The Supreme Court Held It Was Unlawful For The City To Refuse To Certify An Exam Because A Disproportionate Number of Minorities Did Not Pass

Written by Michael C. Saqui and Anita L. Rimes Tuesday, 07 July 2009 15:16

Harassment & Discrimination

Last week, the United States Supreme Court in Ricci v. DeStefano ruled that the City of New Haven violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 by discarding the results of a firefighter promotion test where a group of white applicants and one Hispanic scored disproportionately better than other minority applicants.  In 2004, the City threw out the results of a promotion test for firefighters because no black applicants scored high enough to qualify for a promotion.  Consequently, the white firefighters who passed the test but were denied a promotion filed a reverse discrimination lawsuit. 

The Supreme Court held that the City violated Title VII when it refused to act on the results of the promotional exam because the test eliminated a disproportionate number of minority candidates.  The Court also said that using the test results would not have been a violation of law because there was no "strong basis in evidence" for believing that the black firefighters would prevail on a claim against the City alleging that the test was discriminatory. 

COUNSEL TO MANAGEMENT:

To prevent discrimination claims, management should take steps to ensure that their hiring policies and procedures are non-discriminatory by using objective criteria for hiring and promoting employees.  Management must also guarantee that all potential employees and current employees have equal access to employment and promotional opportunities. 

The goal of this article is to provide employers with current labor and employment law information. The contents should not be interpreted or construed as legal advice or opinion. For individual responses to questions or concerns regarding any given situation, the reader should consult with The Saqui Law Group at (831) 443-7100 in Salinas.