By AFRO Staff
The New Haven, Connecticut Fire Department has been under pressure after the filing of a lawsuit against a promotion test administered in 2003. (Courtesy Photo)
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(October 31, 2009) - A Black New Haven, Conn. firefighter has filed suit in federal court, claiming that his civil rights were violated by the way the city scored a 2003 promotion test.
The suit, filed Oct. 29, is the second that New Haven has faced over that test, according to The New York Times.
In 2003, the city had several vacancies for the ranks of captain and lieutenant and administered the exam, which included both oral and written portions, to 118 test-takers. But according to The Times, African-American firefighters at the time argued that they were underrepresented among the test’s highest scorers, and New Haven officials opted to disregard the test and issue no promotions.
That decision led to a 2004 suit by a group of mostly White firefighters which claimed the city discriminated against their performance in refusing to make the promotions. The U.S. Supreme Court in June found in favor of the White firefighters, and the city said it would go forward with the promotions according to the results of the 2003 test.
In his suit, Briscoe “alleges that the city weighs the oral and written components of the exam differently from how other cities do, in a way that has a disparate impact on African-Americans,” according to The New Haven Register.
The written portion of the test accounted for 60 percent of a candidate’s score, while the oral portion made up 40 percent of their grade. Briscoe attained the highest score on the oral portion of the exam, but when that score was added to his score for his written exam, he was not eligible for promotion.
“They scored it backwards,” Briscoe’s attorney, David Rosen, told WNPR - Connecticut Public radio. “Instead of giving the appropriate score for part of the test that should have gotten more heavily weighted, the oral part, they over-weighted the written part. And the problem with that is that is not the best way to pick fire lieutenants.”
An attorney representing the firefighters in the 2004 suit called Briscoe’s case “legally baseless,” according to The New Haven Register, and claimed the suit is intended only to “delay and interfere with my clients’ promotions.”
Briscoe is seeking an immediate promotion to the rank of lieutenant or “at least, that the city use a nondiscriminatory selection system to make promotions to any vacant lieutenant positions,” according to The Register.