U.S. court tosses out case over city jobs
20 firefighters claimed race discrimination in tests, promotions
By William Kaempffer
Published: Friday, February 15, 2008 3:00 AM EST
NEW HAVEN -- Twenty firefighters did not have their civil rights violated when two promotional tests were thrown out at the city's urging in 2004 because too few minorities scored near the top, a federal appeals court ruled Friday.
In a four-paragraph summary order, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit upheld a New Haven district court judge's 2006 decision that the firefighters didn't have legitimate claims of race discrimination under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
I think that this is a good thing for public safety in New Haven, said Rob Smuts, the city's chief administrative officer. It will allow us to move forward with these long-needed promotions and to do so in a way that conforms with all federal laws, including Title VII.
Unfortunately, the previous test consultants we retained did not produce a test that was in conformance with these federal laws ... so we had to throw it out. Now, we can move forward.
It was a vindication for the city administration, which critics claimed was playing race politics in promotions and over the last decade has paid out hundreds of thousands of dollars to city employees over lawsuits.
The three-judge panel did not waste words, filing a summary order instead of a full legal opinion. The panel said it was not unsympathetic to the firefighters expressions of frustration. Frank Ricci, the lead plaintiff, is dyslexic and worked hard to score high on the promotional test only to have it invalidated, the judgment noted, but it did not follow that he had a viable civil rights claim.
In this case, the Civil Service Board found itself in the unfortunate position of having no good alternatives, the appellate judges wrote.
Fire Lt. Matt Marcarelli, a plaintiff who scored first on the captain's test, said Friday the group was disgusted by the order. He said it allows a dangerous situation in New Haven to continue, and the unqualified, who failed a competency exam, to command life and death situations.
Adding insult to injury, they wouldn't even give us a decision, just a few sentences which dispose of our constitutional rights without comment. We expected more than that from a federal appeals court.
The issue dates back to 2003, when the city conducted promotional tests for fire lieutenant and captain. In early 2004, the city's top attorney and other administrators, during a series of contentious public hearings that stoked racial tensions, urged the civil service commission to throw out the results because too few minority firefighters would have been in line for promotion, opening up the city to a potential civil rights lawsuit by minorities.
Instead, one Hispanic and 19 white firefighters filed suit, and in 2006, in a 48-page decision, District Judge Janet Bond Arterton granted the city's request for summary judgment, dismissing the case.
The appeals court concurred, finding the civil service commission's actions were protected because, in refusing to certify the exam, it was trying to fulfill its obligations under Title VII when confronted with test results that had a disproportionate racial impact.
Attorney Karen Torre, who represents the firefighters, said they were considering whether to ask the full 2nd Circuit Court to hear the case or to take a direct appeal to the Supreme Court.
She said she had hoped for a reasoned legal opinion instead of an unpublished summary order on what I saw as the most significant race case to come before the Circuit Court in 20 years.
Although it's early in the budgetary process, funding for two new promotional tests is currently in the proposed 2007-08 spending package, Smuts said, on the assumption that the case would be resolved one way or the other. He declined to cast the court order as a vindication.
I know in the heat of the case, they got pretty personal in some of the accusations. That's never something that's good, but you can also understand that. But I think what we'll seek to do right now is move forward, he said.