Ligons v. Bechtel Power Corp.

• Decision Date: 16 June 1980
• Docket Number: No. 79-1848,79-1848
• Citation: 625 F.2d 771
• Parties: 24 Fair Empl.Prac.Cas. 1680, 23 Empl. Prac. Dec. P 31,017 Charles E. LIGONS, Appellant, v. BECHTEL POWER CORPORATION, Appellee.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Eighth Circuit

Page 771

625 F.2d 771

24 Fair Empl.Prac.Cas. 1680,

23 Empl. Prac. Dec. P 31,017

Charles E. LIGONS, Appellant, v. BECHTEL POWER CORPORATION, Appellee.

No. 79-1848.

United States Court of Appeals Eighth Circuit.

Submitted April 14, 1980.

Decided June 16, 1980.

Lloyd E. Humphreys, Humphreys & Associates, Cedar Rapids, Iowa, for appellant.

Patrick M. Roby, Shuttleworth & Ingersoll, Cedar Rapids, Iowa, for appellee; Thomas M. Collins, Jr., Cedar Rapids, Iowa, on brief.

Before LAY, Chief Judge, ROSS, Circuit Judge, and LARSON, District Judge. ^*

ROSS, Circuit Judge.

Charles E. Ligons appeals from a judgment of the district court ¹ rejecting his claims brought pursuant to Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as amended, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e, et seq. ² In that action Ligons alleged that his employer, Bechtel Power Corporation, had discriminated against him on the basis of race in its employment testing and layoff practices.

Following a hearing, the district court denied Ligons' claim, finding that Bechtel had rebutted Ligons' prima facie case of disparate treatment and that Ligons had failed to establish by competent evidence that Bechtel's proffered justifications were a mere pretext for racial discrimination. We affirm.

Ligons, a black, was first employed by Bechtel in September of 1971 as a welder at the Iowa Electric Light and Power Duane Arnold Energy Center construction site at Palo, Iowa. To meet its contractual obligations with Iowa Electric, Bechtel required that its welders be qualified in accordance with standards of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code (ASME), Section IX (1971 ed.). That Code prescribes objective criteria for testing welders on various types of welding work and for placing them in two general categories: (1) P1-A-LH, under which a welder qualifies to perform general welding jobs, and (2) P1-AT-LH, involving more difficult welding procedures. Prior to his arrival at Palo, Iowa, Ligons passed a test which qualified him under P1-AT-LH to perform heliarc welding. During his first week of employment, however, Ligons was required to report to the test shop for training and testing as a result of observations made by a welding engineer, of a weld which Ligons had improperly prepared. Following a one-week training period, Ligons passed a simple plate welding test, but failed the same heliarc welding test which he had passed before coming to Palo. Ligons spent several weeks on at least three separate occasions training for upgrading and testing to assure his competence to perform various types of welds.

On February 9, 1973, Ligons was laid off along with 58 other pipefitter-welders, all of whom were white. Ligons was informed that he was eligible for rehire when more welders were needed, the layoff being the result of a general reduction in work force on the Palo project.

When rehired by Bechtel as a welder on the Palo project in September of 1973, Ligons required further training and testing for recertification. After approximately one month of training, Ligons qualified only to perform plate welding, the least difficult type of welding. On February 22, 1974, Ligons was one of six welders laid off, again as a result of a reduction in the work force, this reduction being based strictly on seniority.

From these facts, the district court determined that Ligons made a prima facie showing of disparate treatment under McDonnell Douglas Corp. v. Green, 411 U.S. 792, 802, 93 S.Ct. 1817, 1824, 36 L.Ed.2d 668 (1973), with respect to his claims of discriminatory application of testing procedures and layoffs, but not as to his claim that he was denied opportunities to upgrade his welding qualifications.

Ligons' prima facie showing of disparate treatment shifted the burden to the company to prove that its manner of testing and layoffs of Ligons were based on "a legitimate consideration, and not an illegitimate one such as race * * * . To dispel the adverse inference from a prima facie showing under McDonnell Douglas, the employer need only 'articulate some legitimate, nondiscriminatory reason for the employee's (treatment)'." Furnco Construction Corp. v. Waters, 438 U.S. 567, 577-78, 98 S.Ct. 2943, 2950 (1978), citing McDonnell Douglas Corp. v. Green, supra, 411 U.S. at 802, 93 S.Ct. at 1824.

After considering Bechtel's rebuttal evidence, the district court found legitimate reasons for justifying the testing and layoffs of Ligons. Specifically, the court found that

(d)efendant has rebutted plaintiff's prima facie case of discrimination by a preponderance of the evidence showing that its testing procedures for upgrading of welders' qualifications had a manifest relationship to the welding jobs for which they were used, see Griggs v. Duke Power Co., 401 U.S. 424, 436, 91 S.Ct. 849, 856, 28 L.Ed.2d 158 (1971); that their application to plaintiff individually was not racially motivated or otherwise discriminatory on the basis of race, Thompson v. McDonnell Douglas Corp., supra, 416 F.Supp. 972 at 982; and that plaintiff's lay-offs were not actuated by racial considerations but rather were based on valid non-discriminatory evaluations of plaintiff's qualifications and borne of business necessity in furtherance of a legitimate reduction in force, see Thompson v. McDonnell Douglas Corp., supra, 416 F.Supp. at 982; compare Lumas v. Commercial Cartage Corp., supra (444 U.S. 1022, 100 S.Ct. 682, 62 L.Ed.2d 655), Slip Op. at pp. 4-5; Mopkins v. St. Louis Die Casting Corp., 423 F.Supp. 132, 135 (E.D.Mo.1976), aff'd, 569 F.2d 454 (8th Cir. 1978).

In his suit and on this appeal Ligons alleges that Bechtel failed to establish that race was not a motivating factor in the decision to lay him off. Appellant misconceives the nature of the burden imposed on a Title VII litigant alleging disparate treatment. The employer as a Title VII defendant need not "prove absence of discriminatory motive to escape liability; a prima facie showing of disparate treatment shifts only the burden of producing evidence to the employer, not the burden of persuasion." Kirby v. Colony Furniture Co., 613 F.2d 696, 702 (8th Cir. 1980); Board of Trustees v. Sweeney, 439 U.S. 24, 25, 99 S.Ct. 295, 58 L.Ed.2d 216 (1978). See also Vaughn v. Westinghouse Electric Corp., 620 F.2d 655, at 659 (8th Cir. 1980).

Bechtel clearly met this burden of production. It established that the layoffs were due to business necessity and in furtherance of a legitimate reduction in the work force.

The evidence established that personnel requirements fluctuated as the project progressed. In light of the variance in work force, Ligons admitted that layoffs were anticipated. He also stated that he knew there would be a general reduction in the work force because the project was "winding down." Indeed, the fact that 58 other pipefitter-welders, all white, were also laid off at the time of Ligons' initial layoff clearly rebuts any inference of discriminatory animus against Ligons.

Criteria for Ligons' initial layoff included qualifications, skill, and productivity. Richard Alberts, a pipefitter and foreman, testified that only fitters less qualified, skilled and productive than Ligons were retained at the time Ligons was first laid off.

There is no evidence that welders ³ less qualified, skilled or productive than Ligons with respect to the particular aspect of work then required at Palo were retained. Indeed, one welding engineer testified that to his knowledge, no other employee with Ligons' qualifications spent as much time upgrading or taking tests from September of 1971 to February of 1973 as Ligons.

Nor is there evidence to suggest that the welding tests given Ligons were discriminatorily applied so as to prevent Ligons' certification for the more difficult welding procedures. In evidence is an exhibit which demonstrates only that other welders sometimes failed the tests. In addition, Joseph Antriking testified that h...