Firefighters claim reverse discrimination
12 firefighters claim promotion test flawed

By Michael P. Mayko, ConnPost STAFF WRITER
Updated: 04/24/2009 09:22:59 PM EDT

Bridgeport firefighters claim reverse discrimination - Topix

BRIDGEPORT -- A dozen white firefighters claim they were frozen out of a lieutenant promotion after the city rescored and reranked an eligibility list because the exam discriminated against black and Hispanic candidates.

Now the 12 plaintiffs, which include a Puerto Rican, claim they are the subjects of reverse discrimination and demand back pay and promotions in a federal lawsuit.

They are represented by Richard Albrecht, David Ball, Jesse Langer and Courtney A. George, of the law firm of Cohen and Wolf. The local law firm is seeking a jury trial in the case.

The filing comes just days after the U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments in a somewhat similar case involving white New Haven firefighters seeking promotion to captain and lieutenant after scoring high on those exams.

In that case, New Haven threw out the two 2003 exams after upholding minority firefighters' claims it was discriminatory.

"This case is different and more egregious than the suit filed by the impacted New Haven firefighters," Albrecht said Friday. "In that case, the city refused to certify the exam results and the white firefighters sued. U.S. District Judge Janet Bond Arterton

decided that since no one was promoted, no one was injured."

She dismissed that case and the white firefighters appealed her ruling.

In this case, Albrecht said Bridgeport scored and ranked the original test results in September 2007. Then in July 2008, it decided to rescore and rerank candidates applying different methods on how the written and oral exam were measured.

Associate City Attorney John Mitola said both New Haven and Bridgeport "followed existing Second Circuit law and applied it to fix disparate impact."

He and City Attorney Mark Anastasi said rather than throwing the entire test out, Bridgeport decided to do what was required to minimize the disparate impact on blacks and Hispanics.

"Once we had the final results, we consulted with the test designer who was able to change how the weights were applied to correct the disparate impact without effecting the validity of the test," Mitola said.

The suit also comes just after the city's Civil Service Commission denied the plaintiffs' appeals of the scoring process. By a 3-1 vote on April 22, they upheld the actions by Ralph Jacobs, the city's personnel director.

Plaintiffs in the suit are Timothy Bottone, of Newtown; Matthew Deysenroth, of Redding; Michael Donovan, of Hamden; Steven Earl and Francis McNellis Jr., both of Monroe; Joseph LaChioma, of Derby; Robert Novak, of Shelton; David Purcell, of Milford; Mike Raffalo, of Wethersfield; Phil Reeves, of Wilton; and Timothy Richmond of Oxford. Also named as a plaintiff is Roberto Diaz, of Naugatuck, who is listed as being Caucasian and Puerto Rican.

All of the plaintiffs passed the Dec. 18, 2006, promotional exam. In the original scoring, Novak, Ruffalo, Deysenroth, Bottone and Purcell finished in the top 15 for the 15 vacancies. Those scores were based on a 50 percent weighting for the written exam, 45 percent for the oral exam and 5 percent for seniority.

However, when James Outtz, a nationally known test designer, determined the results created disparate impact on black and Hispanic candidates, the test scoring was changed.

On July 17, 2008, it was decided the weighting be 75 percent for the oral exam and 25 percent for the written, with an additional 5 percent to those who passed the exam by scoring 70 or higher.

Using the new results, only Novak and Deysenroth were promoted to probationary lieutenant on Aug. 10, 2008.

Raffalo, Bottone and Purcell were removed from their provision lieutenant positions back to firefighter.

The promotions were made while the appeals to the Civil Service Commission were pending.

The suit accuses the city, its civil service commission and Jacobs of violating the firefighters' due process rights, constitutional rights against discrimination, and state rights protected by the Connecticut Fair Employment Protection Act.

They are asking that the original scores and grades be reinstated and that they be promoted to the rightful positions. They also are seeking promotion, back pay, back benefits, legal fees and court costs.

The case has been assigned to Senior U.S. District Judge Charles Haight in New Haven.