New Haven Firefighters
The Supreme Court case of Ricci v. DeStefano was heard in April of 2009, and the Court's decision was issued in favor of the plaintiffs on 29 June, 2009. The plaintiffs here, Ricci et al., were nineteen firefighters from New Haven, Connecticut who had sued the administration of New Haven mayor John DeStefano over the decision to disregard results from a written examination given for promotion within the city fire department. Ricci et al. alleged reverse discrimination under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 which prohibits employment discrimination based on race: it is necessary to note in this context that the vast majority of the plantiffs in Ricci were white, with two Hispanics included, and that the administrative decision made in New Haven was based on the fact that no African-American firefighters were able to pass the test and thus be eligible for promotion. The Supreme Court held that the DeStefano administrations decision was, in fact, racial discrimination of the sort forbidden by Title VII, and was thus unlawful. Yet the judicial outcome of the case was hardly predictable before the fact, and is to a certain degree irrelevant to the matter that I would like to address. It is worth asking whether, from an analysis of managerial strategy, whether the city of New Haven had acted reasonably in the first place when they rejected the promotion test results. I would like to argue that, for several specific reasons which I shall address in turn, the DeStefano administration acted as best as it could in the situation, from a managerial standpoint. It is worth addressing their motives, and some of the complications of the story, at greater length in order to see how a decision that was ultimately found to be unlawful made a considerable amount of sense at the time.
New Haven, Connecticut -- the locus of this lawsuit -- is probably best known as the home of Yale University. It is the second largest city in the state of Connecticut, but despite the presence of an esteemed Ivy League institution, New Haven had been subject to a long period of decline before the incident that would result in the Ricci decision. The Washington Post notes that New Haven itself was promoted as the "laboratory" of "urban renewal" strategies in an attempt to revitalize the city after...
New Haven Firefighters Affirmative Action Case Employers frequently utilize tests and other choice methods in order to screen candidates for hire and workers for promotion. There are a lot of different kinds of tests and selection procedures, including cognitive tests, personality tests, medical examinations, credit checks, and criminal background checks. The utilization of tests and other selection measures can be a very successful way of determining which candidates or workers
jonsmom2 the New Haven Firefighters Affirmative Action received kind attention a lo Diversity in the Workplace There are several factors to consider when discussing the prudence of the decision of the city of New Haven, Connecticut, to dismiss the results of two promotional exams for its fire department on the grounds that its results would leave the city open to litigation based upon racial bias. In a case as morally and
Civil Rights: The Ricci v. DeStefano case is a U.S. Supreme Court case that was decided in June, 2009 and raises concerns regarding the steps employers may take in situations where the avoidance of discrimination against one group may imply discrimination against another group. This case has attracted huge public concern that has resulted in various arguments that have been raised either in support or opposition of the Supreme Court's decision
Employers are not permitted to create requirements for jobs that have a disparate impact upon the ethnic composition of the workforce, if such requirements are not necessary for the job. But "once a plaintiff has established a prima facie case of disparate impact, the employer may defend by demonstrating that its policy or practice is job related for the position in question and consistent with business necessity." Furthermore, "the City's
The way that this relates to the work place, is that any kind of slight variation in the quota system can open the flood gates for these kinds of suits to occur. Then, when the court does not provide consistency in their rulings it creates even more confusion. When you look beyond the quota system, it is clear that this basic principal, of taking something away from one group and
Authors Donald Lively and Russell Weaver describe Hustler Magazine as Falwell's "antagonist (p. 79)," no doubt representing for Falwell abuses of our Constitutional freedoms. "In 1983, Hustler Magazine decided to parody Falwell using a Campari Liqueur advertisement. The actual Campari ads portrayed interviews with various celebrities about their 'first times.' Although the advertisement actually focused on the first time that the celebrities had sampled Campari, the ads portrayed the double
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