South Florida Personal Injury Blog

Florida Employment Lawyers Update:

In one of the most high-profile cases to be heard by the Supreme Court this year, 16 white and one Hispanic firefighter sued the city of New Haven, Connecticut, alleging racial discrimination, says Broward discrimination attorney Andrew Alitowski. The city had administered a test that current firefighters could take to demonstrate eligibility for a promotion within the fire department. The exam was weighted such that 40 percent of the score came from the oral examination and 60 percent came from the written component. However, after discovering that the test showed a disparate racial breakdown, New Haven officials threw out the results of the test on that basis. They found that African-American firefighters who had taken the test performed significantly lower than members of other racial or ethnic groups.

As a result, the white and Hispanic firefighters sued the city of New Haven on the basis that they were being discriminated against. They performed well on a fair test, they said, according to Fort Lauderdale injury lawyer Alitowski. Furthermore, they went into the test after studying with the belief that a solid performance would result in possible promotions to the position of lieutenant firefighter.

The Supreme Court agreed with the firefighters who sued. The city of New Haven apparently rejected the test results amid fears of lawsuits from minority candidates for promotion, says Broward accident attorney Alitowski. Then they were hit with a lawsuit from the other side. Now, following the firefighters’ victory, an African-American firefighter has filed suit, alleging discrimination. In the new suit, Michael Brisco alleges that the test was biased against African-American promotion candidates because they are the victims of systemic discrimination, such as worse public schools in poorer neighborhoods. Briscoe says that he studied heavily for the exam and was at a disadvantage. He also states that the norm for firefighters’ exams is to weight the oral exam at 70 percent of the total score and the written exam at only 30 percent. If the test had been so weighted, he would have finished fourth in the pool of 24 candidates, according to his lawsuit. Briscoe contends that he learned the required material through years of on-the-job training rather than simply memorizing written facts in the days before the exam.

If you have been the victim of discrimination on the basis of your race, ethnic identity, or national origin, contact Alitowski & Moore, P.A., to begin your fight for justice.