Brooks v. Ashtabula County Welfare Dept.

• Decision Date: 01 September 1983
• Docket Number: No. 81-3338,81-3338
• Citation: 717 F.2d 263
• Parties: 32 Fair Empl.Prac.Cas. 1368, 32 Empl. Prac. Dec. P 33,803 Irene BROOKS, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. ASHTABULA COUNTY WELFARE DEPARTMENT; Ashtabula County Commissioner; Department of State Personnel, Defendants-Appellants.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Sixth Circuit

Page 263

717 F.2d 263

32 Fair Empl.Prac.Cas. 1368,

32 Empl. Prac. Dec. P 33,803

Irene BROOKS, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. ASHTABULA COUNTY WELFARE DEPARTMENT; Ashtabula County

Commissioner; Department of State Personnel,

Defendants-Appellants.

No. 81-3338.

United States Court of Appeals, Sixth Circuit.

Argued Feb. 3, 1983.

Decided Sept. 1, 1983.

Malcolm C. Douglas (argued), Cleveland, Ohio, for defendants-appellants.

Alan I. Goodman (argued), Cleveland, Ohio, Kathryn J. King (argued), Simsbury, Conn., for plaintiff-appellee.

Before MARTIN and KRUPANSKY, Circuit Judges, and PHILLIPS, Senior Circuit Judge.

BOYCE F. MARTIN, Jr., Circuit Judge.

Ashtabula County Welfare Department appeals from the district court's determination that it discriminated against Irene Brooks on the basis of her sex in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. Sec. 2000e, and 42 U.S.C. Sec. 1983. The court found that the Welfare Department treated Ms. Brooks and other female employees differently from male employees in the terms, conditions, and privileges of their employment; in job assignments and classifications; and in promotional opportunities. Based upon its finding of disparate treatment in violation of Title VII, the court concluded that the plaintiff had also established a violation of section 1983. Ms. Brooks was granted monetary and injunctive relief.

The Ashtabula County Welfare Department, an arm of the Ashtabula County government, provides social services to county residents including aid to the aged, to dependent children and to the disabled, and special relief programs such as Medicaid and food stamps. John H. Koren became the Department director in 1959. He has ultimate responsibility for all personnel decisions within the Department. The Department has grown from ten employees in 1959, to forty-three in 1970, and to seventy-four in 1980.

Ms. Brooks joined the Department in 1963 as a Caseworker Level I (of four possible levels). She had completed three years of college and had three years' school teaching experience. By 1967, she had been promoted to Caseworker Level III. On several occasions in the late 1960's, Ms. Brooks had requested a promotion to a supervisory position. Unlike many other supervisory positions, Caseworker Level IV did not require a college degree. During the years 1970 to 1973, her supervisor, Thomas Schullery, also recommended her for promotion to a supervisory level and gave her supervisory duties within her assigned job. Director Koren repeatedly ignored or refused Ms. Brooks' requests for promotions because he believed she was temperamentally ill-suited to become a supervisor. In his judgment, her attitude was abrasive and judgmental, she had a propensity for making arbitrary moral judgments about welfare clients, and she aggravated co-workers, clients, lawyers, and doctors with whom her job brought her into contact. While Koren maintained that he had received numerous complaints about Ms. Brooks' attitude, her personnel file contained only one comment, a favorable evaluation from Thomas Schullery. At trial, however, Ms. Brooks' supervisor from 1976 to 1979 testified in support of Mr. Koren, describing Ms. Brooks as having had a poor attitude. Although Ms. Brooks possessed the minimum qualifications for promotion to positions not requiring a college degree, she was never given a position entailing supervisory responsibility.

Other evidence of promotional practices and policies within the Department consisted of promotional histories of other employees. Judy Beahon was hired in June, 1969 as a Social Worker Level I (of four possible levels). She possessed the requisite undergraduate degree for this position. Thomas Schullery, also possessing an undergraduate degree, was hired six months later to the same position. Two years later Beahon was a Social Worker Level II, while Schullery had achieved Social Worker Level IV, the highest level. Paul Fuller, hired in 1970 to the same rank and duties as Beahon, moved to Social Worker Level IV by 1974. Both Schullery's and Fuller's promotions included supervisory responsibilities, but Beahon never received such responsibilities. The evidence as a whole showed that few if any women held supervisory positions before 1973. But after that date, and particularly after 1976, the number of female supervisors increased and finally exceeded the number of male supervisors.

The district court, 535 F.Supp. 366, also admitted evidence regarding compensation practices within the Department. Ralph Butler joined the Department in 1973 at a position similar to Ms. Brooks' but with a higher classification and salary. Butler, with two years of college experience and eight years of experience as an interviewer with the Ohio Bureau of Employment Services, was hired into a newly created administrative position in the Department's Medicaid Unit. Although Ms. Brooks was qualified for the position, Koren never considered placing her there. The district court found that Butler's starting wage was $5.55 per hour while Ms. Brooks earned $4.80 per hour for a job with the same duties and responsibilities. The court rejected Director Koren's proffered explanation for the disparity, that Butler was making a lateral transfer from another state job and that his compensation was to remain constant. By July 1978, Ms. Brooks' salary equaled Butler's. The following year, it exceeded his.

There was also testimony concerning other practices within the Department. It was undisputed that job vacancies were not posted and often remained unknown by the staff until filled. The Department had no procedures for either competitive bidding or examinations for vacancies. An organizational chart of the Department was never posted but could be viewed upon request to Director Koren's assistant. Supervisors were not required to prepare regular written evaluations. Those evaluations that were written either were not placed in personnel files or were not consulted by Koren when making promotion decisions. Koren articulated the factors he considered when making such decisions. They included: the minimum qualifications required by state law; a positive outlook toward one's fellow man; the ability to "absorb" rules and regulations; the ability to give and follow instructions; the ability to get along with others; and an understanding of human need. In 1971, in response to complaints from departmental employees, the Ashtabula County Welfare Advisory Board recommended to Koren that he institute a program of written personnel policies, a required semiannual written evaluation, and promote within the Department according to merit. Koren testified that he had endeavored to implement these recommendations.

Suit was filed in March, 1978, alleging violations of Title VII and section 1983. The case proceeded under a disparate treatment theory, Brooks having alleged that the Department had treated her differently from male employees because of her sex. See International Brotherhood of Teamsters v. United States, 431 U.S. 324, 335 n. 15, 97 S.Ct. 1843, 1854 n. 15, 52 L.Ed.2d 396 (1977). On May 7, 1981, after a two-day bench trial, the district court rendered a decision in plaintiff's favor. Relying upon the Texas Department of Community Affairs v. Burdine, 450 U.S. 248, 101 S.Ct. 1089, 67 L.Ed.2d 207 (1981) standard, it found that the plaintiff had made out a prima facie case of disparate treatment. In making this determination, the court, upon the authority of Hazelwood School District v. United States, 433 U.S. 299, 97 S.Ct. 2736, 53 L.Ed.2d 768 (1977), relied in part on evidence of pre-1972 policies of the Department. It concluded that the defendants had failed to rebut the prima facie case because, it found, Director Koren's legitimate reason for not promoting Ms. Brooks was unworthy of belief. Having found Title VII liability, the court then held the defendants liable for violating section 1983, ruling that a showing of disparate treatment under the former constituted a showing of intentional discrimination under the latter. The court ordered the defendants to implement specific promotional policies and to promote Ms. Brooks. The plaintiff also received monetary damages, including back pay as a supervisor from July 3, 1971 to the present.

The defendants challenge the decision on several fronts. First, the defendants contend that the court erred in discrediting their articulated justification for not promoting the plaintiff and in failing to require the plaintiff to produce rebuttal evidence demonstrating that the justification was pretext. Second, the defendants maintain the court erred when comparing the jobs, skills and compensation of Ms. Brooks and Ralph Butler. The defendants also challenge the court's application of Hazelwood to consider pre-Act conduct in order to find the defendants liable and to assess damages. Finally, the defendants object to the courts' equating liability under Title VII with section 1983 liability in the absence of direct evidence of the defendants' intent to discriminate.

The parties do not dispute the fact that Ms. Brooks established a prima facie case of sex discrimination. The district court found the plaintiff had established a prima facie case with respect to the "terms and conditions of employment; assignment of job classifications and promotional opportunities within the Department; and the specific allegations about the hiring of Ralph Butler, including the equal pay aspect of those allegations." Dist.Ct. Memorandum Opinion, at p. 16. The first issue before us, then, concerns the defendants' articulated nondiscriminatory justification for their decisions and the plaintiff's rebuttal evidence.

In Texas Department of Community Affairs v. Burdine, the Supreme Court refined the allocation of burdens and order of proof in a Title VII suit, first enunciated in McDonnell Douglas Corp. v. Green, 411 U.S. 792, 93 S.Ct. 1817, 36 L.Ed.2d 668 (1973).

Fi...