Fudge v. City of Providence Fire Department

766 F.2d 650, 38 Fair Empl. Prac. Cas. (BNA) 648, 1985 U.S. App. LEXIS 20171, 37 Empl. Prac. Dec. (CCH) 35,421
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
DecidedJune 28, 1985
DocketNos. 83-1624, 83-1650
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 766 F.2d 650 (Fudge v. City of Providence Fire Department) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Fudge v. City of Providence Fire Department, 766 F.2d 650, 38 Fair Empl. Prac. Cas. (BNA) 648, 1985 U.S. App. LEXIS 20171, 37 Empl. Prac. Dec. (CCH) 35,421 (5th Cir. 1985).

Opinions

JAMES E. DOYLE, Senior District Judge.

Fudge, who is black, brought this action against the City of Providence Fire Department (Department), the Division of Training (Academy), and Chief Michael Moise (Chief), alleging the defendants had engaged in discriminatory testing in their hiring procedures in 1974, in violation of 42 U.S.C. §§ 1981, 1983, 1985, and 1988, and of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, [652]*65242 U.S.C. § 2000e et seq. The City of Providence was added as a defendant.

The ease was tried simultaneously to a jury on all but the Title VII claim and to the court on the Title VII claim. Although the jury found the written examination administered by the Department had had a disparate and adverse impact on blacks, it also found none of the defendants had harbored a racially discriminatory purpose. The non-Title VII claims were dismissed on their merits. Neither party appeals from this disposition.

The district court held the defendant City had violated Title VII and it awarded Fudge back-pay in the amount of $8,666, and attorneys fees and costs totalling $12,-274.50. Defendant City appeals the judgment against it for back-pay under Title VII and also the award of attorneys fees.1 Fudge appeals that portion of the judgment limiting back-pay to a period ending in 1978.

The district court found explicitly that a certain written examination used in the 1974 hiring procedures had a disparate and adverse impact on black applicants.2 It held plaintiff had thus established a prima facie case of employment discrimination. It held defendant had not met the burden, then falling to it, to show that the written examination had “a manifest relationship to the employment in question.” Griggs v. Duke Power Co., 401 U.S. 424, 434, 91 S.Ct. 849, 855, 28 L.Ed.2d 158 (1971). It concluded that defendant had violated Title VII.

FACTS AS TO DISPARATE AND ADVERSE IMPACT

(a) Facts as found by district court, pursuant to Fed.R.Civ.P. 52(a).

Plaintiff is a black resident of the city of Providence, Rhode Island. As of 1974, when plaintiff applied to be admitted to the city fire department’s fire fighter training academy, defendant was imposing a minimum requirement of a tenth grade education, and the selection procedure was based upon a composite score of 60 in three categories: scholastic attainment, military service, and a written entrance examination.3

In the scholastic attainment category, one point was awarded, up to a total of ten, for each grade completed beyond tenth. In [653]*653the military service category, a maximum of ten points was possible, depending upon criteria such as total amount of time served in the military, time served in combat areas, advancement in rank, and decorations. The aggregate of the points scored by an applicant in the two categories (a maximum of 20) was divided by 2 (with a resulting maximum of 10). A maximum of 50 points could be obtained from one’s score on a written examination. Thus, of a perfect composite score of 60 drawn from all three categories, 50 points (83%) were accounted for by the written examination.

Plaintiff was one of 248 applicants in 1974 for admission to the academy. He received 2 points in the scholastic attainment category and the maximum of 10 in the military service category, for an aggregate of 12 which, when divided by 2, resulted in a total of 6. At that point, he ranked 6th among the 248. On November 9, 1974, the written examination was given. Plaintiff scored 16 on the scale of a possible 50. His ranking dropped to 195th and he was not admitted to the academy.

Of the 248 applicants in 1974, 24 were black and 224 white. Thirty were admitted to the academy, of whom one was black (4 percent of 24) and 29 were white (13 percent of 224).

In 1973, 199 applicants took a written examination for admission to the academy, of whom about 20 were black and 179 white. Forty-one were admitted to the academy, of whom one was black (5% of 20) and 40 were white (22% of 179).

In 1972, 86 applicants took a written examination, of whom about 9 were black and 75 white (apparently two may have been members of non-black minorities). Twenty were admitted to the academy, of whom none was black (0% of 9) and 20 were white (27% of 75).

The black applicants in 1974 had a “higher test failure rate” than white applicants on the written examination. The examination posed more of a hurdle for black applicants than for white. It had a disparate and adverse impact on black applicants.

(b) Facts not found by district court, but undisputed in the record

The written examination administered in 1972 contained 53 questions for an aggregate possible total of 50 points. Seventeen questions with an aggregate of 25V4 possible points tested knowledge of addition, subtraction, division, multiplication, percentages, fractions, decimals, square roots, and computations of areas and volumes. Eight questions with an aggregate of 6 possible points tested knowledge of definitions of words (multiple choice questions on the meaning of “posterior,” “accentuate,” “impertinence,” “cumbersome,” and “atlas”; other forms of questions on the meaning of “statute,” “decade,” and “autobiography”). Seven questions with an aggregate of 4V4 possible points tested knowledge of simple and practical physics or chemistry. One question with a weight of ¥4 point tested basic knowledge of geometrical figures. Twenty questions with an aggregate of 13¥i possible points tested general knowledge (e.g., in 1972 was Communist China a member of the UN; did Eisenhower succeed Franklin Roosevelt as president; in 1972 who was vice-president of the United States, who was governor of Rhode Island, who was commander-in-chief of United States Armed Forces; what cities and towns border on the city of Providence; how many seats in the United States Senate does Rhode Island have; name of the navigable waterway connecting Atlantic and Pacific oceans; how many stars in the flag of the United States; names of five states bordering the Gulf of Mexico).

The written examination administered in 1973 consisted of 63 questions, for an aggregate possible total of 50 points. Twenty-one questions with an aggregate of 20¥t possible points tested knowledge of addition, subtraction, division, multiplication, percentages, fractions and decimals. Fourteen questions with an aggregate of 7V4 points tested knowledge of the definitions of words (multiple choice questions on the meaning of “posterior,” “incandescence,” “clientele,” “becloud,” “clique,” “equine,” and “cursory”; other forms of questions on the meaning of “alien,” “an[654]*654cestor,” “abdicate,” “biography,” “inertia,” “fiction,” and “bibliography”).

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766 F.2d 650, 38 Fair Empl. Prac. Cas. (BNA) 648, 1985 U.S. App. LEXIS 20171, 37 Empl. Prac. Dec. (CCH) 35,421, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/fudge-v-city-of-providence-fire-department-ca5-1985.