Supreme Court says black firefighter lawsuit can proceed

[RamboLiberal]

Source: Washington Post

The Supreme Court ruled unanimously on Monday that a group of African Americans may sue the city of Chicago on their claim that the city's discriminatory use of an application test kept them from being hired as firefighters.

The justices rejected the city's argument that the class of 6,000 black applicants had waited too long to bring the suit. Antonin Scalia, writing for the court, said each time the city used the test results to hire firefights over the next six years represented a new chance for the denied applicants to bring their suit.

"Under the city's reading, if an employer adopts an unlawful practice and no timely charge is brought, it can continue using the practice indefinitely, with impunity, despite ongoing disparate impact" on minorities, Scalia wrote.

Federal law forbids employers from using an employment practice that "causes a disparate impact on the basis of race, color, religion, sex or national origin," even if there is no discriminatory intent. The only exception is if the employer can show the practice is job-related and "consistent with business necessity."



Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/05/24/AR2010052401606.html?hpid%3Dtopnews&sub=AR

[wcast]

1. Wow, Scalia wrote that?!

I first heard about this on Make It Plain. The test used was not designed to rank firefighters, it was to be used to qualify them, kind of like the Praxis test I took to be a teacher.

[Unvanguard]

2. Unanimous opinion by Scalia. A pleasant surprise! n/t

[happyslug]

3. Here is the opinion

http://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/09pdf/08-974.pdf