Barhold v. Rodriguez, AFL-CI

CourtUnited States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (2nd Circuit)
Writing for the CourtBefore MESKILL, PIERCE and WINTER; MESKILL
Citation863 F.2d 233
Parties48 Fair Empl.Prac.Cas. 786, 48 Empl. Prac. Dec. P 38,514, 57 USLW 2418 William BARHOLD, Frederick Flood, Rita Flynn-VanEs, Ruby K. Russell, John Sullivan, and Rand Condell as President of the New York State Public Employees Federation,laintiffs-Appellants, v. Ramon J. RODRIGUEZ, Individually and as Chairman of the New York State Division of Parole; Edward Elwin, Individually and as Executive Director of the New York State Division of Parole; Martin F. Kelly, Individually and as Director of Administration of the New York State Division of Parole; Henry P. Bankhead, Individually and as Director of Personnel of the New York State Division of Parole; Omoye Cooper, Individually and as Affirmative Action Officer of the New York State Division of Parole; the Division of Parole; Mario Cuomo, Governor and Chief Executive Officer of the State of New York; and the State of New York, Defendants-Appellees. ocket 88-7361.
Docket NumberNo. 119,P,AFL-CI,D
Decision Date08 December 1988

Page 233

863 F.2d 233
48 Fair Empl.Prac.Cas. 786,
48 Empl. Prac. Dec. P 38,514, 57 USLW 2418
William BARHOLD, Frederick Flood, Rita Flynn-VanEs, Ruby K.
Russell, John Sullivan, and Rand Condell as
President of the New York State Public
Employees Federation, AFL-CIO,
Plaintiffs-Appellants,
v.
Ramon J. RODRIGUEZ, Individually and as Chairman of the New
York State Division of Parole; Edward Elwin, Individually
and as Executive Director of the New York State Division of
Parole; Martin F. Kelly, Individually and as Director of
Administration of the New York State Division of Parole;
Henry P. Bankhead, Individually and as Director of Personnel
of the New York State Division of Parole; Omoye Cooper,
Individually and as Affirmative Action Officer of the New
York State Division of Parole; the Division of Parole;
Mario Cuomo, Governor and Chief Executive Officer of the
State of New York; and the State of New York, Defendants-Appellees.
No. 119, Docket 88-7361.
United States Court of Appeals,
Second Circuit.
Argued Sept. 23, 1988.
Decided Dec. 8, 1988.

Page 234

Nancy Burritt, Albany, N.Y. (Richard E. Casagrande, Albany, N.Y., of counsel), for plaintiffs-appellants.

Michael S. Buskus, Asst. Atty. Gen., State of N.Y., Albany, N.Y. (Robert Abrams, Atty. Gen. of State of N.Y., O. Peter Sherwood, Sol. Gen., Peter H. Schiff, Deputy Sol. Gen., State of N.Y., Albany, N.Y., of counsel), for defendants-appellees.

Before MESKILL, PIERCE and WINTER, Circuit Judges.

MESKILL, Circuit Judge:

Plaintiffs appeal the decision of the United States District Court for the Northern District of New York, McAvoy, J., denying their motion for summary judgment and granting defendants' motion for summary judgment. Appellees are the New York State Division of Parole, certain of its employees, New York Governor Mario Cuomo and the State of New York. Plaintiffs-appellants Flood, Flynn-VanEs and Sullivan are employees of the Division with at least ten years seniority service with the State of New York. They challenge an affirmative action plan (plan), designed and implemented by the Division, as violative of the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution.

The district court held that Barhold, Russell and Condell lacked standing. Only Barhold and Russell challenge that ruling on appeal. Appellees in their brief say they "withdraw their defense of lack of standing," Br. of Appellees at 18 n. 8. This, of course, they cannot do. Standing is a jurisdictional matter; the defendants are mistaken in their notion that a defense of lack of standing can be "withdrawn." To the contrary, insofar as standing is an article III requirement for jurisdiction, the parties do not have the power to confer such jurisdiction upon the Court by conceding the standing of certain plaintiffs. See In re Stable Mews Associates, 778 F.2d 121, 124-25 (2d Cir.1985). In any event, we believe the district court was correct in its ruling that Barhold and Russell do not have standing. Both appellants have been reassigned under the plan; they have not been prevented from relocating and have sustained no cognizable injury. Plaintiffs' allegation that New York's policy of "stare decisis " serves to provide them with standing is insufficient to support article III jurisdiction. Their argument translates into one that equates the danger of collateral estoppel with injury. Plaintiffs fail to note that in the absence of initial injury-- i.e., a loss of reassignment opportunity--there is no reason to apply principles of stare decisis to either Barhold or Russell. As they already have received their requested reassignments, there is no danger that an adverse decision would affect them; similarly, relief would not be necessary should the district court's decision on remand be favorable to them.

Page 235

In this opinion we refer to the plaintiffs as "Seniors" and the defendants as "Division."

The district court concluded that Division had shown a history of past discrimination through statistical evidence, therefore proving a compelling state interest. It also concluded that the plan was narrowly tailored to meet that compelling state interest. The court therefore concluded that the plan did not violate the Constitution and granted summary judgment to Division. We affirm that part of the district court's order denying summary judgment to Seniors, vacate that part granting summary judgment to Division, and remand for further proceedings.

BACKGROUND

This appeal involves a challenge by certain New York State employees of varying backgrounds to an affirmative action plan promulgated by their employer, the Division. The plan was drawn up in response to what the Division perceived as an under-representation of women and minorities in parole officer positions outside the New York City area. J.App. at 252.

Parole officers in New York State are hired on a statewide basis; when hired, an officer cannot choose the office in which he or she wishes to work. Id. at 229. After being hired, however, officers are able to request a reassignment from one office in the state to another; in the past, priority for these reassignments was based, through longstanding practice, on seniority. Id. at 230. Nevertheless, the Division always reserved the right to use bases other than seniority to determine who would be reassigned, and had made occasional reassignments for reasons of hardship and personnel relations. Id. at 67, 77, 111, 427-28, 458-59.

When a position opened up at an office, the Division would first seek current employees who wished to transfer to fill the position. If there were no such requests, the Division would then look to laid-off employees. Finally, if there were no former or current employees interested, the Division would open the position to the Civil Service new hire list. Id. at 311; Br. of Appellants at 7. Most senior employees requested reassignment out of New York City, filling any vacancies that occurred upstate or on Long Island. As a result, most positions that were opened to new hires were in New York City, and recruitment efforts that increased numbers of women and minorities in the Division only did so there.

At the time the Division instituted the plan, the disparity between the composition of New York City parole officers and other parole officers in the state was evident. According to Division's statistics, even after increased recruitment efforts, women and minorities comprised less than twelve percent of the parole officers in upstate New York and Long Island, while they comprised more than forty percent of the officers in New York City. J.App. at 265. To correct this situation, the Division designed its affirmative action plan to make seniority a factor in all reassignments, but the sole factor in only one-quarter of them. The remaining three-quarters were to be made on the basis of seniority, race and gender. Three lists were created, consisting of the names of White females, Blacks, and Hispanics; a fourth was designated as "all employees." Id. at 52-53. Each region identified as unrepresentative, based on comparisons of actual employees to available workers in New York State with comparable job skills, was assigned a hiring goal by which to assess progress. Id. at 250-61.

The plan took effect in January 1986, with reassignments made on a rotating basis from the four lists. Although scheduled to end in a year, the plan was modified in May 1986 after preliminary results showed some realignment of workforce composition. Id. at 57-59. As modified, the...

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82 practice notes
  • Gulino v. Board of Educ., City of New York, No. 96 Civ. 8414(CBM).
    • United States
    • United States District Courts. 2nd Circuit. United States District Courts. 2nd Circuit. Southern District of New York
    • November 25, 2002
    ...filed cross motions for summary judgment, each has the burden of presenting evidence in support of its motion. See Barhold v. Rodriguez, 863 F.2d 233, 236 (2d Cir.1988). However, if the moving party meets its initial burden, the non-moving party may not rely on conclusory allegations or spe......
  • Connecticut State Dept. of Social Ser. v. Thompson, No. CIV.A.3:99 CV 2020 S.
    • United States
    • United States District Courts. 2nd Circuit. United States District Court (Connecticut)
    • September 9, 2002
    ...to support its motion that would allow the district court, if appropriate, to direct a verdict in its favor." Barhold v. Rodriguez, 863 F.2d 233, 236 (2d Cir.1988). Thus, "[w]hen faced with cross-motions for summary judgment, a district court is not required to grant judgment as a matter of......
  • Connecticut State Department of Social Services v. Thompson, Civ. Action No. 3:99 CV 2020 (SRU) (D. Conn. 9/9/2002), Civ. Action No. 3:99 CV 2020 (SRU).
    • United States
    • United States District Courts. 2nd Circuit. United States District Court (Connecticut)
    • September 9, 2002
    ...to support its motion that would allow the district court, if appropriate, to direct a verdict in its favor." Barhold v. Rodriguez, 863 F.2d 233, 236 (2d Cir. 1988). Thus, "[w]hen faced with cross-motions for summary judgment, a district court is not required to grant judgment as a matter o......
  • Jones-Hamilton Co. v. Beazer Materials & Services, Inc., JONES-HAMILTON
    • United States
    • United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (9th Circuit)
    • August 24, 1992
    ...F.2d 247, 253 (4th Cir.1992); American Motorists Ins. Co. v. United Furnace Co., 876 F.2d 293, 302 (2d Cir.1989); Barhold v. Rodriguez, 863 F.2d 233, 237 (2d Cir.1988); Placid Oil Co. v. Ashland Oil, Inc., 792 F.2d 1127, 1133-34 (Temp.Emer.Ct.App.1986); Morgan Guaranty Trust Co. v. Martin, ......
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80 cases
  • Connecticut State Dept. of Social Ser. v. Thompson, No. CIV.A.3:99 CV 2020 S.
    • United States
    • United States District Courts. 2nd Circuit. United States District Court (Connecticut)
    • September 9, 2002
    ...to support its motion that would allow the district court, if appropriate, to direct a verdict in its favor." Barhold v. Rodriguez, 863 F.2d 233, 236 (2d Cir.1988). Thus, "[w]hen faced with cross-motions for summary judgment, a district court is not required to grant judgment as a matter of......
  • Connecticut State Department of Social Services v. Thompson, Civ. Action No. 3:99 CV 2020 (SRU) (D. Conn. 9/9/2002), Civ. Action No. 3:99 CV 2020 (SRU).
    • United States
    • United States District Courts. 2nd Circuit. United States District Court (Connecticut)
    • September 9, 2002
    ...to support its motion that would allow the district court, if appropriate, to direct a verdict in its favor." Barhold v. Rodriguez, 863 F.2d 233, 236 (2d Cir. 1988). Thus, "[w]hen faced with cross-motions for summary judgment, a district court is not required to grant judgment as a matter o......
  • Gelfman v. Capitol Indem. Corp., No. 11–CV–236 DLIRLM.
    • United States
    • United States District Courts. 2nd Circuit. United States District Court (Eastern District of New York)
    • August 14, 2014
    ...Each cross-movant is required to present sufficient evidence to allow the court to enter judgment in its favor. See Barhold v. Rodriguez, 863 F.2d 233, 236 (2d Cir.1988).II. The Impact of Plaintiffs' Failure to Follow Local Civil Rule 56.1 This district's Local Civil Rule 56.1(a) requires a......
  • Gelfman v. Capitol Indem. Corp., No. 11–CV–236 (DLI)(RLM).
    • United States
    • United States District Courts. 2nd Circuit. United States District Court (Eastern District of New York)
    • August 14, 2014
    ...Each cross-movant is required to present sufficient evidence to allow the court to enter judgment in its favor. See Barhold v. Rodriguez, 863 F.2d 233, 236 (2d II. The Impact of Plaintiffs' Failure to Follow Local Civil Rule 56.1 This district's Local Civil Rule 56.1(a) requires a party see......
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1 books & journal articles
  • RACE-BASED REMEDIES IN CRIMINAL LAW.
    • United States
    • William and Mary Law Review Vol. 63 Nbr. 1, October 2021
    • October 1, 2021
    ...Id. at 379-80 (Rehnquist, C.J., dissenting). (238.) Wittmer v. Peters, 87 F.3d 916, 919 (7th Cir. 1996) (citing Barhold v. Rodriguez, 863 F.2d 233, 238 (2d Cir. 1988); Talbert v. City of Richmond, 648 F.2d 925, 931-32 (4th Cir. 1981); Detroit Police Officers' Ass'n v. Young, 608 F.2d 671, 6......

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