Lee v. City of Richmond

• Decision Date: 26 July 1978
• Docket Number: Civ. A. No. 77-0211-R.
• Parties: Saundra LEE and Louis Fant, Individually and on behalf of all persons similarly situated, Plaintiffs, v. CITY OF RICHMOND, Defendant.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Eastern District of Virginia

456 F. Supp. 756

Saundra LEE and Louis Fant, Individually and on behalf of all persons similarly situated, Plaintiffs, v. CITY OF RICHMOND, Defendant.

Civ. A. No. 77-0211-R.

United States District Court, E. D. Virginia, Richmond Division.

July 26, 1978.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

Susan G. Moenssens, Moenssens & Moenssens, Richmond, Va., for plaintiffs.

James R. Saul, Asst. City Atty., Richmond, Va., for defendant.

OPINION AND ORDER

CLARKE, District Judge.

This is an action brought pursuant to Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as amended, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e, et seq. (hereinafter Title VII). Jurisdiction is based on 28 U.S.C. § 1343(4), 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-5(f)(3). Plaintiffs, Saundra Lee and Louis A. Fant, sue on their own behalf and on behalf of all other persons similarly situated for injunctive relief, damages, promotion, back pay, front pay and any other relief which might be appropriate to put an end to the allegedly discriminatory employment practices of the Department of Data Processing of the City of Richmond, Virginia. The case was tried to the Court and decision was reserved until the trial minutes could be transcribed and briefs submitted. The Court having thoroughly reviewed the entire record, the proposed findings of fact and conclusions of law and arguments of counsel now renders its judgment.

Parties and Issues

Plaintiff Saundra Lee is a black, female citizen of the United States and a resident of Henrico County, Virginia. Plaintiff Louis A. Fant is a black, male citizen of the United States and a resident of Henrico County, Virginia. Both plaintiffs are employed by the City of Richmond in the Data Processing Department (hereinafter Department). Lee works as "data entry transcriber" and Fant works as a senior EDP data control technician. Defendant City of Richmond (hereinafter City) is an employer within the meaning of Title VII, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e(b).

This action has been certified as a class action pursuant to Rule 23(b)(2), Fed.R. Civ.P., on behalf of all black persons who are now employed and who have in the past been employed by the City of Richmond in its Department of Data Processing on or after August 29, 1975.

Plaintiffs claim that the procedures utilized by the Department in selecting persons to fill vacancies and grant promotions are discriminatory and have an adverse impact upon black persons and that these procedures have had and continue to have a discriminatory impact on plaintiffs.

Plaintiffs claim the City has engaged and continues to engage in unlawful and discriminatory employment practices and policies which limit the employment and advancement opportunities for black persons.

Plaintiffs specifically claim that in the years 1973 and 1975 they were denied promotions to the position of programmer trainee because of their race.

Methods of Proof

To prove their charges of discriminatory employment practices by the Department, plaintiffs have introduced extensive evidence concerning their own qualifications and the circumstances surrounding their failure to be promoted to the position of programmer trainee in 1973 and 1975. A large quantity of statistical data has been introduced to buttress plaintiffs' claims of a pattern of systematic racial discrimination throughout the Department. In addition, the testimony of other current or former employees of the Department was introduced to show both an overall pattern and individual instances of racially discriminatory employment practices.

The Programmer Trainee Position

Although other claims have been made, the heart of the lawsuit involves the selection process for the programmer trainee position. Therefore, the Court will deal with this issue before addressing the remaining claims.

Plaintiff Saundra Lee, an applicant for the trainee position in 1973 and 1975, is a black resident of Henrico County, Virginia, and is currently employed by the Department. Lee was hired by the Department on January 20, 1969, as a Keypunch Operator II at the biweekly salary of $176. She was promoted to Verifier Operator on December 6, 1975, at $303 biweekly and her job title was changed on July 31, 1976, to EDP Data Entry Transcriber with a biweekly salary of $319. She is currently earning $338 biweekly in the same position.

Lee is a graduate of Armstrong High School. Before being employed by the City, she worked for Central National Bank and C & P Telephone Company. Prior to October 1973, she attended a course at Richmond Technical Center which taught the computer language COBOL (an acronym for Common Business Oriented Language). Due to personal problems, she failed to complete this course. Lee has taught a course in keypunch at the Richmond Community Action program for approximately the past four years.

Prior to August 1975, Lee had informed her superiors, including Ruth Hughes, the Data Entry Manager, and Paul Banks, the Director of the Department, of her desire to advance into programming. To help achieve her goal of becoming a computer programmer, Lee in 1974 began using the video tape library made available to its employees by the Department. She generally worked in the library from 3:00-5:00 P.M. after her regular hours of employment and she eventually completed the video course. Additionally, Lee received guidance in programming from Curtis Finney, a black computer programmer, who helped her with a COBOL textbook, provided her with an IBM self-study course in programming which she completed and generally helped her with programming problems. Additionally, Lee completed several simple test programs under Finney's supervision. She was also given some test program assignments by Carl Lichvarcik, Manager of the Programming Division. None of her programs were put into operation by the Department. Finney thought Lee had the ability to be a programmer.

Lee has consistently been rated an above average or excellent data entry worker with initiative and tenacity. Because of her high degree of accuracy, she was regularly given the more complicated work in the Data Entry Division.

Louis A. Fant, an applicant for the programmer trainee position in 1973 and 1975, is a black resident of Henrico County, Virginia, and is currently employed by the City of Richmond's Department of Data Processing. Fant was hired by the Department of Data Processing on March 25, 1968, as a Tab Equipment Operator I, at the biweekly salary of $152. He was promoted to Tab Equipment Operator II on December 14, 1968, at the biweekly salary of $192. His job title was changed to EDP Control Technician on July 10, 1971, at the biweekly salary of $259. On November 24, 1973, he was promoted to Senior EDP Control Technician making $295 biweekly. At present, Fant works as a Senior EDP Data Control Technician and makes $411 every two weeks.

Prior to October 1973, Fant had earned a high school GED (general equivalency diploma), attended the Electronic Computer Programming Institute for nine months where he received a Certificate of Achievement, and completed a course at Richmond Technical Center which taught the computer language known as COBOL and in which he earned the grade of "B". He also had completed a course in leadership development offered by the Supervisory Development Program of the City of Richmond.

Fant, prior to October 1973, informed his superiors, including Paul Banks, Director of the Department, Tom Gammon, Computer Operations Manager, and Tom Hatch, a supervisor in the Programming Division, of his desire to become a programmer. As a result of this ambition, Fant was given practice programming assignments by Department programmers. In most instances, he failed to complete these practice assignments or failed to finish them on time. Fant did complete a test system program he worked on with three other employees, Cathy Rogers, David Rogers and James Baisey. The programs Fant did complete were considered inefficient by those monitoring his training. He was told prior to October 1973 by Tom Hatch that his programs were poorly done and that he simply was not suited to programming. (Hatch also told James Baisey, a white employee, who was studying programming, that his programs were not efficient and he was not programmer material. Baisey subsequently left City employment.) However, a program on tax refund payments written by Fant was put in actual operation by the Department. This program, a simple listing system, was extensively modified by other programmers before and after it went into production. Fant's experience and training in programming remained unaltered between October 1973 and August 1975, the dates the programmer trainee selections here in dispute were made.

Throughout his career in the Department, Fant has been considered by his supervisors to be a hard worker and has been above average in periodic employee evaluations. In his current position of Senior Control Technician, Fant is responsible for the tax section, one of the more difficult areas in his division, and has been evaluated as a dependable employee who does his job very well.

Dawn Maples Jamison, an applicant for the programmer trainee position in 1973 and 1975, is a black resident of Richmond, Virginia. She was hired by the City on October 18, 1971, as a keypunch operator. She was promoted to EDP Computer Operator sometime after October 1973 and still works in that capacity for the Department.

Prior to October 1973, Jamison had graduated from high school and completed two and one-half years of college at Virginia Commonwealth University and an additional year of business college at Smithdeal Massey. She discussed her desire to become a programmer with Carl Lichvarcik, Manager of the Programming Division, and Paul Banks, Director of the Department. Subsequent to October 1973, but prior to August 1975, Jamison completed and received the grade of "B" in the COBOL course given by Gary Darby at Richmond Technical Center. In the...