Did the Supreme Court Rule Correctly in the New Haven Firefighters Case?
The Supreme Court ruling of 5-4 in the 2004 discrimination suit in the white firefighters favor, was the correct ruling based on all facts presented. When the city of New Haven,Connecticut tried to throw out the test results from the 2003 promotion testing to avoid discrimination lawsuits from the black applicants, the Supreme Court ruled they were guilty of violating the Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act rights of the white applicants.
Once the test had been given, Justice Kennedy ruled that the city could not throw out the results based on the possibility of racial disparity. The Supreme Court also ruled that the racial breakdown of the test results cannot be used to invalidate an exam unless there is strong evidence of discrimination.
Instead of avoiding one lawsuit, the New Haven city officials were sued by both the blacks and latinos and the whites. In one lawsuit the blacks and latinos sued test discrimination. The whites sued the city officials for failure to adhere to the test results in awarding promotion jobs.
Title VII of the 1964 Civil Right Act applies to both public and private sector employers. It serves two main purposes:
1) To prohibit intentional discrimination on the basis of race, color, national origin or gender. This is known as "disparate treatment of discrimination".
2) To prohibit a subtle form of discriminating called "disparate impact discrimination". This is when an employer has a policy that appears to be neutral but in reality has a disproportionately adverse effect on workers because of race, color or religion.
The ruling may force employers to make needed changes to future promotion testing. No one should have to deal with discrimination in the workplace based on race, regardless. In all fairness, equality should be a two way street. The ruling will help toward more widespread diversity in the workforce.
A total of 118 firefighters were tested to fill 15 open promotions to lieutenant or captain. The test was deemed valid to effectively evaluate the knowledge and skills necessary of the applicants for the open firefighter promotions. If the New Haven city officials wanted to be sure of adding diversity to the management ranks within the fire department, they should have geared the testing toward this by using a less discriminant but valid and fair test.
The need for affirmative action may become obsolete as more minorities have entered into management positions since the 1970s. More white males are beginning to feel the effects of reverse discrimination since the enactment of the 1964 Civil Rights Act.
Reference
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na -court-firefighters30-2009jun30,0,5518944