1. a. Why did the city of New Haven reject the results of the promotion examination?
b. Why did the court rule that the city had violated Title VII?
c. Do you agree with the judgment of the court?
2. What could an employer do to avoid the situation New Haven faced in this case?
3. Frederick Claus, a white man with a degree in electrical engineering and 29 years of experience with Duquesne Light Company, was denied a promotion in favor of a black man who had not earned a bachelor’s degree and did not have the required seven years of experience. Only 2 of 82 managers in that division of Duquesne Light were black. Claus sued, claiming in effect that he was a victim of “reverse discrimination.” At trial, both sides conceded that the black candidate was an outstanding employee and that he was qualified to be a manager. Decide the case. Explain.
4. In 1974, Birmingham, Alabama, was accused of unlawfully excluding blacks from management roles in its fire department. After several years of litigation, Birmingham adopted an affirmative action plan that guaranteed black firefighters one of every two available promotions. The city, the Justice Department, and others applauded the arrangement, but a group of 14 white firefighters claimed they were victims of reverse discrimination. After years of wrangling, the white firefighters’ claim reached the 11th Circuit Federal Court of Appeals. Was the affirmative action plan lawful? Explain.
5. In a later case involving the same promotional examinations at issue in Ricci, Michael Briscoe, an African-American firefighter for the city of New Haven who applied to be promoted to lieutenant but was rejected brought a Title VII claim asserting that the city had created a disparate impact against African-Americans by weighing the written test more heavily than the oral examination. The city of New Haven brought a motion to dismiss in federal trial court. Decide.
In 2003, 118 New Haven Connecticut firefighters took examinations to qualify for promotion to the rank of lieutenant or captain. . . . The results would determine which firefighters would be considered for promotions during the next two years, and the order in which they would be considered. Many firefighters studied for months, at considerable personal and financial cost.