Wilmington Firefighters v. City of Wilmington

• Citation: 632 F. Supp. 1177
• Decision Date: 04 April 1986
• Docket Number: Civ. A. No. 84-400-JJF.
• Parties: WILMINGTON FIREFIGHTERS LOCAL 1590, et al., Plaintiffs, v. CITY OF WILMINGTON, et al., Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of Delaware

632 F. Supp. 1177

WILMINGTON FIREFIGHTERS LOCAL 1590, et al., Plaintiffs, v. CITY OF WILMINGTON, et al., Defendants.

Civ. A. No. 84-400-JJF.

United States District Court, D. Delaware.

April 4, 1986.

Sheldon N. Sandler, and Barry M. Willoughby, of Young, Conaway, Stargatt & Taylor, Wilmington, Del., for plaintiffs.

Frederick H. Schranck, City Solicitor's Office, Wilmington, Del., for defendant City of Wilmington Fire Dept.

Gary W. Aber, of Heiman & Aber, Wilmington, Del., for defendant Wilmore.

OPINION

FARNAN, District Judge.

Plaintiffs brought this action under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-5, the Civil Rights Act of 1866, as amended, 42 U.S.C. § 1981 and the Civil Rights Act of 1871, 42 U.S.C. § 1983. Jurisdiction over plaintiffs' claims is conferred by 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-5 and by 28 U.S.C. §§ 1331 and 1343. Venue is proper under 28 U.S.C. § 1391, and 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-5(f). Plaintiff, Dennis M. Kirlin, alleges that the Defendant City of Wilmington (hereinafter "the City") unlawfully denied him and other white firefighters the opportunity for promotion on account of their race, by altering its 1984 promotion testing procedures for the race-based purpose of increasing the number of minority firefighters on the promotion list, in order to comply with the City's interpretation of the consent decree entered in Wilmore, et al. v. City of Wilmington, Civil Action No. 80-76 (D.Del. June 14, 1983). Currently before the Court are Plaintiffs' and Defendants' Cross Motions for Summary Judgment.

BACKGROUND

Plaintiff, Dennis M. Kirlin, is an employee of the Defendant City and currently holds the rank of Firefighter in the City's Fire Department. Plaintiff Wilmington Firefighters Local 1590, International Association of Firefighters (hereinafter "Local 1590"), is the collective bargaining representative of the uniformed employees of the Wilmington Fire Department. Both Kirlin and Local 1590 filed timely charges of employment discrimination with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and received notices of right to sue. Second Amended Complaint, Docket Item ("D.I.") 59. Kirlin is the representative plaintiff of the class of all present and future uniformed employees of the Fire Department whose position on the 1984 promotion list or on future lists was or may in the future be adversely affected by the City's interpretation of its obligations under the Wilmore consent decree.¹

The Defendant City of Wilmington is an incorporated municipality in the State of Delaware, and the Fire Department is a department within the City. Defendant James Wilmore, et al. (hereinafter "the Wilmore class"), is the Plaintiff class in Wilmore, et al. v. City of Wilmington, Civil Action No. 80-76.²

In their Second Amended Complaint, Plaintiffs requested this Court to: (1) preliminarily and permanently enjoin the City from using the 1984 promotion testing procedures to award promotions, and to direct the City to promote candidates based on the procedures originally outlined in the City's general notices 84-2 through 84-8; (2) award Plaintiffs general and compensatory damages including but not limited to lost salary and compensation, as well as any other benefits accruing to Plaintiffs and members of the Plaintiffs' class as a result of the City's actions; and (3) award Plaintiffs prejudgment and post-judgment interest, attorneys fees and costs.

THE WILMORE CONSENT DECREE

In Wilmore, a class of Black and Hispanic firefighters challenged the Wilmington Fire Department's 1978 and 1980 promotional examinations.³ This Court found that the Plaintiffs had not shown that the 1978 and 1980 tests had a disparate racial impact. 533 F.Supp. at 859. On appeal, the Third Circuit reversed, stating:

We hold that the racially discriminatory assignment of `administrative jobs' affected the results of the 1978 and 1980 promotional tests in favor of white firefighters and to the detriment of minority firefighters. Therefore, we find that these tests significantly contributed to the disparate impact of the 1978 and 1980 promotion procedures in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and 42 U.S.C. §§ 1981 and 1983.

699 F.2d 667, 668 (3rd Cir.1983).

The Third Circuit remanded the case to this Court, with instructions to grant Plaintiffs' Petition for declaratory relief, injunctive relief, and damages. Id. at 675. However, prior to the scheduled relief hearing, the Wilmore plaintiffs and the City entered into settlement discussions. A settlement was reached, resulting in a proposed Consent Decree. Paragraph 16 of this Consent Decree, at issue in this litigation, provides as follows:

16. Future Promotional Examination. The City of Wilmington, hereby agrees and certifies that all future promotional exams and procedures shall afford all minority members of the City of Wilmington Fire Department full, complete, fair and equal promotional opportunities in keeping with 42 U.S.C. §§ 1981, 1983, and 2000(e), et seq., and the Wilmington Charter, and that such promotional exams and procedures shall not result in a disparate impact on minorities. Disparate impact shall, for the purposes of this compromise and settlement be considered to have occurred if the minority test taker promotional rate shall at any time be less than 80% of the white test taker promotional rate, as disparate impact is defined by the `Uniform Guidelines and Employment Selection Procedures' (1978); 29 C.F.R. § 1607.4(d). Alternatively, disparate impact will be considered to have occurred if the probability of the distribution of minority members, on any promotional lists, of the City of Wilmington Fire Department shall be less than 5%, when compared to the distribution of white firefighters (notwithstanding the above, disparate impact will not be assumed if the comparison of promotional rates results yield an expected number of minority promotions less than one whole promotion without rounding up).

A fairness hearing on the Consent Decree was held on June 6, 1983. In a Memorandum Opinion dated June 14, 1983, this Court approved the proposed Consent Decree.

THE CITY'S PROMOTIONAL EXAMINATIONS

On March 28, 1984, the City issued General Notices 84-2 through 84-8, outlining procedures for the first Fire Department promotion tests following the Wilmore Consent Decree. General Notice 84-3 described the following examination procedure and scoring process:

2. All eligible candidates who desire to participate in the promotion process will take two (2) components:

—Administrative/Management Task Analysis (AMTA)

—Problem Analysis and Presentation (PAP)

These are described in separate General Notices.

3. Based on the performance of candidates as per point 2, the board of examiners will certify candidates as per the following groups:

(a) Well qualified for further consideration.

(b) Qualified for consideration.

(c) Not qualified at this time.

4. All candidates certified by the board of examiners in the top category (well qualified for further consideration) will have an interview and record appraisal with the Chief of Fire. This component would include job-related questions and a review of the candidate's record up to the interview date.

The Chief of Fire, as in previous years, will not have knowledge of anyone's performance on the PAP and AMTA.

5. After completion of the Chief's interview phase, the board of examiners will calculate candidates' scores using this framework:

—PAP (60%)

—AMTA (25%)

—Interview/Record Appraisal (15%)

6. In the event of ties, a candidate's experience factor will be used. See General Notice 84-8 for the method used to calculate one's experience factor. This is identical to the method used in previous years.

7. The promotional process is subject to the requirements of the Consent Decree approved by U.S. District Court Judge Walter K. Stapleton on June 14, 1983, in Wilmore, et al. v. City of Wilmington, Local 1590, I.A.F.F. The board of examiners will see to it that the promotional process will be carried out in accordance with the terms of the Decree.

Second Amended Complaint, Exhibit C, D.I. 59. General Notice 84-4 outlines the scoring process employed by the board of examiners:

A. They shall calculate the component scores of each candidate on the problem analysis and presentation component, and the administrative/management task analysis component. From this will be derived an alphabetical listing of candidates in each of three groups: (a) Well qualified for further consideration; (b) Qualified for further consideration; (c) Not qualified for consideration at this time. Candidates will be notified by the board of examiners as to their classification in these groups.

B. Candidates in the top group (well qualified for further consideration) will have a job-related interview and record appraisal with the Chief of Fire. Results from this component will be tabulated by the board of examiners with scores on the previous components yielding a certified list of eligibility for promotion for the ranks of lieutenant, captain and battalion chief.

C. The board of examiners will be responsible for compliance with the Consent Decree in Wilmore, et al. v. City of Wilmington, Local 1590, I.A.F.F. approved June 14, 1983.

D. The certified list of eligibles will be used for filling promotions until the list is exhausted or until two years from the date of filing the certified list.

Second Amended Complaint, Exhibit C, D.I. 59.

The AMTA and PAP components of the 1984 examinations were administered in May and June, 1984. After the results were computed, the Board of Examiners met to determine which candidates would be in the Well Qualified group, and thus be eligible to move on to the interview component of the exam. The board considered and rejected a "top down" scoring system, under which a numerical rank would be assigned to each candidate for promotion based on the total of his PAP and AMTA scores combined. Deposition of Deputy...