Documente Academic
Documente Profesional
Documente Cultură
No. 96-1834
Plaintiffs, Appellants,
v.
Defendants, Appellees.
____________________
____________________
Before
____________________
Lynette Labinger
________________
and
Fidelma Fitzpatrick
___________________
with
whom
William
_______
_____________
______________
________________
_______________
April 7, 1997
____________________
CAMPBELL,
Senior
Circuit Judge.
This
appeal is
_____________________
damages
in the
pursuant to
1964, 42 U.S.C.
Fair
Title VII
of the
an injunction
Civil Rights
Employment Practices
Act,
(1997).
faculty
salary plan
has
R.I.G.L.
and
Act of
Rhode Island
28-5-1 et
__
seq.
___
a disparate
impact
upon the
pay
____________________
1.
Title VII
An
unlawful
employment
practice
based
on
-(i)
complaining
party
demonstrates
that
or
national
demonstrate that
the
on the
position
basis of
origin
and
race, color,
the
respondent
question
and
causes
religion,
fails
to
consistent
with
business
necessity; or
(ii) the complaining party makes
described in subparagraph (C)
employment practice and the
the demonstration
The
Island
Rhode
Fair
Employment
Practices Act,
as
may be
established by
practice prohibited by
proof of
disparate impact.
28An
established when:
(1)
practice
A complainant demonstrates
color, religion,
country
that an employment
of ancestral
demonstrate
that
the
origin,
practice
-2-
and the
is
age, or
respondent fails
required
by
to
business
provides
for
different salary
minimums
derived,
in large
professors
within
claim
in
that tier.
on
the
University's
faculty
the
fact
same
academic
Plaintiffs
that
clustered within
base their
while
entire faculty
the
disciplines
are
only
27
women, 31
disciplines
encompassed
disparate impact
percent
of
the
percent of
the
included in
the
lower
percent of those in
up only ten
highest
paid tier.
The
district
thereafter issued
published.
two
a comprehensive
Donnelly v.
________
Educ., 929 F.
_____
had
failed to
established,
burden of showing
(1) that
establish
It
trial
and
since
denied relief on
the plaintiff
prima
facie
the
University
business necessity.
bench
case been
held
independent grounds:
members
with
court
Id.
had
case
of
prima facie
sustained
it followed was
Because
faculty
we agree
the
consistent
with the
___
burden that
disparate impact on
____________________
necessity.
R.I.G.L.
-3-
necessity.
We affirm
substantially
and IV
the
district
court's judgment
Order.
As we
we
for
opinion)
Plaintiffs,
failed to
prima
as
establish all
facie
case of
the
(women), and
between the
plan and
court
shows,
disparate
group
district
impact,
have
of their
in particular
the
the existence
any purported
of a
causal relationship
disparate impact.
See
___
601 (1st
___ U.S.
___, 116 S.
594,
Ct. 65
(1995).
Thus
plaintiffs have
general
or
required in
v.
not
demonstrated
that
themselves
in
particular
(the
women in
latter
being
F.2d
1010,
1016
(1st Cir.
(10th Cir.
the
1981).)2
Nor have
1984)
444, 451
or the
____________________
2.
Contrary to
the appellants'
before and
enactment of
of
the
two
components:
adverseness
and disparateness.
5.41,
-4-
other
under the
Tier B (or
Tier C) receive
teaching in
academic disciplines) at
the
University
around
that
the
of Rhode
the country.
Island
In fact,
without
paid tier,
Plan A
and
institutions
are better
better
at other
lowest
or
off
off
than
in Tier B,
than they
are
their
would be
academic
in
____________________
device or
opportunities of
the effect that
classes."
with Walter
____
system adversely
_________
Connolly, Jr.
when compared to
_____________
the opportunities of
affects employment
and
5.54, at
Michael J.
other
419-21 (1988)
Connolly,
1-18.1
facially
(1996)
("Disparate
impact
neutral
employment
practices
disproportionately
__________________
groups . . . ."
It
is
statutes,
negative
________
effect
1.02[1][a],
. . . results
on
that
certain
from
have
protected
(emphasis added)).
also
common sense
like Title
VII
that,
and the
to
avail oneself
RI-FEPA,
which seek
of
to
injury
(adverse impact)
one
or
more of
those
practices
of one
3.
Under
Plan A,
discipline starts
with an
State
University
Survey,
in that
index number,
from
discipline compared
professors.
each academic
the Oklahoma
The disciplines
-5-
a few
disciplines at
nursing,
the University of
a predominately
female
currently
underestimate their
market.
But
there
dominated disciplines
and, in
occurred
any
event,
is no
Rhode Island,
discipline, in
actual worth in
indication
that
the fields
where
like
tiers that
the national
other,
male-
a similar fate,
this
has
allegedly
teach at the
The appellants'
proof of the
causation aspect
of
their
court
found,
the
the
market, and
929
not
___
F.
Supp.
As the district
591-92,
national
Donnelly,
________
also deficient.
Plan A,
as
at
such, are
basically
the
reference to
being generally
established by
____________________
and
their index
numbers are
particular tier.
rounded off to
progress.
the relational
Those disciplines
A's
This
goal
of convergence
has
been
increases annually
Rhode Island.
The
that
University of
awarded by the
enable
of
provide
exceptional
professors
in
every
-6-
disciplines.
on
The
appellants take
members in Tier B
the
disparate impact
theory
same minimum
by Tier
D.
In
so doing,
comparable
worth
argument
analyses.
To
make
discrimination under
out
they seem
into
prima
to
Title
facie
be introducing
VII
case
and
of
RI-FEPA
salary
et al.,
_______
484
A.2d 893,
898
(R.I.
1984)
(looking at
the
decisions
of the
guidance
federal
in interpreting
needs proof
Johnson v.
_______
courts construing
the
RI-FEPA), a
Title VII
female
claimant
for
70 F.3d 469,
____________________
4.
One can
in other professions.
and
whom might
the
field of
males.
See
___
gynecology department,
cardiology containing
Jay
a larger
the
a higher
portion of
proportion of
-7-
October 11,
of Chicago,
___________
appellants
hurdle
990
338
(7th
Cir.
1993)).5
The
in the
district
F.2d 333,
disparate
impact analysis.
We affirm
the
went
on
to
address
the
issue
of
"business
necessity,"
Donnelly, 929
________
F. Supp. 592-94.
no position
on it, nor
do we join
in the district
Affirmed.
________
____________________
court's
5.
Unlike the
respondents in Connecticut v.
___________
the
equal
opportunity
to
compete
on
terms
with
other
In
Liberles
________
the
short,
contrary
to
v. County of Cook,
______________
University of
Rhode
the
situation
Island,
presented
through its
three-tiered
-8-
in
salaries