pretext. The Service satisfied the modified Furnco analysis, and we find no failure to comply with § 544.2 because the Richmond employee was not designated to serve on the committee.
The examiner noted that neither Page nor the Postal Service had offered evidence to show the availability of the Norfolk employee, who also was from the local level. The examiner ruled against Page on this point. This ruling was erroneous. It is undisputed that the PES-18 committee was composed of white males. Consequently, the burden was on the Service, not Page, to articulate some legitimate explanation why the Norfolk employee had not been selected.
Furthermore, when the black employee from the Eastern Regional Office became unable to serve on the PES-18 committee, a white employee was substituted. At the administrative hearing, the Postal Service offered no explanation for the substitution of a white employee when the designating officer specifically had requested a black employee in order to comply with § 544.2. There is no suggestion in the administrative record that another black employee from the Regional Office was not available. The examiner’s ruling against Page on this point was erroneous. The substitution of a white employee for the black committee member, absent some reasonable explanation for the change in the racial composition of the committee, does not satisfy step 2. of the modified Furnco analysis. At the de novo hearing, the Postal Service did not supplement the record to remedy the deficiencies of its position at the PJES-18 administrative hearing. Therefore, the district court’s reliance on the administrative record and decision was misplaced.
The Postal Service did not comply with § 544.2. The review committees, which weighed the relevant qualifications of Page and the successful appointees for the PES-17 and 18 positions, were constituted improperly with respect to race.
Ill
Once it is concluded that the Postal Service assembled racially segregated review committees in violation of anti-discrimination regulations which had the force of law, it is a simple matter to fit that conclusion into the traditional McDonnell Douglas formula. The district court found, and the Postal Service now concedes, that Page proved a prima facie case of discrimination in accordance with the familiar McDonnell Douglas analysis. In Texas Department of *238Community Affairs v. Burdine, - U.S. -,---, 101 S.Ct. 1089, 1092-95, 67 L.Ed.2d 207 (1981), the Court reviewed the allocation of burdens and order of presentation of proof prescribed by McDonnell Douglas. In the following terms it explained the defendant’s obligation after the plaintiff had proved a prima facie case:
The burden that shifts to the defendant, therefore, is to rebut the presumption of discrimination by producing evidence that the plaintiff was rejected, or someone else was preferred, for a legitimate, nondiscriminatory reason. The defendant need not persuade the court that it was actually motivated by the proffered reasons.... It is sufficient if the defendant’s evidence raises a genuine issue of fact as to whether it discriminated against the plaintiff. To accomplish this, the defendant must clearly set forth, through the introduction of admissible evidence, the reasons for the plaintiff’s rejection. The explanation provided must be legally sufficient to justify a judgment for the defendant. If the defendant carries this burden of production, the presumption raised by the prima facie case is rebutted, and the factual inquiry proceeds' to a new level of specificity.
The Postal Service failed to satisfy this test. Its explanation for deeming the white applicants superior to Page rested on the evaluation of the applicants by racially segregated review committees that were appointed in violation of the regulations governing their function. An employer’s reliance on the subjective judgment of individuals whose power to make an employment decision exists only by virtue of a flagrant disregard for mandatory anti-discrimination regulations cannot suffice as a legitimate non-discriminatory reason for the action. Since the Postal Service seeks to justify its action only by reliance upon its own unlawful conduct, Page’s prima facie case stands unrebutted. Under these circumstances, neither McDonnell Douglas nor Burdine requires Page to prove in addition that the ratings made by the illegally constituted committees were a pretext. He is entitled to prevail on the basis of his unre-butted prima facie case. See Burdine,-U.S. at-, 101 S.Ct. at 1095.
It is certainly true that nothing in Title VII prohibits an employer from relying on subjective criteria in taking personnel actions. Indeed, in employment decisions regarding supervisory-level personnel in government as well as in private business, subjective factors inevitably play a major role. Where subjective judgment forms the basis of an employment decision, however, discriminatory motive, an essential element of the cause of action, is particularly difficult to unearth. In such instances safeguards designed to protect the integrity of the decision making process take on paramount significance.
It is precisely for this reason that § 544.2 of the Postal Service Personnel Handbook came into being. Through § 544.2 Congress and the Service have defined the “legitimate” procedure for subjective decision making. The court should enforce that congressional and administrative judgment by refusing to consider the subjective judgment of an unlawfully constituted review committee as a legitimate reason for a personnel action. To do anything less is to eviscerate the protection provided by Title VII to those whose abilities and aspirations have led them to the higher levels of government service. Because the evidence established that the Service failed to comply with the Handbook, the court should recognize the compelling inference that impartiality, which Congress and the agency sought to assure, has been frustrated.
The allocation of burdens of proof and the order of presentation of evidence explained in McDonnell Douglas and clarified in Burdine were not designed to jettison regulations governing promotions. On the contrary, the analysis of proof prescribed by these cases is appropriate for enforcing the substantive rights granted by Title VII through application of procedural regulations formulated to eradicate discrimination. This does not mean that a Title VII plaintiff will automatically prevail whenever an employer violates an anti-discrimina*239tion regulation at any step in the decision making process. It simply requires the employer to articulate a justification for his actions that does not depend on the tainted procedures.
The judgment of the district court should be reversed, and this case should be remanded with directions to grant Page appropriate relief.18

. Wright v. National Archives, 609 F.2d 702, 718-19 (4th Cir. 1979) (Butzner, J., dissenting), refers to the legislative history in which Congress concluded that the government had failed “to pursue its policy of equal opportunity.”

. Postal Service, Personnel Handbook P-11, TL-4 (Dec. 31, 1975).

. Id. § 544.3-1.

. Id. § 544.1-2.

. 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-16.

. These regulations have been codified in 5 C.F.R. §§ 713.201 to 713.643 (1978).

. 5 C.F.R. § 713.203.

. 5 C.F.R. § 713.203(b).

. 5 C.F.R. § 713.204.

. 39 C.F.R. § 211.2(a).

. Section 544.2 of the Handbook is designated as (I C(4) of the Guide. A Postal Service employee testified that the Guide was initially issued in 1973. He added that prior to its issuance there had been “many accusations of favoritism in the selection of people for promotion.”

. Pub.L.No.92-261, 86 Stat. 103 (March 24, 1972), 42 U.S.C. § 2000e et seq. (1972).

. 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-16. See text at n.8, supra.

. 5 C.F.R. §§ 713.203 and 713.204. See text at nn.9-12, supra.

. 39 C.F.R. § 211.2(a)(3). See text at n.13, supra.

. See text at n.4, supra.

. The Court pointed out that the allocation of the burden of proof was never intended to be “rigid, mechanized or ritualistic. Rather, it is merely a sensible, orderly way to evaluate the evidence in light of common experience as it bears on the critical question of discrimination.” 438 U.S. at 577, 98 S.Ct. at 2949. Although Fumco and its antecedent, McDonnell Douglas Corp. v. Green, 411 U.S. 792, 93 S.Ct. 1817, 36 L.Ed.2d 668 (1973), dealt with a different factual issue, we believe their method of analysis, modified to reflect the facts, is appropriate here. See Fumco, 438 U.S. at 575-76, 98 S.Ct. 2948-49. “Presumptions shifting the burden of proof are often created to reflect judicial evaluations of probabilities and to conform with a party’s superior access to the proof.” Teamsters v. United States, 431 U.S. 324, 358 and 359 n.45, 97 S.Ct. 1843, 1866 and 1867 n.45, 52 L.Ed.2d 396 (1977).

. The superseded panel opinion outlined the nature of the relief to which Page was entitled without “bumping” the successful applicants who were innocent of any complicity in the Postal Service’s illegal designation of review committees. Page v. Bolger, No. 78-1792, slip op. at 17-21 (4th Cir. Dec. 19, 1979).