Supreme Court: White Firefighters Discriminated Against When They Had the Highest Test Scores, but Not Promoted
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Monday, July 20, 2009 |
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The
U.S. Supreme Court recently ruled that the City of New Haven improperly
discriminated on the basis of race when it refused to certify the
results of a promotional test on which white and Hispanic firefighters
outperformed their black colleagues. A 5-4 majority of the Court
rejected the City's argument that it disregarded the test results to
avoid violating Title VII's disparate-impact provisions.
Ricci v. DeStefano (June 29, 2009).
Writing
on behalf of the majority, Justice Kennedy said, "[R]ace-based action
like the City's in this case is impermissible under Title VII unless
the employer can demonstrate a strong basis in evidence that, had it
not taken the action, it would have been liable under the
disparate-impact statute." According to the Court, the City of New
Haven did not demonstrate a "strong basis in evidence" for invalidating
the results of its promotional test.
The City of New Haven's
Fire Department contracted with Industrial/Organizational Solutions,
Inc. ("IOS") to develop promotional examinations to fill lieutenant and
captain positions. Of the 77 candidates who took the examination for
promotion to 8 lieutenant vacancies, all of the top 10 scorers were
white. Of the 41 candidates who took the examination for promotion to 7
captain vacancies, the top 9 scorers included 7 whites and 2 Hispanics.
While African-American candidates qualified for promotion, they were
further down on the eligibility list.
City regulations known as
the "rule of three" require that once test results are "certified," the
Fire Department must promote applicants with the top three scores. The
"rule of three" would not have allowed for the promotion of any of the
black firefighters who took the lieutenant and captain exams.
The
City's independent exam review board held hearings to consider the
possibility that the tests were racially biased based on the
disproportionately low number of minority candidates that passed the
exams. Ultimately, the City declined to certify the test results.
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