SCOTUS: Firefighter Discrimination Suit Can Proceed

By Prescott Carlson in News on May 24, 2010 9:20PM

The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that a lawsuit against the City of Chicago over accusations of discrimination in a Chicago Fire Department hiring test can move forward. It's the second time in the past year the court has dealt with the issue of race and employment issues with firefighters -- last June it ruled in favor of a group of white firefighters in New Haven, Connecticut, who claimed they were discriminated against when they were passed over for promotion.

The Chicago class action suit claims that a second "cut score" of 89 on a firefighters test given in 1995 was discriminatory, and impacted hiring decisions at the department. While a score of 64 or below is an automatic disqualification, applicants in the 65 to 88 group were told that they were not likely to be hired because of the large number of applicants in the 89 and above group. Only 11 percent of black applicants made it into the top scoring group, compared to 76 percent of white applicants. A federal court ruled in favor of the plaintiffs in 2005, saying that the city failed to show that the test properly measured necessary skills, and wasn't a good predictor for performance in the Fire Academy.

The city, instead of challenging that ruling, instead attempted an appeal based on a technicality -- that the plaintiffs had waited too long to file their complaint. Currently, any discrimination claims need to be filed within 300 days of the discriminatory action. Attorneys for the plaintiffs argued that the "clock would be reset" after every instance of the city hiring a new firefighter based on those test scores. The 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in the city's favor in 2007.

But the SCOTUS thought otherwise, ruling unanimously Monday that there was no timeliness issue, and that the case can move forward. In his opinion, Justice Antonin Scalia wrote:

"It is not our task to assess the consequences of each approach and adopt the one that produces the least mischief. Our charge is to give effect to the law Congress enacted... Congress allowed claims to be brought against an employer who uses a practice that causes disparate impact, whatever the employer's motive and whether or not he has employed the same practice in the past. If that effect was unintended, it is a problem for Congress, not one that federal courts can fix."

That means heading back in front of Judge Gottschall, who, if she upholds her previous ruling, will likely order the city to hire a group of randomly selected black applicants who achieved higher than 64 on the test, as well as award back pay.

In a statement released by City Hall, Mayor Daley said that the "[Chicago] administration remains committed to ensuring that the department more reflects the racial make-up of the city."