White Conn. firefighters seek back pay, damages

[The Northerner]

Source: Associated Press

NEW HAVEN, Conn. — A group of white New Haven firefighters who won a discrimination case before the U.S. Supreme Court are seeking back pay, damages and legal fees.

The high court ruled in June that New Haven officials violated white firefighters' civil rights when they threw out 2003 test results in which too few minorities did well. Fourteen firefighters who sued were promoted this month to lieutenant and captain.

Karen Torre, the firefighters' attorney, filed papers last week in U.S. District Court in New Haven arguing the firefighters are entitled to back pay with interest for long-overdue promotions, several categories of damages and attorney fees.

The firefighters were subject to "the humiliation and economic hardship of prolonged career stagnancy in a rancorous atmosphere fostered by raw racial divides," she said.

Read more: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jjMMNXSw9O0HVpF-_d4qmwucnQpwD9CNQD482

[brendan120678]

1. Hate to say it, but since...

the USSC ruled the way they did in favor of the white firefighters, I'd say they are due something like back pay or attorney's fees.

Not that New Haven can afford to pay it - it's such a crappy, beat-up, shit-hole of a city now anyways.

I hate having to go down there for anything anymore.

[WriteDown]

3. Haven't been up that way in years, that bad now? nt

[CTyankee]

17. I really don't know what the poster is talking about. I LIVE in New Haven and

it has its problems but it is the cultural capital of CT. We have excellent theatre, restaurants, several art museums, several colleges/universities besides Yale, and an intellectual vibrancy because of the high degree of education so many residents have.

We have the usual problems related to poverty, as all cities in the U.S. do. But I have loved living here and will continue to do so.

We DO need to get Mayor DeStefano out of office. He is a big problem here IMO. But that is for another time, another thread...

[brendan120678]

21. And all of those great areas are within...

a three-block radius of central campus of Yale. Stray too far and you risk getting mugged.

The neighborhoods around Albertus Magnus, UNH and Southern aren't that great at all.

hardly any of the "intellectuals" you speak of even live in New Haven - you've got to go to Hamden or North Haven to find them.

[CTyankee]

23. So what if they are in Hamden or No. Haven or the shoreline towns for that matter.

The reason they are there is probably because of New Haven.

There are fringes of poverty around and in most U.S. cities. They are in the other cities in CT as well. I would HATE to live in Hartford or worse, Waterbury. I once worked in Bridgeport and was always depressed, left the job and got another one in New Haven after 4 despondent years.

My M.A.L.S. degree is from Albertus Magnus and I absolutely loved the atmosphere of that school.

Besides UNH, West Haven has a nice Turkish community. There are two Turkish restaurants that the NYT reviewers have raved about...was at one of them for lunch yesterday. Excellent!

I have been a tutor with Literacy Volunteers here for 5 years and love the diversity I find in the students.

The cultural offerings of Yale are wonderful, IMO. You will have to admit that theatre in New Haven is top notch, too...

[CTyankee]

18. What garden of eden do you live in?

If you feel this way, I suggest you not bother with us in New Haven. We'll manage without you...

[brendan120678]

19. I'm nowhere better...

I just know that I prefer my corrupt city to New Haven.

[CTyankee]

20. Interesting. Why is your brand better?

[brendan120678]

22. Not better at all...

It's probably just as corrupt (maybe more so).
I just prefer it more, and New Haven doesn't have much that impresses me.

[davidwestafa]

2. Good 4 Them

Don't you just HATE discrimination?

[TheCowsCameHome]

4. Better get the checkbook out, NH.

[SoapBox]

5. I'm curious...

I'm curious about the following...and have always been,

"A group of white New Haven firefighters"

I have never heard (and I admit to not following this whole story intimately)...So the
group that sued was all White? Whitey White? No Asian or Latin? And of course we know
that Blacks were excluded.

...even though the whole process could have been better, I always felt the end result weird
(as in backlash type of weird) with this case.

The story has always seemed to be missing "something"...as in how are they going to make
sure that testing is not always going to result in white guys getting the jobs?

p.s...hey, I'm as white as they come (Norwegian) but I'm always had questions about this case.

[paulsby]

6. several of the ones that passed the test were hispanic

fwiw. also, the test does not "always" result in white guys getting the job.

this test had been used many times in the past. it didn't give those results. the issue was NOT the test. nobody (i repeat: nobody) in analyzing the test questions (and they h ave been gone over with a fine tooth comb) has found and presented ANY evidence of racial bias in the test.

all other factors aside, given sufficient "n" and assuming that applicants of all races are on average equally qualified (which is not always the case, but for arguendo purposes), there WILL be disparate results.

if you flip a coin a few hundred times, you will get several streaks of heads in a row for instance. that doesn't mean the coin is biased.

if you have questions about this case, i suggest you read up at scotusblog.com and volokh.com

both sites have given EXCELLENT legal analysis of this case.

the ONLY racism in this case was by the city of new haven in denying ff promotional applicants equal consideration under the law, and by rejecting the results based on the successful test takers' race, the city of new haven committed unlawful racial discrimination.

the scotus ruled correctly, and the record is clear if you research this case.

[Paladin]

9. Yeah, Seek Out Eugene Volokh For A Spot-On, Unbiased Opinion.

Got any other jokes for us?

[paulsby]

12. here;s a hint

there's lots of legal analysis at volokh.com and scotusblog.com, volokh.com the MAJORITY of posts are by OTHER legal experts, not just eugene volokh

again, if you have any facts that run counter to what i claimed then present them

if your best shot is slagging a source because it's namesake happens to be a well respected libertarian law professor, then that's weak.

again, address the facts.

if you have a better source of LEGAL analysis of this case then scotusblog and volokh.com then let me know.

[Fire_Medic_Dave]

14. No chance of him addressing the facts. King of the drive by posting.

[Paladin]

27. Jesus, Look Who's Talking......With A Typical Drive-By Posting. (n/t)

[Paladin]

26. Volokh Is One Of The Patron Saints Of The Gun Militancy Movement In This Country.

No surprise that you'd find his viewpoints attractive. If you want to characterize him as "libertarian," be my guest. I know better......

[paulsby]

28. gun militancy movement, like the abortion militancy movement

a way to use rhetoric to evade having to present a cogent argument

[nsd]

7. One of the guys who sued was Hispanic. The other 18 or 19 were white. (nt)

[Fire_Medic_Dave]

10. SCOTUS ruled there was no evidence of racial bias in the testing.

There was a latino firefighter who was party in the suit. The following link is a good overall report. http://www.newhavenindependent.org/archives/2009/04/city_case_revea.php

[24601]

8. Discrimination was proved in court and upheld on appeal - pay

the men and discriminate no more.

[Fire_Medic_Dave]

11. I hope they are awarded what they ask for.

[paulsby]

13. me too

in every case in my agency where somebody was ruled ot have been unfairly terminated, fired, suspended, demoted, or not promoted, they received back pay

it's about as close to a no brainer as you can get.

[JonQ]

15. Seems fair

would there be any doubt about this if the situation were reversed?

[Rage for Order]

16. Irony alert

If my memory serves me correctly, one of the reasons the city threw out the results in the first place was the potential cost of defending itself in court against lawsuits by minorities who might think the promotions of non-minorities were unfair.

[Fire_Medic_Dave]

24. I believe that is true.

[boppers]

25. Yes, it looked like the city was potentially using a racist system...

...and the city wanted to avoid any appearance of bias, and resulting legal costs. So they threw out part of the system that looked biased, which had the side-effect of creating a perception of bias.

Seems that in America, the solution to injustice is the lawsuit... and counter-suit... and counter-counter suit....

Makes the lawyers happy, at least.