Todd Davidson, Wilbert Wiginngs, George Douglas, Jr., Charles Magee, Daron Thompson, Eugene Smith, George Rodgers, Kenton Smith and Jimothy Amos a/k/a Timothy Amos et al. v. Citizens Gas & Coke Utility
U.S. District Court, Southern District of Indianapolis
Cause No. 1:03-CV-1882
The Plaintiffs in Davidson et al v. Citizens Gasallege that Citizens Gas used an employment test from 1999 until 2004 which was biased against African-Americans. As a single test used as a prerequisite for a wide variety of jobs, the lawsuit alleges the test could not possibly meet the legal requirement to be predictive of success in each job. Yet, it was the first step an applicant or employee took in order to be considered for most jobs at Citizens Gas, so failing the test automatically precluded employees and applicants from consideration. Plaintiffs brought a lawsuit for race discrimination in violation of federal law in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Indiana.
In late 1999, Citizens Gas began using the Work Competency Assessment test (hereinafter “WCA”), which is a single test used as a prerequisite for a wide variety of jobs for external applicants, inter-division transfers, and promotions at Citizens Gas. Citizens Gas soon expanded the use of the WCA and made it a requirement for all supervisory positions and financial positions too. Citizens Gas required both the applicants and employees to pass the WCA in order to be eligible for all bargaining unit and many non-bargaining unit jobs. The WCA was the first step in the process for hiring, transfers or promotions. An individual who did not pass the WCA was not eligible to be considered for hire, promotion or transfer to another division. Citizens Gas made it clear to all employees that if they did not pass the WCA, that there was no reason to apply for an open position. This was true without exception.
In 2001, several employees and union officials raised the concern that the WCA was discriminatory against African-Americans. Citizens Gas said it would investigate and held a meeting for union officials and company managers with Dr. Guay, the WCA's developer, during which he said that the test was validated, but did not give any specifics. The meeting attendees asked Dr. Guay why twelve of the last thirteen Citizens Gas hires were white. The meeting attendees also asked Dr. Guay for clarification after the meeting because they did not understand his explanations. Soon after, the union tried unsuccessfully to negotiate with Citizens Gas to have Addendum B, which allowed testing, removed from the union contract.
From 2000 to 2003, 59 African-American Citizen Gas employees took the WCA. Of that 59, 50 of these individuals failed and only 9 passed. Overall, the applicant and employee WCA test scores for African-Americans and whites show a significant statistical disparity in the pass rates of each group, which is highly unlikely to be caused by chance. Plaintiffs all took the WCA and did not achieve the minimum score of 542. Plaintiffs all sought transfers or promotions and were denied, because they did not pass the WCA. Plaintiffs use the term “promotion” loosely to refer to any position involving preferable work conditions, pay, or greater opportunity for advancement. Repeated failure on the WCA dissuaded some of the Plaintiffs, and others, from continuing to try to pass it. After the Plaintiffs in this action filed charges of discrimination with the EEOC, and the agency completed its investigation, the EEOC issued Letters of Determination which stated the WCA was discriminatory as to both employees and applicants. The Plaintiffs filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana early in 2003. Citizens Gas last used the WCA some time in March 2004. Citizens Gas does not use any employment screening test at all now. It uses the same hiring and transfer/promotion procedure as it did previously, but without the test. The case is scheduled for jury trial in May of 2006.
