Tuesday, January 13, 2009

High court to hear case on hiring test bias

Business Insurance
Posted On: Jan. 09, 2009 5:04 PM CST
Judy Greenwald

WASHINGTON—The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to consider whether a public entity was justified in refusing to certify the results of two fire department promotional exams on grounds that the tests may have had a disparate impact on African-Americans.
According to the 2006 district court decision in Frank Ricci vs. John DeStefano, it appeared the results of a captain's test given in 2003 by the New Haven, Conn., Fire Department meant no blacks and at most two Hispanics would be eligible for promotion. The results of a lieutenant's test indicated that neither blacks nor Hispanics would be promoted.
After the New Haven Civil Service Board failed to certify the tests' results, 17 white and one Hispanic candidates filed suit, alleging violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, among other charges.
The district court granted New Haven's motion for summary judgment, which the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld in June 2008.

http://www.businessinsurance.com/cgi-bin/news.pl?id=14975

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