Burney v. City of Pawtucket

559 F. Supp. 1089, 34 Fair Empl. Prac. Cas. (BNA) 1274, 1983 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 18713
CourtDistrict Court, D. Rhode Island
DecidedMarch 9, 1983
DocketCiv. A. 82-0817S
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 559 F. Supp. 1089 (Burney v. City of Pawtucket) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Rhode Island primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Burney v. City of Pawtucket, 559 F. Supp. 1089, 34 Fair Empl. Prac. Cas. (BNA) 1274, 1983 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 18713 (D.R.I. 1983).

Opinion

OPINION

SELYA, District Judge.

This action for declaratory and injunctive relief and for damages was commenced on December 29, 1982. The original complaint in four counts alleged that defendants, the City of Pawtucket (“Pawtucket”) and three officials of the Rhode Island Municipal Police Academy (“Academy”) discriminated against the plaintiff on the basis of her sex in violation of Title VII, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e et seq., as amended (“Title VII”), 42 U.S.C. § 1983, and the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution; denied her due process of law in violation of 42 U.S.C. § 1983 and the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution; and denied her rights under Rhode Island law. The facts described in plaintiff’s verified complaint centered about the physical training program and demerit system instituted by the Academy and her consequent loss of employment with Pawtucket due to alleged failure to meet the requirements of the physical training program as evidenced by her accumulation of excessive demerits.

At a hearing held on December-29, 1982, the Court granted plaintiff’s motion for a temporary restraining order and ordered that plaintiff be reinstated in the Academy program pending further order of the Court. Extensive discovery ensued. The Court, inter alia, granted plaintiff’s motion to amend her complaint. The amended complaint added the Academy as a party defendant, and also added a fifth statement of claim challenging the Post Physical Performance Test (“POST-Test”) as discriminating against plaintiff on the basis of her gender in violation of Title VII. The case was reached for hearing on February 11, 1983.

The Court, with the concurrence of counsel, ordered the hearing on preliminary injunction merged with trial on the merits pursuant to the provisions of Rule 65(a)(2), Fed.R.Civ.P. Plaintiff elected to waive all claims set forth in the amended complaint except for those embodied in Count II 1 and Count V 2 thereof, both of which alleged violations of Title VII. Following the trial, decision was reserved.

I.

The underlying facts are. not seriously disputed, although controversy rages unabated concerning the inferences to be drawn from those facts and the legal ramifications thereof. The Court finds that the following facts have been established in this action.

The plaintiff, Gail Burney, a twenty-one year old woman, is a resident of Pawtucket *1092 and a high school graduate. Since she was a youngster, she has aspired to be a police officer. Upon graduation from high school, she enrolled at Bryant College and entered its law enforcément program. She has at various times since her graduation applied for vacancies on the police forces of several Rhode Island communities, including her home city.

• The procedure for becoming a Pawtucket police officer is substantially as follows. The applicant must be (i) at least 18 years old, (ii) a United States citizen, and (iii) in possession of a high school diploma or its equivalent. Written and oral examinations are then administered by Pawtucket. Successful applicants, i.e., those ranking highest on the basis of their combined written and oral scores, are sent to the Academy to undergo a pre-admission physical agility test (the “Pre-Test”). Each aspirant is also required to submit to a physical examination, take a psychological test, pass a criminal record check and undergo other screening. If all of the foregoing proceeds without incident, the candidate is then enrolled in the Academy. The sponsoring municipality (in this case, Pawtucket) is the recruit’s employer of record during his or her tenure at the Academy, and pays the recruit a regular weekly stipend.

The Academy was established by the Rhode Island General Assembly in 1969. R.I.G.L. § 42-28.2-2. A Commission on Standards and Training (“Commission”) was established by R.I.G.L. § 42-28.2-3 to fix standards for admission to, and graduation from, the Academy. Defendant Tocco is the incumbent chairman of the Commission. The Commission prepares and publishes mandatory training standards to govern the recruitment, selection and appointment of police officers for all municipal police departments within the State of Rhode Island, excluding only the City of Providence. R.I.G.L. § 42-28.2-8. The Commission is further empowered and directed to establish minimum police training requirements. R.I.G.L. § 42-28.2-8(e). Under Rhode Island law, plaintiff must successfully complete the course and graduate from the Academy in order to be employed as a police officer.

The Academy’s first class was enrolled in August of 1970. From 1971 through 1975, the Academy graduated two classes per year. 3 The first female applicant was admitted in 1975., A total of twenty-six women have graduated from the Academy since that time. In 1976, the Academy began recording grades for physical education, which were included in a recruit’s academic average.

In 1981, plaintiff applied to become a member of the Pawtucket police force. She performed well on the written and oral examinations, but failed the Pre-Test. During the following year, she engaged in a self-structured program of physical development in order to enhance her chances of passing the Pre-Test.

In August of 1982, Pawtucket again invited applications for the position of police officer. Plaintiff applied in response to these advertisements. She ranked seventh after taking the oral and written examinations, passed the Pre-Test, and completed the remaining pre-enrollment screening with satisfactory results. On December 16, 1982, she reported to the Academy. She was the only woman in the class of 1983-1. Upon her enrollment in the Academy, plaintiff became a civilian employee of Pawtucket and began receiving a salary. She must satisfactorily complete the course at the Academy and graduate therefrom in order to remain a municipal employee and to be installed as a member of the Pawtucket police force.

Not only must a recruit pass each course at the Academy including the physical training course in order to graduate, but his or her badge number (which determines seniority at the local police level) is awarded on the basis of class standing. Thus, if two Pawtucket recruits graduate from the Academy’s class of 1983-1, their overall class standing in relation to one another *1093 will determine the order in which they are awarded their badge numbers and seniority. Once in police mufti, seniority is instrumental in determining preference on shifts, vacations, extra duty, and the like. A recruit’s grade in physical training accounts for one-fifth of his or her grade in physical education, which in turn represents one-fourth of the individual’s overall academic average at the Academy.

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Bluebook (online)
559 F. Supp. 1089, 34 Fair Empl. Prac. Cas. (BNA) 1274, 1983 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 18713, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/burney-v-city-of-pawtucket-rid-1983.