Walls v. Mississippi State Dept. of Public Welfare

• Decision Date: 23 April 1984
• Docket Number: No. 82-4275,82-4275
• Citation: 730 F.2d 306
• Parties: 34 Fair Empl.Prac.Cas. 1114, 34 Empl. Prac. Dec. P 34,335 Dorothy WALLS, et al., Plaintiffs-Appellees Cross-Appellees-Appellants, v. MISSISSIPPI STATE DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC WELFARE, et al., Defendants-Appellees Cross-Appellants, v. UNITED STATES of America, Defendant-Appellant Cross-Appellee.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Fifth Circuit

Page 306

730 F.2d 306

34 Fair Empl.Prac.Cas. 1114,

34 Empl. Prac. Dec. P 34,335

Dorothy WALLS, et al., Plaintiffs-Appellees Cross-Appellees-Appellants, v. MISSISSIPPI STATE DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC WELFARE, et al., Defendants-Appellees Cross-Appellants, v. UNITED STATES of America, Defendant-Appellant Cross-Appellee.

No. 82-4275.

United States Court of Appeals Fifth Circuit.

April 23, 1984.

Rehearing Denied May 18, 1984.

Joan A. Magagna, Walter W. Barnett, Attys. Civ. Rights Div., Dept. of Justice, Washington, D.C., for the U.S.

Johnnie E. Walls, Jr., Greenville, Miss., Alain Chirot, Eugene Martin-Leff, Englewood, N.J., for plaintiffs-appellees cross-appellants.

Thomas E. Childs, Jr., Edwin Lloyd Pittman, Atty. Gen., Jackson, Miss., for defendants-appellees cross-appellants.

Appeals from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Mississippi.

Before GOLDBERG, GEE, and TATE, Circuit Judges.

TATE, Circuit Judge:

The private plaintiffs, members of the black race, brought suit in 1973 for themselves and as representatives of a class, alleging racial discrimination in hiring practices by the Mississippi State Department of Public Welfare ("the state Department") and its local and ancillary agencies, which had resulted in the denial of employment to black applicants on account of their race or color. The relief sought was primarily based upon violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. Secs. 2000e et seq. In 1975, the United States also brought suit against the Department, generally presenting the same challenges to its employment practices as those asserted by the private plaintiffs. The suits were consolidated for bifurcated trial on the issue of liability only.

After nine years of this complex employment-discrimination litigation, the district court in a comprehensive opinion decided the issues thereby presented. Walls v. Mississippi State Department of Public Welfare, 542 F.Supp. 281 (N.D.Miss.1982). Pursuant to 28 U.S.C. Sec. 1292(b) certification, the private plaintiffs, the state defendants, and the United States all appeal as to separate holdings by the district court on this interlocutory determination of issues of liability.

The facts of the litigation and the reasons for the district court's holdings are set forth in detail in its excellent and lengthy opinion. Briefly, the private plaintiffs and the United States contended that the state Department's employment practices discriminated against employment of blacks in the positions of Clerk, Eligibility Worker, and Social Worker through three aspects of the Department's employment selection procedure: (1) the use of minimum educational qualifications; (2) the use of unvalidated written examinations as a prerequisite for consideration to employment; and (3) the manner in which individuals who met the above two requirements were selected for employment thereafter from "certificates of eligibles." By way of overview, the district court rejected the contention as to the educational qualifications, but it determined that declaratory, injunctive, and back-pay relief was awardable to the private plaintiffs and members of the class (a) because of the discriminatory impact of the non-validated examination process and (b) because of the disparate treatment accorded blacks in selecting appointees from the certificates of eligibles.

The three separate appeals present the following issues. The state defendants appeal these adverse determinations and in the alternative assert that, if back pay is awarded, the back pay should be paid from state-federal funding rather than from only state funding. The private plaintiffs contend that the district court erred in holding that the educational prerequisites were not proved to have discriminatory impact upon the employment of blacks. The United States appeals the district court's denial of retroactive relief for victims of discrimination, its grant of injunctive relief ordering the United States to assist in the development of new selection procedures and enjoining the United States from requiring the use of unvalidated tests, and from the district court's holding that the United States was jointly and severally liable for the private plaintiffs' costs and attorneys' fees.

For reasons to be set forth more fully below, we generally affirm the district court's determinations. However, we reverse the injunctive relief and cost/attorneys' fees awarded against the United States, and the denial to the United States of its statutory remedy to seek retroactive equitable relief for victims of discrimination.

Proceedings Below

On January 15, 1973, five black women, Dorothy Walls, Deborah Gambrell, Marlene Johnson, Julia Collier and Emily Butler O'Bryant, filed suit for themselves individually and as representatives of a class certified as "all black persons who did, or will in the future, apply for employment in the position of Clerk (any grade), Eligibility Worker, or Social Worker (any grade) in the Mississippi State Department of Public Welfare or county departments of public welfare and who have been, or in the future may be, denied such employment or otherwise discriminated against in hiring or terms and conditions of such employment on account of race or color." Made defendants in the plaintiffs' action were the "state defendants": the Mississippi Department of Public Welfare, its Commissioner and state board members; the Merit System Council ¹ (hereinafter referred to as "the state merit system agency"); and the Leflore County Welfare Department and its director. (The latter two defendants were also certified to represent defendant classes "of all county departments of public welfare in the State of Mississippi and the County Directors of all such Departments.") By court order dated August 11, 1975, the "federal defendants" ² were included as parties necessary for just adjudication. No relief was sought by the private plaintiffs against the federal defendants.

A separate action was filed on August 28, 1975, by the United States, against the same state defendants who were sued by the private plaintiffs, alleging the same three challenges asserted in the private class action.

The state defendants in the private action cross-claimed against the federal defendants alleging that the government had required and/or encouraged use of the challenged employment procedures. Similar claims were made by the state in their counterclaim in the United States' separate suit.

Commencing on July 5, 1978, the district court conducted a nonjury trial on the liability issues. On May 18, 1982, the district court filed its memorandum opinion (542 F.Supp. 281) and entered judgment. The court found that the written examinations and selections from "certificates of eligibles" violated Title VII. The court further concluded that the use of the certificates of eligibles "violated Title VII as well as Secs. 1981 and 1983 and the fourteenth amendment." The private plaintiffs were denied standing to challenge the educational requirements and the court found that the government, in its own challenge to the educational requirement--which was tried--had failed to prove that these requirements were racially discriminatory.

The district court determined that the federal defendants were as much at fault as the state defendants for the use of the challenged tests, but that sovereign immunity precluded any judgment for monetary relief against the federal defendants. Walls, supra, 542 F.Supp. at 314. The court granted injunctive relief on the state's cross-claim against the United States, however, ordering the federal government "to withdraw as mandatory selection devices the use of unvalidated written examinations and to furnish to appropriate state officials such financial, technical and advisory assistance as may be necessary to establish valid minimum requirements for the contested positions." Id. at 316. On July 8, 1982, the district court amended its prior order to direct that federal defendants be made jointly and severally liable with the state defendants for costs, expenses, and attorney's fees. Pursuant to 28 U.S.C. Sec. 1292(b), as above noted, the private plaintiffs, the state defendants, and the United States all appeal.

Facts

Because of the district court's excellent and meticulous recital of the factual background that precipitated this litigation, Walls, supra, 542 F.Supp. at 286-308, we will note here only the general framework of the factual record.

Selection of employees for the state Department at the time when the present cause of action arose was accomplished by the use of a multiple-stage process. This process was implemented to comply with the federal funding requirement that employment must be based on a merit system of personnel selection. 45 C.F.R. Secs. 70.1 et seq. (1948, 1963, 1971). (The United States Civil Service Commission audited the state merit system agency and the state Department to insure compliance, periodically conducting on-site inspections of the operation of those agencies.)

During the time period at issue in this case, the same general hiring procedure was followed for the three contested positions of Clerk, Eligibility Worker, and Social Worker. ³ Applications were first submitted to the state merit system agency, which screened the applicants for educational prerequisites. Applicants who met the minimum education requirements ⁴ were permitted to take a written examination. The names of those applicants who scored fifty percent or better on the written examination were then placed on a statewide register in rank order according to their test scores. When a vacancy became available, a county director requested the merit system issue a certificate of eligibles, which as prepared by the agency was generally limited to the five applicants desiring employment in that county who had received the highest scores. ⁵ Walls, supra, 542 F.Supp. at 287. After interviewing...