Harris v. Civil Service Commission

77 Cal. Rptr. 2d 366, 65 Cal. App. 4th 1356, 98 Daily Journal DAR 8515, 98 Cal. Daily Op. Serv. 6199, 1998 Cal. App. LEXIS 698
CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal
DecidedAugust 5, 1998
DocketA078480
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 77 Cal. Rptr. 2d 366 (Harris v. Civil Service Commission) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering California Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Harris v. Civil Service Commission, 77 Cal. Rptr. 2d 366, 65 Cal. App. 4th 1356, 98 Daily Journal DAR 8515, 98 Cal. Daily Op. Serv. 6199, 1998 Cal. App. LEXIS 698 (Cal. Ct. App. 1998).

Opinions

Opinion

LAMBDEN, J.

This action is based on a claimed violation of the California Fair Employment and Housing Act (Gov. Code, § 12900 et seq.) (the FEHA) and poses the question, “Can a member of one protected minority group force her employer, through administrative mandate (Code Civ. Proc., § 1094.5), to use promotional tests which would benefit her but have a severe adverse impact on another protected minority group?” Our analysis of the law lead us to conclude she has no right to claim any benefit from such manifest adverse impact on the grounds that she may have her own claim of discrimination.

[1361]*1361The FEHA permits use of a manifestly discriminatory test only if there is evidence of necessity based upon “job relatedness.” Without being relieved of the duty to investigate other claims of discrimination, the employer retains the discretion to inquire whether the necessities of a particular job may justify reliance upon the results of an otherwise impermissibly discriminatory test. The employer may in good faith produce evidence to support such a contention. However, an employer is not required to attempt to justify the use of discriminatory tests and has no legal duty to do so arising from any asserted right of a member of another protected minority group to claim the advantage of such discrimination. To permit such a claim would turn the FEHA on its head.

Background

Madeline Hams, an employee of the San Francisco Municipal Railway (Muni), brought this action against the City and County of San Francisco (City) and, in one count, against the City’s civil service commission (Commission). She sought writ of mandate, and damages and other relief, for alleged gender discrimination in the cancellation of civil service examinations and eligible lists on which she had placed number one.

The City charter vests the Commission with sole authority over examinations for City employment, including Muni. The Commission may delegate to the department of human resources (DHR) the offering of tests but retains ultimate authority to adopt any resulting eligible lists.

Under that authority, the DHR’s public utilities commission examination unit administered tests in 1992 and 1993 for transit manager I and H (TM I & TM H) positions at Muni. Each test had a written component which had to be passed in order to participate in a second, oral component. The tests were given concurrently, and Harris, a White female, took both. She scored number one on both tests.

Subsequently, Transport Workers Union, Local 200, filed a protest with the DHR claiming the tests had an adverse impact on African-American applicants. This prompted a DHR staff review and analysis which showed: African-Americans constituted 45 of the 94 applicants who took the written TM I test and 39 of the 93 who took the written TM II test; 26 percent of men and 36 percent of women among them passed the TM I test, as compared with 73 and 75 percent of their White counterparts; and a similar disparity (26% and 38% compared with 67% and 71%) marked the TM II results. The men/women composition of the resulting tentative eligible lists was 28/12 for TM I and 32/10 for TM II.

[1362]*1362The DHR attempted to reach a compromise, but this was rejected by the union. Ultimately, the DHR’s human resources director (Director) canceled the tests and tentative lists, citing an adverse impact on African-Americans. Harris and four others who had been on the lists then appealed the Director’s decision to the Commission, which considered the staff report and heard comments at a public hearing. The Commission ultimately upheld the decision, based also on adverse impact.

Harris then filed a complaint of discrimination with the Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH), naming the “City & County of San Francisco (Civil Service Commission)” as the discriminating agency and stating that she had been denied promotion by the “Civil Service Commission” and its executive officer, “Albert Walker.” She alleged, “[Tjests on which I placed number 1 were discriminatory toward minority groups who are represented in the 2 classifications in question in greater numbers than their numbers in the relevant work market while women are underrepresented.” The DFEH declined action and issued her a right-to-sue letter in April 1995.

Her verified petition and complaint is in three counts. The first two, for traditional and administrative mandate (Code Civ. Proc., §§ 1085, 1094.5 (hereafter sections 1085 and 1094.5)), were denied by Judge William J. Cahill, who found the cancellation nondiscriminatory and supported by the administratively determined adverse impact on African-American applicants. The third count, for injunctive relief and damages under the FEHA, was decided by Judge David A. Garcia on summary judgment. He found failure to exhaust administrative remedies as against the City and, on the merits, no triable issue of material fact.

Discussion

Review by Administrative Mandate Is a Dubious Remedy

Harris’s challenge is to action by the Commission in refusing to adopt test results and tentative eligible lists produced by that agency, but she names the Commission only in her count for administrative mandate and, as she conceded at oral argument, seeks only relief against the City in her other two counts.

The City charter vests in the Commission, with DHR assistance, the exclusive power to develop and administer tests, and produce eligible lists, for civil service hiring and merit system promotions within the City, whether for Muni or for other City departments. (S.F. Charter, §§ 10.101 to 10.102; [1363]*1363Social Services Union v. City and County of San Francisco (1991) 234 Cal.App.3d 1093, 1099-1100 [285 Cal.Rptr. 905] [construing parallel provisions of the former charter].)

The record establishes that the City had no, control over the tests’ formulation or implementation, the resulting tentative eligible lists, or the ultimate decision whether to adopt or cancel them. The City simply never had the lists available for its use. Harris’s counts based on traditional mandate and the FEHA are therefore directed against the wrong entity, and this moots subsidiary issues like whether she exhausted administrative remedies before the DFEH.1 Her only hope for relief is found in her first cause of action, which petitions for administrative mandate.

We question, as the Commission does, whether review by administrative mandate is available. Unless (1) a hearing, (2) the taking of evidence and (3) discretion to determine facts are all required “by law” (§ 1094.5, subd. (a)), review can be had only by traditional mandate (Anton v. San Antonio Community Hosp. (1977) 19 Cal.3d 802, 814-815 & fn. 11 [140 Cal.Rptr. 442, 567 P.2d 1162]). Those three elements codify the essence of “adjudicatory function” (Temescal Water Co. v. Dept. Public Works (1955) 44 Cal.2d 90, 101 [280 P.2d 1]), as opposed to legislative or quasi-legislative function, in an administrative body.

Neither Harris nor the dissent identifies any statute, rule, charter provision or civil service rule (see, e.g., Mahdavi v. Fair Employment Practice Com.

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Harris v. Civil Service Commission
77 Cal. Rptr. 2d 366 (California Court of Appeal, 1998)

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77 Cal. Rptr. 2d 366, 65 Cal. App. 4th 1356, 98 Daily Journal DAR 8515, 98 Cal. Daily Op. Serv. 6199, 1998 Cal. App. LEXIS 698, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/harris-v-civil-service-commission-calctapp-1998.