Another Firefighter Bias Case Before High Court, But Issue Is Timing
Another case concerning employment tests for firefighters is back before the U.S. Supreme Court, but the issue is the timing for filing a complaint. A decision for the city of Chicago, which is defending its test, could further limit disparate impact claims by minorities.
A federal judge had ruled Chicago’s firefighter test had a disparate impact on minorities, but the Chicago-based 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reversed because black job applicants waited more than a year to challenge the results, the Los Angeles Times reports. The Supreme Court granted certiorari on Wednesday.
The issue in the case concerns the 300-day limit for filing a disparate impact complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, according to the petition for certiorari (PDF posted by SCOTUSblog). Does the filing have to be within 300 days of the announcement of an alleged illegal practice, or within 300 days of the employer’s use of the practice?
In the case of the firefighters, the issue is whether they should have filed their complaint shortly after the test was given, or whether they could wait until the results were used in hiring, the Los Angeles Times says. The case is Lewis v. City of Chicago.
In June, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Ricci v. DeStefano that the city of New Haven, Conn., discriminated against white firefighters for tossing job test results because blacks got no top scores.
