Allen v. City of Chicago
| Decision Date | 09 December 2003 |
| Docket Number | No. 02-3743.,02-3743. |
| Citation | 351 F.3d 306 |
| Parties | Percy ALLEN, Yvette Clinkscale, Paul Gergoire, et al., Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. CITY OF CHICAGO, Defendant-Appellee. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Seventh Circuit |
Kenneth N. Flaxman (argued), Chicago, IL, for Plaintiffs-Appellants.
Kerrie Maloney Laytin (argued), Office of the Corporation Counsel, Chicago, IL, for Defendant-Appellee.
Before CUDAHY, RIPPLE and KANNE, Circuit Judges.
African-American and Hispanic police officers employed by the City of Chicago (the "City") filed a complaint against the City for engaging in discriminatory promotions in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. §§ 2000e et seq. The district court certified two subclasses of officers adversely affected by the 1998 promotion process. One subclass moved for summary judgment, and the City cross-moved for summary judgment as to both subclasses. The district court granted the City's motion as to both subclasses. The subclasses appeal. For the reasons set forth in the following opinion, we affirm the judgment of the district court.
Throughout the last three decades, minority and non-minority police officers have challenged the City of Chicago's hiring and promotion procedures as discriminatory. In response, the City has implemented various remedial measures, including quotas, race norming, affirmative action, promotional examinations and merit selection procedures. The history of these challenges and the City's response is set forth thoroughly in Barnhill v. City of Chicago, Police Department, 142 F.Supp.2d 948, 950-56 (N.D.Ill. 2001).1 That background also has been noted in Adams v. City of Chicago, 135 F.3d 1150, 1152 (7th Cir.1998).
This appeal arises from a challenge to the 1998 sergeant's promotional process by minority officers who were not selected for promotion from officer to sergeant. Subclass A plaintiffs are minority officers who failed a written qualifying test and were not eligible for promotions based on merit or assessment scores. Subclass B plaintiffs are minority officers who passed the written qualifying test but were not promoted on the basis of merit or assessment scores. The 1998 sergeant promotional process had a disparate impact on minority officers, and the officers appeal the process as discriminatory.
After litigation involving the 1994 sergeant and lieutenant promotional processes,2 the City established the Police Department Promotion and Testing Task Force (the "Task Force"). The Task Force reviewed the work of an earlier Blue Ribbon Panel which had also met and made recommendations regarding selection procedures for the Chicago Police Department (the "CPD"). One purpose of the Task Force was to reassess the status of the promotional processes in the CPD.
After meeting, the Task Force made various recommendations as to the components of the promotional process to sergeant. The Task Force recommended that the City employ "several different types of examinations to test a broader set of knowledge, skills and abilities." R.54, Ex.1 at 5. One of the examinations recommended by the Task Force was a written qualifying test "designed to evaluate skills, knowledge and abilities that sergeants ... need on their first day on the job." Id. at 6. The Task Force noted: "Everyone who achieves a passing score on the qualifying examination should be eligible for further consideration in the promotional process." Id. at 7.
The Task Force also recommended the inclusion of "a merit selection process" in the promotional process and explained its recommendation as follows:
The qualifying examination can test knowledge, skills and abilities, but it cannot identify police men and women who have exhibited exceptional leadership in the field. Using the existing merit selection process for detectives as a model, the Department should identify police officers who have demonstrated superior ability, responsibility and dedication to police service. In order to identify these exceptional leaders, the CPD should institute a merit selection process for promotions to sergeant ... as an addition to a qualifying examination.
Id. The Task Force specifically stated that "[m]erit selection candidates should still be required to take and pass the qualifying exam." Id. It also recommended that the percentage of promotions made through merit selection be limited to thirty percent. The chair of the Task Force later testified that the thirty-percent ceiling on merit selection was a "hit and miss" number but that it was based on the previous successfulness of twenty-percent merit promotions to detective and youth officer. R.57 at ¶ V.05.
The City employed Jeanneret and Associates, outside consultants, to design the promotional exam. After conducting a job study, the consultants initially proposed a promotional process that differed in certain respects from the recommendations made by the Task Force. The process designed by the consultants included only a pass-fail written qualifying test and a separate written assessment exercise designed to measure knowledge, skills, abilities and personal characteristics required in the sergeant position. Individuals who passed the qualifying test would be eligible to take the assessment exercise, and promotions would be made in rank-order based on performance on the assessment exercise.
Given the Task Force recommendations, the City asked the consultants to include a merit selection component with job-related validity. In response, the consultants reviewed the sergeant job analysis with subject matter experts and defined factors such as leadership, mentoring, decision-making and interpersonal relations that are important to the sergeant position but less easily tested by the assessment exercise. The consultants and representatives of the CPD then designed a nomination process to identify candidates who possessed these traits. Passage of the written qualifying test was a prerequisite to promotion through the merit selection process.
The 1998 promotional process design ultimately adopted by the City included a written qualifying test, an assessment exercise and a merit selection component. The written qualifying test, a multiple choice examination designed to test knowledge necessary for the first day on the job, was developed by content-validation.3 The subject matter experts and consultants recommended the qualifying score, which represented the score a minimally qualified sergeant would be expected to obtain. Individuals who passed the written qualifying test were eligible for promotion through either performance on the assessment exercise or merit selection.
The assessment exercise, designed to ensure that sergeant candidates had the knowledge, skills, abilities and personal characteristics required for situations sergeants might encounter on their first day on the job, also was developed by content-validation. The assessment exercise was a simulation exercise requiring written responses. It focused on work-related behaviors and activities, such as officer supervision, subordinate evaluation, review of reports and situational judgment.
The merit selection component involved a three-tier process. Commanders were permitted to nominate between one and five members of their chain of command who demonstrated exemplary performance with respect to the merit-based traits identified by the subject matter experts and consultants. Nominators were required to attend training; were instructed to avoid biases, stereotypes and assessment errors, such as personal likes and dislikes; and were required to submit nominations in a specified format. Nominators were allowed to assess and submit only their most qualified officers and were held accountable for the nominations submitted and the accuracy of information contained therein. A group of high-level CPD command personnel, the Academic Selection Board ("ASB"), then reviewed the nominations and other data on the nominees. The ASB forwarded a select number of the nominees to the CPD Superintendent, who made the final decisions on merit-based promotions. Merit promotions were limited to thirty percent of the total number of promotions made.
In January of 1998, 3201 officers took the written qualifying test; 1672 were white; 1074 were African-American; 414 were Hispanic; and 41 were of other races. Of the officers taking the written qualifying test, 2682 passed: 1518 of whom were white; 787 of whom were African-American; 340 of whom were Hispanic; and 37 of whom were of other races. The success rate was 90.8% for whites, 73.3% for African-Americans, 82.1% for Hispanics and 90.2% for those of other races. Under a test for statistical significance, the written qualifying test had a disparate impact on African-Americans.4
A total of 251 officers were subsequently promoted to sergeant. 178 were promoted on the basis of performance on the rank-order assessment exercise. Of this number, 140 were white; 26 were African-American; 10 were Hispanic; and 2 were of other races. The success rate was 9.8% for whites, 3.4% for African-Americans, 3.1% for Hispanics and 5.7% for those of other races. Under the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission ("EEOC") Uniform Guidelines, the assessment exercise had a disparate impact on African-American and Hispanic officers.5
Seventy-three officers were promoted on the basis of merit selection. Of this number, 40 were white; 23 were African-American; 9 were Hispanic; and 1 was of another race. The success rate was 2.9% for whites, 3.0% for African-Americans, 2.7% for Hispanics and 2.9% for those of other races. Merit promotions had no disparate impact on any racial subset under the EEOC Uniform Guidelines.6
African-American and Hispanic officers, who comprise Subclass B, challenged...
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