Court Opinion

ID: 9925673
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2024-01-22 19:00:49.513081+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:21:23.446683
License: Public Domain

In the

    United States Court of Appeals
                For the Seventh Circuit
                    ____________________
No. 22-2433
CATHERINE ERDMAN,
                                                Plaintiff-Appellant,
                                 v.

CITY OF MADISON,
                                               Defendant-Appellee.
                    ____________________

        Appeal from the United States District Court for the
                   Western District of Wisconsin.
        No. 3:16-cv-00786-wmc — William M. Conley, Judge.
                    ____________________

  ARGUED SEPTEMBER 14, 2023 — DECIDED JANUARY 22, 2024
                ____________________

   Before ROVNER, HAMILTON, and BRENNAN, Circuit Judges.
    HAMILTON, Circuit Judge. Title VII of the Civil Rights Act
of 1964 prohibits sex discrimination in hiring, but it allows the
use of selection criteria that are tied suﬃciently to the actual
job demands even if those criteria may have disparate impacts
on women and men. See 42 U.S.C. § 2000e–2(h) & (k). Fighting
ﬁres is one of the most physically demanding jobs around.
Tests of physical abilities for ﬁreﬁghters have been the subject
of both study and Title VII litigation. This case is an example.
2                                                      No. 22-2433

    Plaintiﬀ Catherine Erdman applied to work as a ﬁreﬁghter
for the city of Madison, Wisconsin. She was eliminated from
the ﬁre department’s 2014 recruitment class after failing to
achieve a minimum qualifying score in the ﬁnal event of the
department’s Physical Abilities Test (which we call “the Mad-
ison test”). Erdman ﬁled this civil action against the city
claiming that the Madison test has a disparate impact on
women in violation of Title VII. After a bench trial, the district
court found that Erdman had failed to prove her claim that
the department’s physical abilities test violated Title VII. Erd-
man v. City of Madison, 615 F. Supp. 3d 889 (W.D. Wis. 2022).
    The district court found that Erdman had shown the
Madison test had a prima facie disparate impact on women.
The court also found, however, that the Madison test was job-
related and served the city’s legitimate needs. The court also
found that Erdman had failed to prove that her proposed
alternative hiring practice would serve the city’s legitimate
needs. The use of the Madison physical abilities test to
disqualify Erdman thus did not violate Title VII. We aﬃrm.
I. Factual And Procedural Background
    A. The Madison Fire Department’s Hiring
    The Madison ﬁre department employs approximately 365
ﬁreﬁghters. The department uses a formal recruitment pro-
cess to hire new ﬁreﬁghters. The hiring process consists of ﬁve
stages: (1) an application screening for minimum qualiﬁca-
tions; (2) a written test; (3) a physical abilities test; (4) an oral
examination before a panel of examiners; and (5) an interview
with the chief.
    Plaintiﬀ Catherine Erdman has been a ﬁreﬁghter for the
city of Janesville, Wisconsin, since 2007. She applied for a
No. 22-2433                                                  3

position with the Madison ﬁre department in the 2014 hiring
process but did not pass the Madison physical abilities test.
She alleges that the Madison physical abilities test caused the
city to discriminate against her on the basis of sex.
    A total of 1,887 applicants participated in the 2014 hiring
process. Of these, 1,723 were men, 146 were women, and 18
were not clearly identiﬁed in records by gender. Four hun-
dred and ninety-nine applicants appeared to take the Madi-
son physical ability test — 471 men and 28 women. Of these,
404 applicants — 395 men, four women, and ﬁve not clearly
identiﬁed — successfully completed the test. Ultimately that
year, the department hired all four women who passed the
Madison test, as well as thirteen men. Overall in 2014, 14 % of
Madison ﬁreﬁghters were women. In 2018, 10.8% were
women. Both numbers were well above the national average
of about 4% female ﬁreﬁghters.
      1. The 2014 Madison Physical Abilities Test
   The posting for Madison’s 2014 ﬁreﬁghter recruitment
identiﬁed the following physical requirements for working as
a ﬁreﬁghter:
      While not an exclusive list, the following exam-
      ples are meant to illustrate some of the extreme
      physical demands and working conditions in-
      herent in the role of a ﬁreﬁghter.
      Physical Demands
      1. Pick up and advance charged ﬁre hoses.*
      2. Force entry with axe/battering ram.*
      3. Rescue/extricate victim(s).*
      4. Perform CPR; apply bandages.
4                                                  No. 22-2433

      5. Climb stairs carrying heavy equipment,
         while wearing ﬁreﬁghter protective clothing
         that weighs in excess of 50 pounds.*
      6. Strip and vent roofs, breach walls, overhaul
         burned buildings.*
      7. Lift and climb/descend ladders (with vic-
         tims).*
      8. Visually determine ﬁre status/hazards; as-
         sess patient conditions.
      9. Hear calls for help; identify ﬁre noise, etc.
      10. Walk on roof tops under adverse conditions.
      11. Operate power tools and extrication equip-
          ment; tie knots.
      12. Stoop, crawl, crouch, and kneel in conﬁned
          spaces.*
      13. Reach, twist, balance, grapple, bend and lift
          under emergency conditions.
      14. Run, dodge, jump and maneuver with
          equipment.*
      15. All of the above may be performed wearing
          heavy and restrictive protective cloth-
          ing/gear in excess of 50 pounds.*
Each task marked by an asterisk was assessed in the 2014
Madison test. That test consisted of seven events: (1) equip-
ment shuttle; (2) ladder event; (3) hose drag; (4) sledgeham-
mer event; (5) search; (6) rescue; and (7) pike pole.
   The seven events had to be completed in order, but they
were timed and scored separately. To explain the issues on
No. 22-2433                                                    5

appeal, we must explain scoring for the test. Each event was
assigned both a so-called “cut score” and a lower “minimally
acceptable score.” To pass the test, the applicant had to
achieve the higher “cut score” in at least ﬁve of the seven
events. To pass the entire test, the applicant also had to
achieve at least the minimally acceptable score in each of the
seven events.
       2. Erdman’s Application History
    Erdman entered ﬁreﬁghting ﬁrst as a volunteer in
Poynette, Wisconsin, and then, in 2007, as a full-time ﬁre-
ﬁghter in Janesville, Wisconsin. At Janesville, in a 90-person
ﬁre department, she was promoted several times. After being
nominated by her peers and chosen by the ﬁre chief, she re-
ceived the Janesville Fireﬁghter of the Year award in 2014. At
the time of the trial in 2018, she had been deployed to about
230 ﬁres, about 60 to 65 of which were structure ﬁres.
   Erdman has applied for a position with the Madison ﬁre
department in every hiring cycle since 2006. She failed the
written examination on ﬁve occasions, in 2006, 2008, 2010,
2012, and 2018. During the 2014 cycle, Erdman passed the
written examination and proceeded to the next step, the Mad-
ison physical abilities test.
   Erdman met the cut score and received points for ﬁve of
the seven events: equipment shuttle, hose drag, sledgeham-
mer event, search, and rescue. While Erdman did not meet the
cut score for the ladder event, she nevertheless attained the
minimum acceptable score required to avoid disqualiﬁcation.
Whether she passed or failed the entire test came down to the
ﬁnal event, the pike pole test. In this event, the applicant must
use a pole with a hook on it ﬁrst to simulate breaching a
6                                                    No. 22-2433

ceiling from below to look for hidden ﬂames, and then pulling
down ceiling material.
    The minimum acceptable score for that event was 16 rep-
etitions in the time allowed. Erdman completed only 12 repe-
titions. That score eliminated her from the 2014 hiring pro-
cess. If she had met the pike pole event’s minimally acceptable
score of 16, she would have passed the entire test and moved
on to the next stage in the hiring process.
       3. The Alternative: The IAFF Candidate Physical Abilities
          Test
    Erdman contends that a diﬀerent physical abilities test
would have had less disparate impact on female applicants
but would have suﬃciently served the city’s purpose in test-
ing applicants’ physical abilities to work as ﬁreﬁghters. As her
alternative, Erdman proposes the Candidate Physical Abili-
ties Test. It is licensed by the International Association of Fire
Fighters (IAFF) and used as a screening tool for many ﬁre de-
partments across the nation. The test was developed in con-
junction with ten ﬁre departments in North America, includ-
ing New York City, Indianapolis, and Austin, Texas.
    The district court heard detailed evidence on the similari-
ties and diﬀerences between the Madison test and the IAFF
test. The IAFF test contains eight component parts, seven of
which are identical or similar to events in the Madison test.
    Diﬀerences include the method of timing each test. The
IAFF test requires applicants to complete all events within a
designated total time but does not put a time limit on individ-
ual events. The Madison test times each event separately. The
IAFF test also allows candidates several chances to pass the
test. A candidate may take the test up to three times, and he
No. 22-2433                                                                  7

or she must pass only once. In the Madison recruiting process,
each applicant has only one chance to pass the Madison phys-
ical ability test. 1
   Another diﬀerence involves the pike pole event that dis-
qualiﬁed Erdman in 2014. In the IAFF test, as an applicant
performs the “pull” portion of the test, she is allowed to stand
directly under the point where she has hooked her pole. In the
Madison test, applicants can stand directly under the hook
point to push up, but they must move 18 inches back when
completing the “pull” portion of the test.
    Since at least 2013, the Madison ﬁre department has been
aware of the IAFF test, considered it, and decided to continue
using its own test. The district court found that the IAFF test
has less of a disparate impact on women than the Madison
test. On appeal, the city does not challenge that ﬁnding, at
least as applied to the entire test. But the district court agreed
with the city that the IAFF test would not adequately serve
the legitimate needs of Madison’s ﬁre department. For in-
stance, the city argued that if the department had oﬀered the

    1 As a result of a 2006 conciliation agreement between the Equal Em-

ployment Opportunity Commission and the International Association of
Firefighters, takers of the IAFF test are also afforded practice sessions in
the weeks before the test that offer candidates hands-on experience with
testing equipment under the guidance of trainers who coach candidates
on how to successfully complete the component tasks of the test. To the
extent that one’s success with a task-oriented physical abilities test like the
Madison test or IAFF test depends on technique as well as physical
strength, these practice sessions provide a concrete benefit to any candi-
date, male or female. But Erdman’s expert witness, Professor Arthur Welt-
man, was unaware of any study documenting that female candidates ben-
efit more from pre-testing practice and training than do their male coun-
terparts. R. 67 at 27–28.
8                                                   No. 22-2433

IAFF test’s required training to the nearly 500 applicants who
performed the Madison test in 2014, it would have resulted in
signiﬁcant cost and overtime expense. The district court also
agreed with the city that, unlike the IAFF test, “certain ele-
ments of the [Madison test] were designed speciﬁcally for
Madison, in light of characteristics of the city, the Depart-
ment’s equipment or other considerations, including safety.”
    B. Procedural History
    After discovery, both sides moved for summary judg-
ment. The district court granted summary judgment to the
city on one issue raised on appeal, Erdman’s ability to recover
back pay and front pay, but we need not reach that issue. The
district court denied summary judgment on the remaining is-
sues presented in this appeal, and the parties proceeded to
trial.
    After a bench trial, the district court found that Erdman
had failed to prove that the Madison test had a disparate im-
pact on female applicants in violation of Title VII. The court
found that the Madison test created a prima facie disparate
impact on women. Erdman’s claim failed, however, because
she did not show that her proposed alternative hiring prac-
tice, the IAFF test, would serve the department’s legitimate
needs as well as the Madison test.
II. Discussion
    After a district court makes ﬁndings of fact and conclu-
sions of law after a bench trial, we review legal conclusions de
novo and factual ﬁndings for clear error. Fed. R. Civ. P. 52(a);
Simon v. Cooperative Educational Service Agency #5, 46 F.4th 602,
606 (7th Cir. 2022), quoting Murdock & Sons Construction, Inc.
v. Goheen General Construction, Inc., 461 F.3d 837, 840 (7th Cir.
No. 22-2433                                                    9

2006). On clear-error review, a ﬁnding of fact is reversed “only
when the reviewing court on the entire evidence is left with
the deﬁnite and ﬁrm conviction that a mistake has been com-
mitted.” Coleman v. Comm’r of Internal Revenue, 16 F.3d 821, 826
(7th Cir. 1994), quoting Anderson v. City of Bessemer City, 470
U.S. 564, 573 (1985). For mixed questions of law and fact, our
standard of review depends on whether the inquiry “entails
primarily legal or factual work.” U.S. Bank N.A. v. Village at
Lakeridge, LLC, 583 U.S. 387, 396 (2018). We discuss the appli-
cable standards of review in more detail as we apply them to
the district court’s ﬁndings and conclusions and the parties’
arguments on appeal.
   A. Title VII’s Burden-Shifting Framework for Disparate
      Impact in Hiring Practices
    Title VII prohibits hiring practices that have a dispropor-
tionate adverse impact on job applicants with protected char-
acteristics such as sex or race, even in the absence of discrim-
inatory intent. Ernst v. City of Chicago, 837 F.3d 788, 794 (7th
Cir. 2016) (speaking in terms of “employees” but also apply-
ing statute to applicants); see 42 U.S.C. § 2000e–2(a)(2); Griggs
v. Duke Power Co., 401 U.S. 424 (1971) (“individual” applies to
applicants who assert disparate impact in hiring).
    To prove disparate impact, a plaintiﬀ must show that a
particular hiring practice had an adverse impact on applicants
with a protected characteristic, such as sex. § 2000e–
2(k)(1)(A)(i); Ernst, 837 F.3d at 796. As part of the prima facie
case, the plaintiﬀ-applicant must also show that the chal-
lenged hiring practice causes the discriminatory impact, typ-
ically by oﬀering “statistical evidence … suﬃcient to show
that the practice in question has caused the exclusion of ap-
plicants … because of their membership in a protected
10                                                    No. 22-2433

group.” Watson v. Fort Worth Bank & Trust, 487 U.S. 977, 994
(1988).
    If a job applicant makes a prima facie showing of disparate
impact, an employer can defend by showing that: (1) the chal-
lenged practice does not cause the disparate impact, § 2000e–
2(k)(B)(ii); or (2) the practice is job-related for the position and
consistent with business necessity. § 2000e–2(k)(1)(A)(i); see
generally Griggs, 401 U.S. at 431 (explaining disparate impact
test). If the employer can show that the practice is job-related
for the position and consistent with business necessity, the
burden shifts back to the applicant to prove that the employer
refuses to adopt an alternative hiring practice that would re-
sult in less disparate impact and still serve the employer’s le-
gitimate needs. § 2000e–2(k)(1)(A)(ii) & (C); Ernst, 837 F.3d at
794.
    Erdman relies on this three-step burden-shifting frame-
work. After a bench trial, the district court found at step one
that Erdman had established her prima facie case that the
Madison test has a disparate impact on women. The court
found at the second step that the city showed the Madison test
was job-related and consistent with business necessity. At the
third step, Erdman needed to prove that the city refused to
adopt an alternative hiring practice (in this case, the IAFF test)
that would have less disparate impact and still serve the city’s
legitimate needs. The district court found that while the IAFF
test had less disparate impact on women, Erdman failed to
prove that it would serve the city’s legitimate needs as well as
the Madison test.
   On appeal, the city contests the district court’s ﬁnding that
Erdman proved her prima facie case of disparate impact. Erd-
man challenges the district court’s ﬁnding that the IAFF test
No. 22-2433                                                    11

fails to serve adequately the ﬁre department’s legitimate
needs. We consider each issue in turn.
   B. Prima Facie Case of Disparate Impact
    We begin at the ﬁrst step, Erdman’s prima facie case of
disparate impact. Although we aﬃrm at the third step, we
start with the ﬁrst because all three steps of Title VII’s burden-
shifting framework are logically intertwined. The parties
dispute whether the proper unit of analysis for the prima facie
disparate impact is the entire Madison test or just the
particular event that disqualiﬁed Erdman, the pike pole event.
The answer determines the scope of the practice the city had
to justify at the second step and the alternative hiring practice
Erdman needed to oﬀer at the third step.
    At step one in a disparate impact case, the applicant must
show that the employer “uses a particular employment prac-
tice that causes a disparate impact” on an impermissible basis.
§ 2000e–2(k)(1)(A)(i); see Ernst, 837 F.3d at 796. Erdman as-
serts that the Madison test in its entirety has an illegal dispar-
ate impact on female applicants. The city argues that the anal-
ysis must focus more narrowly, on only the speciﬁc part of the
Madison test that disqualiﬁed plaintiﬀ. Of the seven women
who reached the pike pole event in the 2014 Madison test, six
passed; only Erdman was disqualiﬁed. Seeing no proof of dis-
parate impact speciﬁc to just the pike pole event, the city ar-
gues that Erdman has not made her prima facie showing.
    The city concedes on appeal that the Madison test as a
whole shows a statistically signiﬁcant disparate impact on fe-
male applicants. In 2014, the pass rate for women who ap-
peared to take the test was 14% (4 out of 28), while the pass
rate for men who appeared to take the test was 84% (395/471).
12                                                  No. 22-2433

The disqualiﬁcation rate for women who appeared to take the
test and did not quit (20/25) was more than seven times the
disqualiﬁcation rate of men who appeared to take the test and
did not quit (49/458). Whether the “particular employment
practice” at issue is the entire Madison physical abilities test
or just the pike pole event will resolve the issue of Erdman’s
prima facie case. The district court held that the entire Madi-
son test was the proper unit of analysis. We agree.
       1. The City’s Procedural Problem
    On appeal, the city has framed this issue as a challenge to
the district court’s denial of summary judgment, not the ﬁnd-
ings after trial. That’s a problem. Denial of summary judg-
ment “is an interlocutory matter subsumed by a ﬁnal judg-
ment. … After trial, the summary judgment denial is ancient
history and not subject to appeal.” Empress Casino Joliet Corp.
v. Balmoral Racing Club, Inc., 831 F.3d 815, 823–24 (7th Cir.
2016). The Supreme Court has recently recognized an excep-
tion for pure issues of law, Dupree v. Younger, 598 U.S. 729,
735–36 (2023), but the prima facie case presents a mixed ques-
tion of law and fact. We can review a denial of summary judg-
ment on a mixed question only if the party appealing the de-
nial ﬁled motions for judgment as a matter of law and re-
newed judgment as a matter of law after trial. Empress Casino,
831 F.3d at 823, citing Ortiz v. Jordan, 562 U.S. 180, 189–90
(2011).
    Here, the city did not ﬁle either motion, abandoning its
path to challenge as of right the district court’s ﬁnal judgment
on this prima facie issue. Given the lack of any reference to
Dupree or the ﬁnal-order doctrine in the city’s brief, this seems
to have been at least initially an inadvertent forfeiture by the
city. At oral argument, the city defended its choice to
No. 22-2433                                                    13

challenge the district court’s denial of summary judgment un-
der Dupree as an appeal of a pure legal issue, making the city’s
actions seem more akin to waiver.
    Whether the issue was waived or forfeited, however, a fea-
ture of this case leads us to reach the merits of the challenge.
As we recently explained, “[w]hether a waived issue can be
addressed ‘is one left primarily to the discretion of the courts
of appeals, to be exercised on the facts of individual cases.’”
Walker v. Baldwin, 74 F.4th 878, 883 (7th Cir. 2023), quoting Sin-
gleton v. Wulﬀ, 428 U.S. 106, 121 (1976). “[T]he refusal to con-
sider arguments not raised is a sound prudential practice, ra-
ther than a statutory or constitutional mandate, and there are
times when prudence dictates the contrary.” Davis v. United
States, 512 U.S. 452, 464 (1994) (Scalia, J., concurring). Though
such exercises of discretion are “rare,” see Mahran v. Advocate
Christ Medical Center, 12 F.4th 708, 713 (7th Cir. 2021), in this
case it would be most prudent to address the merits of the
city’s argument on the scope of a “particular employment
practice.”
    Doing so here does not contradict the purposes of the
party presentation principle. That principle “ensures that the
opposing party has an opportunity to reﬂect upon and
respond in writing to the arguments that his adversary is
raising.” Berkman v. Vanihel, 33 F.4th 937, 947 n.45 (7th Cir.
2022). Here, the prima facie case was fully litigated in the
district court, and Erdman could and did address it
adequately (and persuasively) on appeal in her reply brief.
Most important, the proper scope of a “particular
employment practice” is entwined with plaintiﬀ’s burden to
prove an adequate “alternative hiring practice” at the last step
of Title VII’s burden-shifting framework. It would be
14                                                  No. 22-2433

burdensome for these and similarly situated parties to require
them to litigate business justiﬁcations and alternative hiring
practices when the proper scope of the case remains in such
doubt. We exercise our discretion to reach the merits of the
prima facie case.
       2. The Prima Facie Case for a Disparate Impact
    The prima facie case presents a mixed question of law and
fact. Whether the Madison test as a whole or its components
constitute a “particular employment practice” requires the
courts to “interpret[] the legal signiﬁcance of a unique series”
of physical ability testing events. See § 2000e–2(k)(1)(A)(i);
Straits Financial LLC v. Ten Sleep Cattle Co., 900 F.3d 359, 368
(7th Cir. 2018) (review of mixed questions of law and fact).
The district court’s conclusion that the proper unit of analysis
was the Madison test as a whole was tied closely to the facts
of this case. We apply clear-error review to the case-speciﬁc
conclusions while also “taking care not to defer to the district
court’s judgment where it eﬀectively announced new legal
rules that would govern future cases.” Straits Financial, 900
F.3d at 368.
    We look ﬁrst to the district court’s analysis of precedent on
the meaning of a “particular employment practice” in 42
U.S.C. § 2000e–2(k)(1)(A)(i). Because adopting this portion of
the district court’s reasoning would govern future cases and
because our review entails primarily legal work rather than
factual work, we review de novo. See Village at Lakeridge, 583
U.S. at 396. We agree with the district court that nothing in
Watson or any other binding case law requires a plaintiﬀ to
isolate a particular component of a physical ability test or
similar multi-component test as a “particular employment
practice” for a disparate impact claim. See Watson, 487 U.S. at
No. 22-2433                                                     15

994 (“identifying the speciﬁc employment practice … has
been relatively easy to do in challenges to standardized
tests”).
   As the district court explained, the city’s event-by-event
analysis is not supported by precedent:
      [N]either the parties nor this court in its own re-
      search could ﬁnd a case analyzing whether a
      “particular employment practice” must be lim-
      ited to the particular component of a physical
      abilities test or of a similar multi-component
      test. [Other] courts evaluating similar cases in-
      volving [physical ability tests] appear to have
      uniformly considered the entire [test] as an in-
      divisible hiring practice. See, e.g., Pietras v. Bd. of
      Fire Comm’rs of Farmingville Fire Dist., 180 F.3d
      468, 475 (2d Cir. 1999) (comparing pass rate for
      women and pass rate for men on [physical abil-
      ities test] as a whole); Arndt v. City of Colorado
      Springs, 263 F. Supp. 3d 1071, 1075 (D. Colo.
      2017) (requirement that all sworn oﬃcers pass
      [physical abilities test] annually was a speciﬁc
      employment practice); cf. Ernst, 837 F.3d at 796
      (“[P]hysical-skills entrance test has an adverse
      impact on women[.]”).
Erdman v. City of Madison, No. 16-cv-786-wmc, 2018 WL
4496308, at *6 (W.D. Wis. Sept. 19, 2018). The parties have not
cited such a case to us, either, nor have we found one in our
own research.
   The city argues that Title VII’s text forbids plaintiﬀs from
focusing on a broader decision-making process if that process
16                                                  No. 22-2433

is composed of discrete parts that are capable of separation.
The city relies on language in § 2000e–2(k)(1)(B)(i): “if the
complaining party can demonstrate to the court that the ele-
ments of a respondent’s decisionmaking process are not capa-
ble of separation for analysis, the decisionmaking process
may be analyzed as one employment practice.” See also Davis
v. Cintas Corp., 717 F.3d 476, 497 (6th Cir. 2013) (plaintiﬀ must
show that hiring system’s “many steps were so intertwined
that they were not capable of separation for analysis”).
    The statute’s text tells us that separability is plaintiﬀ’s
burden, but the text does not specify features that render a
decision-making process, in the language of § 2000e–
2(k)(1)(B)(i), “capable of separation.” Davis does not help the
city because the plaintiﬀ in Davis “did not explain why the
well-deﬁned, discrete elements” of that hiring system were
“not capable of separation for analysis.” 717 F.3d at 497.
Because the plaintiﬀ there failed to carry even her burden of
production on separability, the court had no occasion to state
or apply a test for when multiple steps in a hiring process
were “so intertwined that they were not capable of separation
for analysis.” Id.
    But here, as the district court noted, Erdman raised strong
legal and factual arguments to support analyzing the entire
Madison test as a singular “hiring practice.” Because the ques-
tion of separability is fact-bound, we review the district
court’s analysis of separability for clear error. We agree with
the district court that plaintiﬀ demonstrated that the Madison
test is not separable for analysis into its discrete elements.
    On appeal, the city leans heavily on one district court case
to show that courts can “successfully analyze[ ]” a single com-
ponent of a multi-part physical ﬁtness test. See Easterling v.
No. 22-2433                                                     17

State of Connecticut, 783 F. Supp. 2d. 323 (D. Conn. 2011). The
physical ﬁtness test challenged in Easterling consisted of four
separately timed and scored components: a sit-and-reach test,
a one-minute sit-up test, a one-minute push-up test, and a
timed 1.5-mile run. 783 F. Supp. 2d. at 326. Based on Easter-
ling, the city urges us to adopt as a rule that if subcomponents
of a particular multi-component test are timed or scored sep-
arately, they are capable of separation and must be analyzed
individually for disparate impact.
   But as Erdman notes, in Easterling, the plaintiﬀ chose to
challenge only the timed 1.5-mile-run element of a physical
ﬁtness test. In that case, neither party even suggested that the
analysis ought to be conducted at the level of the whole test.
The issue here—whether to separate the physical ﬁtness test’s
diﬀerent events—was not presented to the court, nor did the
court discuss it.
    Even if we treated Easterling as a meaningful holding on
the separability of the multi-part test at issue in that case, that
ﬁtness test was distinct from the Madison test in ways that
weigh against separability here. The employer-defendant in
Easterling said that each element of its test measured distinct,
non-overlapping physical abilities: respectively, (1) “ﬂexibil-
ity of the lower back and upper leg area,” (2) “muscular en-
durance of the abdominal muscles,” (3) “muscular endurance
of the chest, upper arms and shoulders (upper body dynamic
strength),” and (4) “the heart and vascular system’s capability
to transport oxygen (cardiovascular endurance).”
    The Madison test, conversely, “focuses on job simulation
activities, rather than traditional exercise-based activities.”
That is, the Madison test does not test distinct physical capa-
bilities, but instead evaluates the sorts of activities ﬁreﬁghters
18                                                  No. 22-2433

might reasonably be expected to do on the job. Accordingly,
it requires participants to use the same muscle groups and el-
ements of physical ﬁtness repeatedly in a short time. One of
plaintiﬀ’s witnesses here, Madison Assistant Chief Popovich,
testiﬁed that by the time applicants reach the pike pole test,
“the seventh of seven stations,” they are usually “very, very
exhausted.” That evidence also helped persuade the district
court to deny summary judgment on the issue: the “combined
demands of all of the components of the [Madison test], which
are extremely physical and occur consecutively,” supported
treating the test as a single hiring practice. Erdman, 2018 WL
4496308, *7. After trial the district court stood by this reason-
ing. 615 F. Supp. 3d at 896. It has ample support in the record.
    The city’s proposed standard for separating multi-part
hiring tests strikes us as unduly simplistic. It would also tend
to undermine Title VII’s protections from disparate impacts
of hiring tests that are not justiﬁed in terms of business neces-
sity. Judge Conley recognized these dangers: “if multiple suc-
cessive components of the PAT are collectively discrimina-
tory, as plaintiﬀ claims they are, she need not demonstrate a
disparate impact as to the last component simply because she
succeeded in overcoming earlier discriminatory compo-
nents.” 2018 WL 4496308, *7. He added, “if an employer uses
a hiring practice that discriminatorily eliminates members of
the protected class at each event level, the employer may not
be shielded from liability because of the smaller sample size
at each successive event level.” Id.
   In a multi-part test, it may be that each individual compo-
nent eliminates only a small fraction of a minority group, but
with a cumulative eﬀect that excludes a signiﬁcant proportion
of minority applicants from employment. The city’s proposed
No. 22-2433                                                   19

standard for separability would encourage, or at least allow,
gamesmanship in structuring multi-element tests to limit the
set of plaintiﬀs who could bring discrimination challenges. In
cases like this one, where poor performance on one subcom-
ponent can eliminate a candidate before she completes the en-
tire test, plaintiﬀs will inevitably face smaller sample sizes at
later stages of the test. Requiring plaintiﬀs to challenge only
the particular sub-component at which they failed could
make it nearly impossible for those challenging late-stage
events to meet their burden of proof even where the overall
eﬀect of the test imposes a heavy disparate impact on one
group compared to another.
    The limits of the city’s proposed rule are also unclear. Each
question on a written test, for example, is typically scored sep-
arately, and, as with the Madison test of physical ability, ag-
gregated to produce a total test score. Under the city’s logic,
plaintiﬀs could be required to bring a disparate impact chal-
lenge only to particular questions they answered incorrectly.
Yet we have often treated an entire written examination as a
“particular employment practice.” See Adams v. City of Chi-
cago, 469 F.3d 609, 610–11, 613 (7th Cir. 2006) (entire written
qualifying examination is “particular employment practice”);
Allen v. City of Chicago, 351 F.3d 306, 309, 312 (7th Cir. 2003)
(same); see also Pouncy v. Prudential Ins. Co. of America, 668
F.2d 795, 800–01 (5th Cir. 1982) (explaining why “disparate
impact analysis may be used to challenge aptitude and intel-
ligence tests” but not “entire range of employment prac-
tices”).
   The district court did not plainly err in holding that the
Madison test’s events are not separable for analysis, and con-
sequently, that the proper unit of analysis here was the test as
20                                                  No. 22-2433

a whole. Multi-part physical tests like the Madison ﬁre de-
partment’s test can be challenged as a “particular employ-
ment practice.” They should not be deemed “capable of sepa-
ration” within the meaning of Title VII merely because their
events are scored and timed separately. See § 2000e–
2(k)(1)(B)(i).
    The city acknowledges that if the correct unit of analysis is
the entire test, Erdman established her prima facie case of dis-
parate impact. We aﬃrm the district court’s holding that
plaintiﬀ proved her prima facie case of disparate impact.
     C. Less Discriminatory Alternative Employment Practice
    Erdman concedes that the city carried its second-step bur-
den to prove that the Madison test is “job-related for the po-
sition and consistent with business necessity.” On appeal, she
challenges only the district court’s adverse third-step ﬁnding
that the IAFF test is not an “available alternative employment
practice that has less disparate impact and serves the em-
ployer’s legitimate needs.” Ricci v. DeStefano, 557 U.S. 557, 578
(2009), citing 42 U.S.C. § 2000e–2(k)(1)(A)(ii) and (C).
    The city, for its part, chose not to dispute the district
court’s ﬁnding that the IAFF test has less disparate impact on
female applicants than the Madison test. And at trial, the city
did not dispute the general validity of the IAFF test. The city
built its defense on the theory that the IAFF test does not serve
the department’s unique legitimate needs—that is, the IAFF
test is not locally valid for the Madison ﬁre department.
   After trial, the district court found that the IAFF test
would not adequately serve the ﬁre department’s legitimate
needs. Because this is a factual question, we review for clear
error. Simon v. Cooperative Education Service Agency #5, 46 F.4th
No. 22-2433                                                     21

602, 606 (7th Cir. 2022). The district court did not clearly err in
the inferences it made based on the record at trial.
    To serve an employer’s “legitimate needs,” an alternative
hiring practice need not be exactly as eﬀective as the allegedly
discriminatory practice. The issue is whether the alternative
practice is “substantially equally valid.” Allen v. City of Chi-
cago, 351 F.3d 306, 312 (7th Cir. 2003), quoting 29 C.F.R.
§ 1607.3(B). A test is substantially equally valid if it “would
also serve the employer’s legitimate interest in eﬃcient and
trustworthy workmanship.” Allen, 351 F.3d at 312, quoting
Albemarle Paper Co. v. Moody, 422 U.S. 405, 425 (1975). Under
this standard, an alternative test is “substantially equally
valid” if it “would lead to a workforce [that is] substantially
equally qualiﬁed.” Allen, 351 F.3d at 314.
    Allen established what amounts to a minimum-
competency test. It is met if the plaintiﬀ can establish by a
preponderance of the evidence that the last person selected by
the alternative approach would be roughly as qualiﬁed as the
candidate with the lowest passing score using the current
hiring practice. Allen, 351 F.3d at 313 (“The oﬃcers eﬀectively
bear the burden of establishing that the last oﬃcer promoted
under an increased merit-based selection process would be
roughly as qualiﬁed as the oﬃcer with the current lowest
score on the assessment exercise.”); see also Ernst v. City of
Chicago, 837 F.3d at 804 (“[A] discriminatory cutoﬀ score on
an entry level employment examination must be shown to
measure the minimum qualiﬁcations necessary for successful
performance of the job.”), quoting Lanning v. Southeastern
Pennsylvania Transp. Auth., 308 F.3d 286, 287 (3d Cir. 2002).
   The relative eﬀectiveness of the challenged practice and
the proposed alternative in selecting a minimally qualiﬁed
22                                                  No. 22-2433

workforce is not the exclusive consideration for whether two
tests are “substantially equally valid.” Allen, 351 F.3d at 312.
Factors such as the cost or other burdens of proposed alterna-
tive selection methods are also relevant in determining
whether they would be substantially as eﬃcient as the chal-
lenged practice in serving the employer's legitimate business
goals. Watson v. Fort Worth Bank & Trust, 487 U.S. 977, 998
(1988). The Supreme Court has not oﬀered more speciﬁc guid-
ance for such comparisons. We consider the balancing of var-
ious burdens associated with an alternative hiring practice as
a mixed question of fact and law, subject to the standard of
review for mixed questions described above.
    The district court’s factual ﬁndings on the local validity of
the IAFF test for the Madison ﬁre department were not clearly
erroneous. As the district court noted, “plaintiﬀ bears the bur-
den to prove the [IAFF test] would serve the Madison Fire De-
partment’s legitimate needs.” 615 F. Supp. 3d at 900. The dis-
trict court found that Erdman did not put forth suﬃcient af-
ﬁrmative evidence on this point. She “simply points to the
[IAFF test], assuming that it would ﬁt Madison’s needs with-
out attempting to validate the test locally.” Id. at 899.
    Validating the test locally would require at least some
aﬃrmative evidence from Erdman showing that IAFF-test
candidates with the lowest passing scores would be “roughly
as qualiﬁed” as those who obtain the lowest passing score on
the Madison test. But to establish this point, Erdman points
primarily to trial testimony by a single defense expert who
was unable to give a reason why the IAFF test may not be
locally valid for the Madison ﬁre department. One expert’s
inability to answer that question is not aﬃrmative evidence to
No. 22-2433                                                  23

meet Erdman’s burden. It certainly does not mean the whole
record would require a ﬁnding that she met her burden.
   Erdman also relies upon the 2013 revalidation study of the
Madison test, which said in general terms that ﬁreﬁghters’
duties are “largely” the same, or “similar,” across ﬁre depart-
ments. These general observations would not have required
the district court to ﬁnd that the needs of the Madison ﬁre de-
partment are a suﬃciently close match to departments that
use the IAFF test. The district court was not obliged to agree
with Erdman on the IAFF test’s local validity based on her af-
ﬁrmative evidence.
    Even if Erdman had come forward with stronger aﬃrma-
tive evidence of the IAFF test’s validity as applied to Madison,
the city oﬀered substantial evidence to the contrary. At trial,
the city oﬀered (1) “speciﬁc arguments in support of the two
elements that plaintiﬀ asserts are unnecessary as compared to
the [IAFF test’s] alternative elements—the ladder and pike
pole,” and (2) “evidence of numerous burdens associated
with adopting the [IAFF test] as an alternative test.”
    The district court credited testimony regarding the time
spent by the city’s personnel and their expert consultants in
developing those two elements of the 2014 Madison test that
diﬀered from the IAFF test. The city provided evidence that
“those elements of the test were speciﬁcally designed to rep-
licate the tasks Madison ﬁreﬁghters would be expected to ex-
ecute in light of the equipment available to the Department at
that time and of concerns about safety.”
    The district court’s decisions about the eﬀectiveness of and
the intent behind those two events required it to weigh credi-
bility and otherwise to weigh conﬂicting evidence. Such
24                                                    No. 22-2433

ﬁndings call for great deference to the district court. BRC Rub-
ber & Plastics, Inc. v. Continental Carbon Co., 981 F.3d 618, 622
(7th Cir. 2020), quoting Anderson v. City of Bessemer City, 470
U.S. 564, 575 (1985) (“[W]hen a trial judge’s ﬁnding is based
on his decision to credit the testimony of one of two or more
witnesses ... that ﬁnding, if not internally inconsistent, can vir-
tually never be clear error.”).
    As to the ladder event, city witnesses explained why, in
light of the equipment available to the department, a 20-foot
ladder was chosen and why the lifting element challenged by
the plaintiﬀ had been removed after 2014.
    For the pike pole test, the city also oﬀered testimony that
the requirement to stand 18 inches away from the ceiling be-
ing pulled down, rather than directly underneath it, reﬂects
best practices for the safety of ﬁreﬁghters. Plaintiﬀ did not
show that these design diﬀerences were ineﬀective or merely
pretextual. The district court’s ﬁnding that the IAFF test’s dif-
ferent version of these two events fails to serve the city’s legit-
imate needs is plausible in light of the entire record.
    We addressed above the plausible basis in the record for
the district court’s ﬁndings that “certain elements of the
[Madison test] were designed speciﬁcally for Madison, in
light of characteristics of the city, the Department’s equip-
ment or other considerations, including safety.” 615 F. Supp.
3d at 900. Other evidence indicated that the Madison test is “a
good predictor of outcome historically, as deﬁned by a high
passage rate out of the [ﬁre training] academy.” Id. Chief Da-
vis testiﬁed for the city that “very few people wash out be-
cause of physical ability.”
No. 22-2433                                                  25

    The evidence also permits an inference that the Madison
test does a better job than the IAFF test at screening out
applicants who are likely to wash out at later stages in the
training process. Other ﬁre departments have lower rates for
hiring and retaining female ﬁreﬁghters (presumably using the
IAFF test or others). Madison has a higher-than-average rate
of hiring and retaining female ﬁreﬁghters. Those diﬀerences
tend to support the district court’s ﬁnding that Erdman failed
to meet her burden at step three. After all, the ultimate
concern here is not with how far women progress in the hiring
process before being disqualiﬁed but with whether they can
ultimately be hired and hold the jobs on a fair and non-
discriminatory basis.
    Evidence showed that “many, many” departments
around the country use the IAFF test, which was developed
in conjunction with ten leading ﬁre departments in large cities
across North America. Yet the city also oﬀered evidence that
the Madison ﬁre department maintained a substantially
higher rate of female ﬁreﬁghters than the national average;
14% in Madison in 2014 as compared to a national average of
about 4%. The district court was careful to note that a “rela-
tively strong record of hiring women more generally when
compared to other ﬁre departments around the country” did
not excuse the Madison ﬁre department from considering an
alternative test. 615 F. Supp. 3d at 899. But even with this ca-
veat, the district court was still persuaded that the most plau-
sible inference was that Madison’s high rate of female ﬁre-
ﬁghters was traceable at least in part to the city’s use of its
physical ability test.
    We are not as conﬁdent as the district court that Madison’s
lesser training wash-out rate and higher retention rate for
26                                                   No. 22-2433

female candidates prove the Madison test is a better predictor
of women’s ability to train for and do the job successfully.
Other possibilities may explain Madison’s stronger record.
These may include the fact that Madison’s ﬁre department
was led by a woman for 16 years, that the city has a genuine
commitment to hiring more women, that it may have a work
environment that is welcoming to women, and provides role
models, mentoring, and support for newly-hired women that
may be missing in other cities. In a city the size of Madison,
having a 365-person ﬁreﬁghting corps that is 10-14% women
(36 to 51 women) rather than the 4% rate nationwide (14 or 15
women), may make the diﬀerence in whether a second or
third woman is assigned to any given ﬁre station or work
shift, as opposed to one woman isolated by herself. Such dif-
ferences matter to new hires in a historically male-dominated
profession.
    But the district court correctly described its logic on this
point as one “possible inference” from the record. Id. at 900.
Of course, on the city’s motion for summary judgment, plain-
tiﬀ Erdman as the non-movant was entitled to have the court
draw any reasonable factual inferences in her favor. Tolan v.
Cotton, 572 U.S. 650, 660 (2014). But not after the parties pre-
sented their evidence at trial. The district court was obliged to
draw what it thought were the best inferences from the rec-
ord. Again, we “must view the evidence in the entire record
in the light which is most favorable to the ﬁnding.” Mala-
chinski v. Comm’r of Internal Revenue, 268 F.3d 497, 505 (7th Cir.
2001) (internal citations omitted). On this record, both parties
are to one degree or another operating on certain unproven
assumptions. We apply a deferential standard of review to
mixed questions of law and fact, and recall that the burden at
this third stage of the analysis was on plaintiﬀ Erdman. We
No. 22-2433                                                                27

are reviewing ﬁndings after a bench trial, and because the dis-
trict court’s analysis of the record on this issue is plausible, we
                                                                2
must aﬃrm. BRC Rubber & Plastics, 981 F.3d at 622.
    “[I]t is the trier of fact, rather than an appellate court, that
resolves debatable factual issues…. It is enough to say that the
district judge’s handling of the disputes … is thoughtful and
reasonable.” Superl Sequoia Ltd. v. Carlson Co., 615 F.3d 831,
833 (7th Cir. 2010). Here, the district court’s analysis of these
issues was thoughtful and reasonable.
    The judgment of the district court is AFFIRMED.

    2 We do not necessarily agree with every step of the district court’s

reasoning. For example, the district court counted the need for a transfer-
ability study as a burden relevant to the IAFF test’s viability as an alterna-
tive hiring practice. We must not forget that at step three, we are consid-
ering whether a proposed alternative hiring practice would adequately
serve the employer’s legitimate needs. Ricci v. DeStefano, 557 U.S. 557, 578
(2009), citing 42 U.S.C. § 2000e–2(k)(1)(A)(ii) and (C). The purpose of a
transferability study is to assess whether the job duties and equipment of
Madison firefighters are sufficiently similar to those of the ten fire depart-
ments with whom the IAFF test was developed to ensure that the IAFF
test would produce candidates qualified to be firefighters in Madison. But
the substantial equivalence of the Madison and the IAFF test in producing
minimally qualified candidates is itself one of the facts Erdman must
prove to meet her third-step burden. Counting the need for and costs of a
transferability study as weighing against plaintiff’s proposed alternative
hiring practice seems to create a Catch-22. But even apart from the trans-
ferability study question, ample evidence supports the district court’s ul-
timate finding that Erdman failed to show the IAFF test would adequately
serve the city’s legitimate needs.