Archive for May, 2010
Supreme Court Rules in Favor of Firefighter Applicants
In a stunning 9-0 decision, the United States Supreme Court has decided that about 6,000 minority firefighter applicants (“Petitioners”) may sue, as a class, the City of Chicago, notwithstanding objections that their claim was time barred. The applicants argued that the City adopted a policy of administering a written examination that had a disparate impact on minorities. The District Court certified the class, and denied the City’s summary judgment motion.
In the end, the District Court found that the Petitioners’ claim prevailed on the merits. The City responded by contending that the claim was filed beyond the 300-day statute of limitations. The Court of Appeals, Seventh Circuit agreed with the City, deciding the suit was untimely because it was filed 430 days after the written examination was administered by the City.
The Petitioners appealed, and the Supreme Court reversed and remanded for further proceedings, holding that each time the written examination was used to make a hiring decision, the “clock” of the statute of limitations was reset and started to run once again. Thus, the Supreme Court characterized the ongoing reliance on the written examination as a continuing violation, and allowed the Petitioners’ claim to proceed.
It is important to note that the Supreme Court did not offer any opinion in regards to the alleged discrimination in this case and only opined in regards to the timeliness of the claim. We will have much more on this important case in upcoming issues.