![handle is hein.journals/vlrtoleg58 and id is 1 raw text is:
VILLANOVA LAW REVIEW ONLINE: TOLLE LEGE
BLINDED BY THE LIGHT: THE THIRD CIRCUIT CURTAILS THE
INDEPENDENT RICCI DEFENSE IN NACP v. NORTH HUDSON
REGIONAL FIRE & RESCUE
DOUGLAS A. BEHRENS*
I. DEFINING THE CONTOURS OF RACE IN THE AMERICAN WORKPLACE: IS IT
STILL BLACK AND WHITE?
Prejudice is a burden which confuses the past, threatens the future, and
renders the present inaccessible.I The statistics are telling.2 Not only does the
median black worker earn 20% less than the median white worker on a weekly
basis, but only 2.8% of this country's chief executives are black, and black
workers are almost twice as likely as white workers to be unemployed.3
While private employers certainly contributed to this racial disparity, pub-
lic employers are also responsible.4 Congress recognized several decades ago
that employment discrimination in State and local governments is more perva-
sive than in the private sector.5 Public employers often made personnel deci-
sions based on criteria unrelated to job performance, which entrench[ed]
* The author would like to thank Professor Tuan Samahon and the editors of the Villa-
nova Law Review for their helpful comments and editorial advice throughout the writing pro-
cess. This Casebrief would not have been possible without the love and unwavering support
of the author's family.
1. MAYA ANGELOU, ALL GOD'S CHILDREN NEED TRAVELING SHOES (1969), reprinted
in THE COLLECTED AUTOBIOGRAPHIES OF MAYA ANGELOU 881, 1009 (2004).
2. For a discussion of employment statistics in the United States, see infra note 3 and
accompanying text.
3. See U.S BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS, U.S. DEP'T OF LABOR, REPORT 1032,
LABOR FORCE CHARACTERISTICS BY RACE AND ETHNICITY, 2010, at 2 (2011), available at
http://www.bls.gov/cps/cpsrace2010.pdf (stating that unemployment rate is 16% for blacks,
12.5% for Hispanics, 8.7% for whites, and 7.5% for Asians); U.S BUREAU OF LABOR
STATISTICS, U.S. DEP'T OF LABOR, REPORT 1031, HIGHLIGHTS OF WOMEN'S EARNINGS IN
2010, at 59 (2011), available at http://www.bls.gov/cps/cpswom2010.pdf (listing median
weekly earnings for blacks and whites as $611 and $765, respectively); U.S BUREAU OF
LABOR STATISTICS, U.S. DEP'T OF LABOR, HOUSEHOLD DATA ANNUAL AVERAGES: CPS
TABLE 11-EMPLOYED PERSONS BY DETAILED OCCUPATION, SEX, RACE, AND HISPANIC OR
LATINO ETHNICITY 14 (2011), available at http://www.bls.gov/cps/cpsaatll.pdf (reporting
that only 2.8% of chief executives are black, 3.2% are Asian, and 4.8% are Hispanic); see also
Akilah Johnson, Fears Raised over Future ofAfinority Workforce, BOS. GLOBE, Dec. 4, 2010,
at 1 (suggesting that [u]nless policy makers, business leaders, and community-based organi-
zations collaborate on ways to prepare them, . . . Boston will have a labor pool of unem-
ployed, underemployed, or unemployable adults); Racial Disparities Persist in Work Force,
RICHMOND TIMES-DISPATCH, Apr. 28, 2009,
http://www2.timesdispatch.com/business/2009/apr/28/b-race28_20090427-211417-ar-45046/
(voicing concerns about future generations).
4. For a discussion of past instances of discrimination among public employers, see in-
fra notes 5-6 and accompanying text.
5. See H.R. REP. NO. 92-238, at 15 (1971), reprinted in 1972 U.S.C.C.A.N. 2137, 2146
(detailing prevalence of discrimination in public sector). Six of the seven areas studied by the
report had an overwhelming black population, yet many of the white-collar jobs were inacces-
sible to minorities. See id. (recognizing lack of ability for minorities to progress to managerial
levels).
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CITE: 58 VILL. L. REV. TOLLE LEGE 1](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.journals/vlrtoleg58&div=1&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)
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