Court Opinion

ID: 9472369
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 03:58:21.179081+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:42:54.048735
License: Public Domain

HARRY T. EDWARDS, Circuit Judge,
concurring:
I am in full accord with the result reached in the majority opinion and with most of its rationale. I write separately to emphasize certain points concerning the parties’ burdens in a pattern and practice disparate treatment case. Although this *1297case presents a complex factual record, the controlling legal principles are clear. There is some potential for confusion only because there are several important and interrelated legal theories implicated in our analysis. Correctly understood, however, the majority opinion is not only consistent with Supreme Court precedent — it is in fact compelled by that precedent.
A. Introduction: Cataloguing Title VII Cases
As the majority correctly explains, a plaintiff in a Title VII action can prove liability under two theories: disparate treatment or disparate impact. A disparate treatment claim posits that the employer has intentionally treated the plaintiff less favorably than others because of the plaintiffs race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. International Brotherhood of Teamsters v. United States, 431 U.S. 324, 335 n. 15, 97 S.Ct. 1843, 1854 n. 15, 52 L.Ed.2d 396 (1977). In cases alleging class-wide disparate treatment, the plaintiffs’ case typically relies heavily on a statistical showing that comparably qualified members of the minority group and the majority group are treated unequally. If the statistical showing is strong enough, courts will infer a discriminatory motive from this disparity in treatment, because such a disparity is “the expected result of a regularly followed discriminatory policy.” Id. at 361 n. 46, 97 S.Ct. at 1867 n. 46. Cases of this sort are commonly referred to as “pattern and practice” cases because the "crux of the plaintiffs’ claim is that “discrimination was the company’s standard operating procedure—the regular rather than the unusual practice.” Id. at 336, 97 S.Ct. at 1855.
In a disparate impact case, the plaintiff need not establish discriminatory intent; the focus is on the consequences of an employer’s practices, rather than the underlying motive. Griggs v. Duke Power Co., 401 U.S. 424, 432, 91 S.Ct. 849, 854, 28 L.Ed.2d 158 (1971). Whether the claim of disparate impact is made in an individual suit or in classwide litigation, the court must determine whether the employer utilizes “employment practices that are facially neutral in their treatment of different groups but that in fact fall more harshly on one group than another and cannot be justified by business necessity.” Teamsters, 431 U.S. at 336 n. 15, 97 S.Ct. at 1854 n. 15. See also Albemarle Paper Co. v. Moody, 422 U.S. 405, 95 S.Ct. 2362, 45 L.Ed.2d 280 (1975); Griggs, 401 U.S. 424, 91 S.Ct. 849.
The Supreme Court has established different proof sequences in disparate treatment and disparate impact cases that reflect the functional differences between the two theories. In Texas Department of Community Affairs v. Burdine, 450 U.S. 248, 101 S.Ct. 1089, 67 L.Ed.2d 207 (1981), the Court explicated a scheme for individual disparate treatment cases that is designed “progressively to sharpen the inquiry into the elusive factual question of intentional discrimination.” Id. at 255 n. 8, 101 S.Ct. at 1094 n. 8. Although the burden of proving intentional discrimination remains at all times on the plaintiff, id. at 253, 101 S.Ct. at 1093, the Court recognized that there are three stages in the typical individual disparate treatment case:
First, the plaintiff has the burden of proving by the preponderance of the evidence a prima facie case of discrimination. Second, if the plaintiff succeeds in proving the prima facie case, the burden shifts to the defendant “to articulate some legitimate, nondiscriminatory reason for the employee’s rejection.” Third, should the defendant carry this burden, the plaintiff must then have an opportunity to prove by a preponderance of the evidence that the legitimate reasons offered by the defendant were not its true reasons, but were a pretext for discrimination.
Id. at 252-53, 101 S.Ct. at 1093 (citation omitted).
Discriminatory intent need not be proved in a disparate impact case, and the Court has not deemed it necessary to establish shifting intermediate burdens in such cases. Rather, a plaintiff proceeding on a disparate impact theory must prove that the specific employment practice in ques*1298tion “select[s] applicants for hire or promotion in a racial pattern significantly different from that of the pool of applicants." Albemarle Paper Co., 422 U.S. at 425, 95 S.Ct. at 2375. If this showing is made, the defendant can raise “business necessity" as an affirmative defense, and will prevail if successful in proving that the challenged employment practice has “a manifest relationship to the employment in question.” Griggs, 401 U.S. at 432, 91 S.Ct. at 854.
B. Pattern and Practice Cases Involving Mixed Claims of Discrimination
The plaintiffs in the instant case challenge the DEA’s employment system in its entirety and also challenge particular components of that system. In doing so, they allege both a pattern and practice disparate treatment claim and several disparate impact claims. This Circuit has not heretofore fully articulated the parties’ respective burdens in a pattern and practice disparate treatment case. Cf. McKenzie v. Sawyer, 684 F.2d 62, 71 n. 7 (D.C.Cir.1982) (noting that “it remains debatable whether the Burdine holding that the burden of persuasion remains with an individual plaintiff should be applied to a class action suit alleging disparate treatment”). In undertaking this task, we are mindful of the Supreme Court’s frequent reminders that its statements regarding the burdens of proof governing particular types of employment discrimination cases should not be interpreted as “inflexible formulation[s]” (Teamsters, 431 U.S. at 358, 97 S.Ct. at 1866 (discussing McDonnell Douglas Corp. v. Green, 411 U.S. 792, 93 S.Ct. 1817, 36 L.Ed.2d 668 (1973)) that are “necessarily applicable in every respect to differing factual situations.” McDonnell Douglas Corp., 411 U.S. at 802 n. 13, 93 S.Ct. at 1824 n. 13. See also Burdine, 450 U.S. at 252 n. 5 & 253-54 n. 6, 101 S.Ct. at 1093 n. 5 & 1094 n. 6. Nevertheless, the Court has now considered these burdens in a number of contexts and, in my view, its decisions provide a clear basis for articulating an approach in pattern and practice cases.
In applying the Court’s decisions to a pattern and practice case, it must be recognized that in some respects a pattern and practice case converges with a disparate impact case. Actions predicated on either theory involve attacks on the systemic results of employment practices. While the plaintiffs in a pattern and practice suit will focus on the intentional discrimination that is demonstrated by the operation of the system in its entirety, they also may make claims that particular components in the system have a disparate impact. Moreover, even if the plaintiffs do not concentrate on these components, the employer may deny its discriminatory intent by pointing to a specific, arguably nondiscriminatory, component as the cause of the observed disparity. Hence, either because of the plaintiffs’ allegations or because of the employer’s defense, the focus of a pattern and practice case may shift or broaden from disparate treatment analysis to include the issue of the employer’s liability for specific employment practices that have disparate effects.
As the Supreme Court has unequivocally dictated different approaches depending on whether the focus of a case is intentional discrimination or the effects of specific employment practices, our treatment of pattern and practice actions must account for the permutable nature of these actions. The subsequent discussion delineates the plaintiffs’ and defendant’s respective burdens in a pattern and practice case, and explains that the nature of these burdens will vary somewhat if the plaintiffs’ or defendant’s proof implicates disparate impact analysis.
C. The Plaintiffs’ Prima Facie Case in a Pattern and Practice Suit
To establish a prima facie pattern and practice case “[t]he plaintiffs must, by statistical evidence, individual testimony, or a combination of the two, make a showing adequate to raise the inference that employment decisions were predicated on an illegal criterion.” McKenzie, 684 F.2d at 71. Accord Teamsters, 431 U.S. at 358, 97 *1299S.Ct. at 1866. In evaluating the plaintiffs use of statistical evidence to support their claims, “a court should not ‘require proof to a mathematical certainty, ... [because] there is no such requirement [under Title VII]. Deficiencies in the data base ‘may, of course, detract from the value of [statistical] evidence,’ but ordinarily would not obliterate its evidentiary value.’ ” Trout v. Lehman, 702 F.2d 1094, 1101 (D.C.Cir.1983) (quoting Detroit Police Officers’ Association v. Young, 608 F.2d 671, 687 (6th Cir.1979) (citations omitted), cert. denied, 452 U.S. 938, 101 S.Ct. 3079, 69 L.Ed.2d 951 (1981)), vacated on other grounds, — U.S. -, 104 S.Ct. 1404, 79 L.Ed.2d 732 (1984). In short, “[exactness is not required at the prima facie stage.’’ De Medina v. Reinhardt, 686 F.2d 997, 1009 (D.C.Cir.1982).
At the same time, the plaintiffs are required as part of their prima facie case to “demonstrate to the court’s satisfaction that their statistical comparisons are meaningful.” Trout, 702 F.2d at 1101. In particular, we have indicated that such statistics must compare the employer’s relevant work force with “the qualified population in the relevant labor market.” Davis v. Califano, 613 F.2d 957, 963 (D.C.Cir.1979) (as amended Feb. 14, 1980) (footnote omitted). In some situations — where the “job skill ... involved ... is one that many persons possess or can fairly readily acquire” — the plaintiffs may rely on general population data to establish the qualified population in the relevant labor market. Hazelwood School District v. United States, 433 U.S. 299, 308 n. 13, 97 S.Ct. 2736, 2742 n. 13, 53 L.Ed.2d 768 (1977). However, in cases in which “special qualifications are required to fill particular jobs, comparisons to the general population (rather than to the smaller group of individuals who possess the necessary qualifications) may have little probative value.” Id. Although we have held that certain subjective criteria and other qualifications that are not minimum necessary requirements for a position need not be taken into account in the plaintiffs’ statistics, Davis, 613 F.2d at 964-65, we have suggested that “the minimum objective qualifications necessary for one to be eligible for promotion must be considered in the statistical data presented initially by a plaintiff.” Id. at 964. See also Valentino v. United States Postal Service, 674 F.2d 56, 68 (D.C.Cir.1982).1
Recognizing that plaintiffs “need not present a perfect statistical analysis at the prima facie case stage,” Trout, 702 F.2d at 1101, our cases have shown some flexibility in considering whether the plaintiffs have adequately accounted for minimum objective qualifications. In De Medina, we held that plaintiffs need not control for specific minimum job qualifications, as long as their data include a reasonable proxy for these qualifications. We explained that “[t]he objective is to define ‘a population that closely approximates the characteristics of those who would be likely to apply’ and ‘meet legitimate threshold qualification requirements.’ ” De Medina, 686 F.2d at 1007 (quoting D. Baldus & J. Cole, Statistical Proof of Discrimination 120 (1980) (emphasis added in De Medina j). See also Trout, 702 F.2d at 1103 (indicating that plaintiffs’ proxy for computer-related experience qualification provided “a perfectly adequate basis for inferring disparate treatment”). Additionally, if there is no available data that permits the plaintiffs to *1300account for minimum objective qualifications, we have recognized a “rebuttable presumption of an equal distribution of qualifications between minority and majority group applicants.” De Medina, 686 F.2d at 1008 n. 7.
Despite these refinements of the minimum objective qualification “rule,” the plaintiffs’ task in attacking systemic discrimination is not an easy one. It includes important burdens of proof and significant litigation choices. If the plaintiffs proceed on a pattern and practice treatment theory, to establish a prima facie case their proof of a regular pattern of differential treatment must be sufficiently convincing to permit the factfinder to infer a discriminatory motivation. If the plaintiffs believe that the systemic discrimination is in part the result of minimum objective qualifications or other employment practices having an adverse impact on minorities, they may proceed on a disparate impact theory as well. In other words, plaintiffs may proceed on either a disparate treatment theory or a disparate impact theory, or both, because either or both may be implicated in a pattern and practice suit.
D. The Defendant’s Rebuttal in a Pattern and Practice Suit
The “ultimate burden of persuading the trier of fact that the defendant intentionally discriminated against the plaintiff remains at all times with the plaintiff.” Burdine, 450 U.S. at 253, 101 S.Ct. at 1093. Because the plaintiffs’ proof of a prima facie case provides an adequate basis for inferring disparate treatment, the defendant must respond by coming forward and rebutting this inference. See Teamsters, 431 U.S. at 360, 97 S.Ct. at 1867.
The defendant’s rebuttal in a pattern and practice case can proceed in a number of ways, but must be designed to meet the proof offered by the plaintiffs. Teamsters, 431 U.S. at 360 n. 46, 97 S.Ct. at 1867 n. 46. Typically an important part of the plaintiffs’ proof in such a case will be statistical evidence. The defendant may attempt to discredit the plaintiffs’ statistics “by demonstrating flaws in the assumptions, data or analyses presented.” Vuyanich v. Republic National Bank, 521 F.Supp. 656, 663 (N.D.Tex.1981), vacated on other grounds, 723 F.2d 1195 (5th Cir.1984). But see Trout, 702 F.2d at 1102 (“unquantified, speculative, and theoretical objections to the proffered statistics are properly given little weight by the trial court”). The Supreme Court has also pointed out that if “the employer discerns fallacies or deficiencies in the data offered by the plaintiff, he is free to adduce countervailing evidence of his own.” Dothard v. Rawlinson, 433 U.S. 321, 331, 97 S.Ct. 2720, 2727, 53 L.Ed.2d 786 (1977). See also Trout, 702 F.2d at 1102 (“the most effective way to rebut a statistically based prima facie case is to present more accurate statistics”). Finally, the employer can try “to provide a nondiscriminatory explanation for the apparently discriminatory result.” Teamsters, 431 U.S. at 361 n. 46, 97 S.Ct. at 1867 n. 46.
While these propositions are well established, two points are raised in the majority discussion of the defendant’s rebuttal that warrant elaboration. The first is the question of the defendant’s burden in rebutting the plaintiffs’ prima facie case. While it is clear that the defendant does not have the burden of proof, this does not tell us what is required of the defendant’s rebuttal and when this rebuttal will necessitate a response by the plaintiffs. The second question raised by the majority is whether there are circumstances in which the defendant’s rebuttal to a pattern and practice disparate treatment claim provides a sufficient basis for a court to conclude that disparate impact has been established.
1. The Burden of Defendant’s Rebuttal
In determining the burden that the defendant must satisfy in rebutting the plaintiffs’ prima facie case, we are guided by several Supreme Court decisions rendered over the past decade. The starting point is the Court’s decision in Teamsters, as it also involved a pattern and practice claim. In *1301Teamsters —a suit bought by the Government — the Court explained that once the Government established a prima facie case “[t]he burden then shifts to the employer to defeat the prima facie showing of a pattern or practice by demonstrating that the Government’s proof is either inaccurate or insignificant.” 431 U.S. at 360, 97 S.Ct. at 1867 (emphasis added). The Court also indicated that “[i]f an employer fails to rebut the inference that arises from the Government’s prima facie case, a trial court may then conclude that a violation has occurred and determine the appropriate remedy.” Id. at 361, 97 S.Ct. at 1867 (emphasis added). Because the defendant’s proof failed to satisfy this standard in Teamsters, the Government was not required to respond with additional proof on behalf of the minority claimants; the evidence initially presented was sufficient for the trial court to conclude that the Government had met its ultimate burden of proving a pattern and practice of discrimination by a preponderance of the evidence.
Hence, Teamsters indicates that after the plaintiffs present a prima facie pattern and practice case, the defendant’s rebuttal must be sufficient to convince the trier of fact that the plaintiffs have not carried their ultimate burden or the plaintiffs will prevail without further evidence. Absent a clear indication from the Supreme Court that we should depart from this “common allocation of burden in a civil suit” (see Vuyanich, 521 P.Supp. at 663), the approach employed in Teamsters must govern our adjudication of a pattern and practice case.
The Court’s more recent decision in Bur-dine does delineate a somewhat different, three-stage inquiry to govern individual disparate treatment cases. The Court indicated that at the second stage of this inquiry — i.e., the defendant’s rebuttal of the prima facie case — the defendant must produce evidence raising “a genuine issue of fact as to whether it discriminated against the plaintiff.” Burdine, 450 U.S. 254-55, 101 S.Ct. 1094 (footnote omitted). This rebuttal burden can be satisfied if the defendant provides a clear explanation of the nondiscriminatory reasons for its action. Id. at 260, 101 S.Ct. at 1097.
The nature of the defendant’s rebuttal burden in an individual disparate treatment case must, however, be understood as a function of the relatively minimal burden borne by the individual plaintiff in proving a prima facie case. In McDonnell Douglas Corp. v. Green, 411 U.S. 792, 93 S.Ct. 1817, 36 L.Ed.2d 668 (1973), the Court held that this prima facie case can be established if an individual plaintiff shows “(i) that he belongs to a racial minority; (ii) that he applied and was qualified for a job for which the employer was seeking applicants; (iii) that, despite his qualifications, he was rejected; and (iv) that, after his rejection, the position remained open and the employer continued to seek applicants from persons of complainant’s qualifications.” Id. at 802, 93 S.Ct. at 1824 (footnote omitted). A plaintiff providing such proof has eliminated the “two most common legitimate reasons” for his failure to obtain the job, and creates an inference of discrimination unless the defendant comes forward and offers a legitimate explanation for its treatment of the plaintiff. Teamsters, 431 U.S. at 358 n. 44, 97 S.Ct. at 1866 n. 44. In other words, if a plaintiff satisfies the McDonnell Douglas four-prong test, this “creates a rebuttable ‘presumption that the employer unlawfully discriminated against’ him.” United States Postal Service Board of Governors v. Aikens, 460 U.S. 711, 103 S.Ct. 1478, 1481, 75 L.Ed.2d 403 (1983) (quoting Burdine, 450 U.S. at 254, 101 S.Ct. at 1094).
Although the McDonnell Douglas test is a useful framework for initial consideration of a discrimination claim, the presumption that results from the test is relatively weak. If the plaintiff’s evidence does no more than satisfy the four prongs of the test, the plaintiff has only eliminated two of many possible nondiscriminatory explanations for the employer’s decision. When the employer responds by clearly articulating a nondiscriminatory. reason for the decision, the factfinder has no basis for inferring that discrimination is a more likely *1302explanation. At this point the legally mandatory presumption of discrimination resulting from the McDonnell Douglas test “drops from the case.” Burdine, 450 U.S. at 255 n. 10, 101 S.Ct. at 1095 n. 10. The presumption and the defendant’s rebuttal have served the useful function of focusing the inquiry on particular explanations for the employer’s decision. See id. at 255 n. 8, 101 S.Ct. at 1094 n. 8. The plaintiff must now meet her “ultimate burden of persuading the court that she has been the victim of intentional discrimination. She may succeed in this either directly by persuading the court that a discriminatory reason more likely motivated the employer or indirectly by showing that the employer’s proffered explanation is unworthy of credence.” Id. at 256, 101 S.Ct. at 1095.
Burdine established a workable means for the parties’ focus to shift away from the McDonnell Douglas inquiry when that inquiry is not dispositive of the ultimate question of intentional discrimination. In some cases, however, the plaintiff’s initial showing will go beyond that required by McDonnell Douglas. In Burdine the Court recognized this possibility and explicitly stated that in such cases, the plaintiff may not need to come forward with additional evidence in responding to the defendant’s rebuttal:
In saying that the presumption drops from the case, we do not imply that the trier of fact no longer may consider evidence previously introduced by the plaintiff to establish a prima facie case. A satisfactory explanation by the defendant destroys the legally mandatory inference of discrimination arising from the plaintiff’s initial evidence. Nonetheless, this evidence and inferences properly drawn therefrom may be considered by the trier of fact on the issue of whether the defendant’s explanation is pretextual. Indeed, there may be some cases where the plaintiffs initial evidence, combined with effective cross-examination of the defendant, will suffice to discredit the defendant’s explanation.
Burdine, 450 U.S. at 255 n. 10, 101 S.Ct. at 1095 n. 10 (emphasis added). This conclusion is not surprising. The plaintiff’s burden is to justify the inference of discrimination by a preponderance of the evidence. As Teamsters indicated, if the defendant does not introduce sufficient evidence in rebuttal to lead the factfinder to conclude that this burden has not been sustained, the plaintiff need not come forward with additional evidence to prevail in the case.
A pattern and practice case is analogous to this latter group of cases envisioned in Burdine. The initial proof demanded of plaintiffs in a pattern and practice case typically goes far beyond the minimal showing that is required for an individual to establish a prima facie case under McDonnell Douglas. In order to establish a prima facie pattern and practice case, the plaintiffs must present meaningful statistics or other evidence demonstrating that comparable groups have been consistently treated differently. In cases such as this— where the “plaintiff class [necessarily] loads overwhelming force into its opening shot,” Vuyanich, 521 F.Supp. at 661—Burdine indicates that the defendant’s rebuttal may not require the plaintiffs to present additional evidence at a third stage. This will be so unless the defendant’s proof casts “sufficient doubt on the plaintiff’s proof to cause the trier of fact to conclude that the plaintiff has not proved discrimination by a preponderance of the evidence.” Vuyanich, 521 F.Supp. at 663.
In reaching this conclusion, the Vuyanich court correctly observed that the “initial thrust” of the plaintiffs’ proof in a pattern and practice case often “combines the first and third steps of the Burdine model by demonstrating discrimination against protected groups, and pretext, at the same time.” Id. In an individual case, significant questions will remain to be addressed if the McDonnell Douglas presumption “drops from the case.” However, in a pattern and practice case, the parties usually focus on the ultimate issue from the very beginning, and additional evidence may be unnecessary after the defendant’s rebuttal.
In some cases it may be unclear whether the defendant’s rebuttal casts sufficient doubt on the plaintiffs’ evidence; consequently, plaintiffs may choose to respond *1303to the challenges raised by the defendant. The point worth stressing, however, is that if the defendant has not cast sufficient doubt, plaintiffs are not required to respond in order to prevail in the case. On the other hand, if the defendant’s rebuttal is sufficient, the plaintiffs must respond in an effort to meet their ultimate burden of proof in order to prevail.
Finally, it should be noted that the conclusion we reach today is also dictated by the Supreme Court’s admonition in United States Postal Service Board of Governors v. Aikens, 460 U.S. 711, 103 S.Ct. 1478, 75 L.Ed.2d 403 (1983), that mechanistic attention to the rules governing “the allocation of burdens and order of presentation of proof,” id. 103 S.Ct. at 1482 (quoting Burdine, 450 U.S. at 252, 101 S.Ct. at 1093), must not cause us to either lose sight of what is ultimately at issue or “treat discrimination differently from other ultimate questions of fact.” Id. In Aikens, the Court indicated that when a defendant had in fact rebutted an individual plaintiff’s proof of discrimination, the district court and an appellate court need no longer focus on whether the plaintiff’s prima facie case had been established; the focal issue was whether the plaintiff had carried his ultimate burden. Id. at 1481, 1482. In the same manner, in evaluating the defendant’s rebuttal in a pattern and practice case, courts must keep in mind that the plaintiffs’ ultimate task is to establish their case by a preponderance of the evidence. If this burden is satisfied at the close of the defendant’s presentation, the plaintiffs necessarily prevail.
I have examined the relevant Supreme Court cases at some length because of the importance of the issue being considered. I believe that the views expressed are in full accord with the intended rationale in the majority opinion. I also believe that the cited case law uniformly and unequivocally dictates the standard that we have articulated today.
2. Defenses that Implicate Disparate Impact Analysis
I am in complete agreement with the expressed view in the majority opinion indicating that a court can conclude that an unlawful disparate impact has been established when the following conditions are satisfied:
(1) The preponderance of the evidence— whether introduced by the plaintiffs or the defendant —proves that one or more specific employment practices have a disparate impact;
(2) either the plaintiffs or defendant argue that the practices have a disparate impact, thereby putting the defendant on notice of the need to prove the business necessity of the practices; and
(3) the defendant fails to prove business necessity.
When these conditions are met, the majority correctly explains that “the essential elements of a disparate impact case will have been placed before the trier of fact,” and the case is “ripe for resolution using disparate impact analysis.” Maj. op. at 1270 (footnote omitted). See generally Albemarle Paper Co. v. Moody, 422 U.S. 405, 95 S.Ct. 2362, 45 L.Ed.2d 280 (1975); Griggs v. Duke Power Co., 401 U.S. 424, 91 S.Ct. 849, 28 L.Ed.2d 158 (1971). So long as the defendant has adequate notice of the need to prove business necessity, it is irrelevant that this duty is prompted by the defendant’s, rather than the plaintiffs’, proof.
Thus, if a defendant merely cites an allegedly neutral employment practice as a possible explanation for disparaties shown in a pattern and practice treatment suit, plaintiffs’ case may be expanded to include a theory of disparate impact. If plaintiffs can then prove that the cited practice has an unlawful impact, or if defendant effectively concedes the presence of unlawful discriminatory effects, then the burden shifts to the defendant to prove that the cited practice is justified by business necessity. See Albemarle Paper Co., 422 U.S. at 425, 95 S.Ct. at 2375; Griggs, 401 U.S. at 432, 91 S.Ct. at 854.
In resolving complex employment discrimination cases of the sort here at issue, *1304a court should focus on the actual evidence in the record and not on the parties’ litigation strategies. In my view, there is no doubt that a suit initially perceived by the parties to be a disparate treatment case may be expanded into a case of mixed claims (including both disparate treatment and disparate impact) or transformed into a case resting on a new single theory (i.e., disparate impact instead of disparate treatment). It is also clear that these changes may be initiated by virtue of plaintiffs’ allegations and proofs or the defendant’s defense. However, under Albemarle and Griggs, a defendant does not have to prove the “business necessity” of an otherwise neutral employment practice absent plaintiffs' proof (or defendant’s concession) of its unlawful discriminatory effects.
Conclusion
I commend the majority opinion for its exhaustive analysis of this case, and for clarifying the law in a manner that benefits plaintiffs and defendants alike. Although I have seen fit to express certain of my views, I am generally in accord with the rationale and holdings of the majority opinion.

. Although we have sometimes stated this rule in terms that go beyond the factual contexts in which it was at issue, these prior pronouncements may not be as all-encompassing as their language suggests. Hazelwood and Teamsters indicate that in cases in which the general population has or can acquire the skills necessary to perform a job, general population comparisons are quite probative. Neither case suggested that the plaintiffs had to consider whether specific qualifications required by an employer were generally satisfied by the comparison group. See De Medina, 686 F.2d at 1004, 1007 (discussing Hazelwood). Furthermore, so far as I can determine, this Circuit has never considered a case in which the qualifications themselves were claimed to be imposed in furtherance of a discriminatory motive. See generally B. Schlei & P. Grossman, Employment Discrimination Law 1356-57 (2d ed. 1983) ("some courts have held that the plaintiff need not present data on the qualified labor market where the qualifications themselves are in question") (footnote omitted).