Foxworth v. Pennsylvania State Police

• Decision Date: 29 November 2005
• Docket Number: Civil Action No. 03-CV-6795.
• Citation: 402 F.Supp.2d 523
• Parties: Roderick FOXWORTH, Jr. v. PENNSYLVANIA STATE POLICE, et al.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Eastern District of Pennsylvania

402 F.Supp.2d 523

Roderick FOXWORTH, Jr. v. PENNSYLVANIA STATE POLICE, et al.

Civil Action No. 03-CV-6795.

United States District Court, E.D. Pennsylvania.

November 29, 2005.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

Garrett D. Page, Richard W. Rogers & Assoc., Norristown, PA, for Plaintiff.

Claudia M. Tesoro, Office Of Attorney General, Philadelphia, PA, for Defendants.

MEMORANDUM

BAYLSON, District Judge.

I. Introduction

Plaintiff Roderick Foxworth, Jr. ("Plaintiff" or "Foxworth") brings this action alleging employment discrimination based on race against the Pennsylvania State Police ("PSP"), Jeffrey Miller, Terry McElheny, Steven McDaniel, and Linda M. Bonney (collectively, "Defendants") pursuant to 42 U.S.C. §§ 1981 and 1983, as well as Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e et seq. ("Title VII"). Presently before this Court is Defendants' Motion for Summary Judgment, pursuant to F.R. Civ. P. 56. For the reasons set forth below, the Defendants' Motion is granted on all claims.

II. Background

A. Procedural Background

Plaintiff filed his original employment discrimination and civil rights Complaint on December 19, 2003. On January 19, 2005, he filed an Amended Complaint.¹ On April 11, 2005, this court issued a memorandum and order granting in part and denying in part Defendants' motion to dismiss the Amended Complaint.² Thereafter, on April 21, 2005, Plaintiff filed his "Third [sic] Amended Complaint,"³ which states Title VII, due process and equal protection claims. Defendants filed this Motion for Summary Judgment (Doc. No. 48) on August 15, 2005. Briefing in this matter was complete on September 16, 2005. Oral argument was held on November 22, 2005.

B. Factual Background

Plaintiff is a former applicant to the position of Pennsylvania State Police cadet. Defendant Jeffrey Miller ("Miller") is the Commissioner of the PSP, a position he has held since January 21, 2003. He was the acting Commissioner at the time of the Plaintiff's application to the PSP. Defendant Terry McElheny ("McElheny"), now retired, was a trooper with the PSP for approximately thirty-four years, and served as the coordinator of the polygraph screening process utilized by the PSP for trooper cadet applicants. Defendant Steven O. McDaniel ("McDaniel"), now a Captain and Commander of Troop J in Lancaster and Chester Counties, was a Lieutenant and Supervisor of the Recruitment Section of the PSP Bureau of Human Resources at the time of the events at issue. Finally, Defendant Linda M. Bonney ("Bonney") is the Director of Human Resources for the Pennsylvania State Police, a position she has held since 1998. (Def.'s Mot. Summ. J. at 3-8; Pl.'s Resp. to Summ. J. at 3-8).

Plaintiff is a twenty-six year-old African-American male who applied to be a cadet for the PSP. In April 2003, when he twenty-three years old, Plaintiff submitted an application for employment to the PSP. Plaintiff took and passed the required written and oral examinations, scoring well on both. Thereafter, the PSP ran a criminal history check on Plaintiff. After the record check came back negative, and because of his examination scores, Plaintiff received a letter from the PSP's Bureau of Human Resources on April 25, 2003 extending him a "conditional offer" of employment. This same letter informed Plaintiff that he had to successfully complete the remaining Cadet selection procedures to receive a bona fide offer, but that he was to report to the PSP academy on May 15, 2003 for further processing. Plaintiff was instructed to complete and bring with him a "Processing Packet." (Def.'s Mot. Summ. J. at 40-49, 46; Pltf.'s Memo. at 40-49).

In his application form, Plaintiff candidly included detailed information about a theft he had committed in 1998 when he was eighteen years old. Id. at 50. At that time, Plaintiff was working as a shift supervisor at a Boston Market restaurant. Plaintiff and a co-worker faked a theft, took cash and made a false police report, indicating to the police that the restaurant had been robbed. In fact, the two kept the money ($4,000, which they split). Soon thereafter, after being summoned by police for further questioning, Plaintiff told the truth about the theft and his role in it. He was arrested and charged with a variety of offenses, pursuant to which Plaintiff applied for and was granted Accelerated Rehabilitative Disposition ("ARD"). Id. at 9-18.

ARD is a program for first time offenders, whereby if a defendant successfully completes a probationary period, the charges are dismissed and the criminal record is expunged. Pa. R.Crim. P. 300 et seq.; Gilles v. Davis, 427 F.3d 197, 209 (3d Cir.2005); Junod v. Bader, 312 Pa.Super. 92, 458 A.2d 251, 253-54 (1983). Its purpose is both to rehabilitate offenders and to foster judicial economy by promptly disposing of minor criminal charges. Gilles, 427 F.3d at 209. Expungements are governed by the Criminal History Information Act ("CHRIA"), 18 Pa. Cons.Stat. § 9101, et seq. Pursuant to the CHRIA, the PSP is the "Central Repository," responsible for maintaining criminal records. 18 Pa. Cons.Stat. § 9102. When the Expungement Unit of the PSP receives an ARD order to expunge, that individual's criminal record is taken "off line," meaning no record will appear if anyone runs a criminal record check on the person. However, the Repository maintains a list of persons whose convictions have been expunged pursuant to ARD, in case prosecutors in the future need to decide if an individual is eligible to receive ARD again.⁴ On July 6, 2001, after Plaintiff complied with the ARD requirements, the Montgomery County Court of Common Pleas granted his petition to expunge his criminal record. His attorney then forwarded copies of the expungement order to the PSP and to other agencies. Because the above procedures were followed and the offense was expunged, when PSP's Bureau of Human Resources ran Plaintiff's record in 2003, it found he had no criminal history. (Def.'s Mot. Summ. J. at 20-29, 46; Pl.'s Resp. to Summ. J. at 20-29, 46).

When Plaintiff arrived at the academy on May 15, 2003, he submitted his application packet and completed an additional "Polygraph Screening Booklet," in which he also included information about the Boston Market theft. This booklet included information about certain automatic disqualification factors. After being advised to do so by Rose Polek,⁵ Defendant McElheny took Plaintiff aside and informed him that, because of his admitted criminal behavior, he was subject to disqualification. (Def.'s Mot. Summ. J. at 56-61; Pl.'s Resp. to Summ. J. at 56-61).

Since 1997, the PSP has had in place "automatic disqualification factors" in connection with the hiring of police cadets. If any one of these factors is found to be present at any stage of the application process, the applicant is automatically disqualified from further consideration. At the time of Plaintiff's application to the PSP, a cadet applicant was subject to disqualification on the basis of "criminal behavior" if, among other things, he or she engaged in "criminal behavior, regardless if arrested, for admissions by the applicant that would be graded as a Misdemeanor-1 or higher." (Def's Ex. E/Polek 5 — Automatic Disqualification Factors). Plaintiff was told he would have to withdraw his application or other law enforcement agencies would find out and not hire him either. Rather than risk this, Plaintiff withdrew his application. However, Plaintiff protested, emphasizing his record had been expunged pursuant to ARD. The same day, Plaintiff discussed his concerns with Defendant McDaniel, who reiterated that the automatic disqualification factors apply to admitted criminal behavior, regardless of whether the individual was arrested or convicted. Plaintiff also later made a request to Defendant Bonney to review his case, but his request to appeal his disqualification was denied. Id. at 51-67. Furthermore, Plaintiff alleges Commissioner Miller implemented the policies and procedures at issue for the entire agency, including accepting and acquiescing in, the PSP's application of "a discriminatory and improper automatic disqualification" factor: admissions of expunged charges. Id. at ¶¶ 24-27. However, the automatic disqualification factors had been in place for several years before Miller took office and other than his role of setting and implementing policy and procedure, he does not participate in the individual cadet hiring decisions or in processing individual expungement orders. Id. at ¶¶ 29, 39.

Plaintiff was one of 2,993 applicants who took the written Cadet examination in 2003 and was one of 888 applicants on the Cadet Eligibility List after the oral portion of testing. Of the applicants who were invited back after testing because no criminal histories were revealed, forty-three (not including Plaintiff) were disqualified or withdrew their applications because of criminal behavior.⁶ Of these, forty-one were white and two were black. Additionally in 2002-03(1) other than Plaintiff, no other cadet applicant who had an ARD in the past was disqualified or withdrew their applications because of criminal behavior, and (2) no cadet applicant who successfully completed the selection process had an expunged ARD offense in their past. Id. at ¶¶ 68-74.

Finally, it is relevant to note that, unrelated to Plaintiff's case, the PSP's hiring practices have in the past been challenged. See Bolden v. Pa. State Police, 371 F.Supp. 1096 (E.D.Pa.1974). In the Bolden litigation, a class action commenced more than thirty years ago and alleging discrimination in employment and promotion policies against the PSP, a consent decree was entered which remained in effect for approximately twenty-five years. In 1999, upon the joint motion of all parties, the consent decree was dissolved. See Bolden v. Pa. State Police, No. 73-2604, 1999 WL 80289 (E.D.Pa. Feb.1, 1999). At that time, "the cadet hiring criteria,...