Partial Victory for White Shreveport, Louisiana Firefighters (01/26/06) On Jan. 25, 2006 the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the "strict scrutiny" standard does NOT allow the Shreveport, Louisiana fire department to give hiring preference to black firefighters over white firefighters with higher test scores. In response, the Shreveport FD suspended the use of test scores in hiring firefighters, and instead implemented a "pass / fail" system so that no future white applicant can charge that a black or other minority with a lower test score was hired ahead of him or her. Thus the test scores of all future hires in the Shreveport fire department will not be disclosed. Up until this ruling, the Shreveport FD had been following a plan imposed in 1980 (26 years ago) by the U.S. Justice Department which dictated that in order to remedy the presumed effects of prior discrimination against black firefighter applicants the Shreveport fire department had to hire 1 black for every 1 white they hired regardless of their relative test scores. But in 1980 the "strict scrutiny" standard had not been established. "Strict scrutiny" in 2006 requires that race-based hiring programs be narrowly tailored to fulfill a compelling government interest, and that any presumed "prior discrimination" which such programs are designed to remedy must be proven by arduous and indisputable research which shows that racial discrimination was the overriding reason that more blacks (or other preferred minorities) were not hired by the subject organization. The Shreveport, LA fire department's "racially sensitive" hiring policies failed to meet this standard today, according to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
[From the Shreveport Times January 26, 2006 article by Francis McCabe] Headline: Subhead: "A federal appellate court changed its stance and ruled Wednesday in favor of [white] plaintiffs in a discrimination lawsuit against the city of Shreveport and its Fire Department, overturning a lower court's decision to dismiss the case. "The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals remanded the heart of the five-year-old case to U.S. District Court in Shreveport. "The petition was brought against the city in 2000 by Todd Dean, who was not hired by the [Shreveport] department and felt its hiring practices discriminated against him because he is white. Dean earned a higher test score than some blacks hired then, his lawsuit alleges. Other men joined the lawsuit soon after. "The 5th Circuit's ruling 'should compel the city not only to cease race-based hiring procedures in all departments, but also to re-evaluate the continued validity of all city programs that incorporate race as a criteria for participation,' said local attorney Pamela R. Jones, who represented Dean, Shawn Sanders and Jason Matthews. "The department ended race-based hiring 11 months before a federal magistrate dismissed Dean's case in December 2004 hoping to avoid more lawsuits, officials said. Now the department relies on a pass/fail civil service exam, educational background and technical training of each candidate and psychological and physical ability exams. "The city has maintained that the department's [race-based] hiring practices are based on a complaint brought by the U.S. Justice Department in 1980 that said the department had discriminated against blacks and women. Up to that point, the department had hired only three black men in its history, according to court records. "[At that time] the 5th Circuit ruled that the department had to fill 'at least 50 percent of all vacancies with qualified black applicants' and put qualified women in at least 15 percent of all vacancies. The department was ordered to divide job candidates into two categories, white and black. The most qualified from each received job offers -- even if the most qualified candidates were all in one category -- so that jobs were equally distributed to both whites and blacks. "A consent decree was agreed to with a long-term goal of the department staff reflecting the available work force of the city. In its ruling Wednesday, the appellate court notes its change in view of the decree: " 'We reviewed the decree at that time under a rational basis standard of review. This standard of review no longer applies. ... Thus, as we re-evaluate the decree under strict scrutiny, we are not bound by our prior approval of it under the rational basis standard.' " Excerpted from the Shreveport Times
01/26/06 Headline: Subhead: [From the Shreveport Times Dec. 11, 2004 article by Francis McCabe] "A federal magistrate judge has dismissed a four-year-old discrimination lawsuit against the city for the past hiring practices of the Shreveport Fire Department. "Meanwhile, the Fire Department has changed its hiring practices to remove race as a hiring criteria, in an effort to protect the department from being sued for discrimination, Fire Chief Kelvin Cochran said. " 'The court finds that the consent decree and the city's multiple list hiring policy were narrowly tailored to serve the compelling interests of remedying past discrimination and its lingering effects,' wrote U.S. Magistrate Judge Roy S. Payne in the summary judgment on Oct. 22 in the case of Jeffrey Todd Dean, Jeffrey Gill, Jason Matthews, Paul Johnson, Shawn Sanders, Benjamin Bogues, Aaron Myers, R. Shane Williams and Terry Ryan Smith versus the city of Shreveport. "The suit had originally been brought against the city in 2000 by Dean, who was not hired by the Fire Department and felt the hiring practices of the city discriminated against him because he is white. Dean had received a higher test score than some of the black people hired then, the suit stated. The other men joined the lawsuit soon after. "In 1980, a complaint was brought against the city by the U.S. Justice Department that said the Fire Department had discriminated against blacks and females. Up to that point, the Shreveport Fire Department had hired only three black men in the history of the department, according to court records. The Federal 5th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the Fire Department had to fill "at least 50 percent of all vacancies with qualified black applicants." The Fire Department must hire at least 15 percent of all vacancies with qualified female applicants. The Fire Department was ordered to divide job candidates into two categories, white and black. The most qualified candidates from each category received job offers -- even if the most qualified candidates were all in one category -- so that jobs were equally distributed to both whites and blacks. "A consent decree was agreed to with a long-term goal of the Fire Department staff reflecting the available work force of the city. "Twenty-four years after the consent decree was put into place, the Fire Department is made up of 75 percent whites and 25 percent blacks, of which 11 percent are female out of the total. " 'Our goal, as is the goal of any city in America, is for the work force to model the demographics of their community, and we are a long way from accomplishing that goal,' Cochran said. "But in an effort to protect the department from further discrimination lawsuits, the hiring practices were changed in February, eliminating race as a factor in hiring, Cochran said. "Now the department relies on a pass/fail civil service exam, the educational background and technical training of each candidate, psychological exam and physical ability exam, Cochran said. "He denied that changing the hiring procedure was an admission of the former hiring practices being discriminatory. 'We weren't doing anything wrong. We were actually doing what we were told to do,' by the U.S. Justice Department, Cochran said. 'And it worked well for a number of years.' "And the magistrate judge agreed. " 'Beginning with almost no black or female firemen, the plan has resulted in the hiring of a significant number of women and minorities,' Payne said in his decision. "But the plaintiffs in the case have not been discouraged by Payne's ruling. " 'We filed a notice of appeal and we will take this as far as necessary,' said Pam Jones, the plaintiffs' attorney. 'We are pretty confident we will ultimately prevail in this case.' "In the meantime, at least one of Jones' clients, Jason Matthews, has been hired by the department since the lawsuit began, she said. "For some of the others, Jones said, it may be too late as they have exceeded the age limit for becoming a firefighter. "The nine plaintiffs are asking for the city to stop using race as a factor in hiring -- which Jones said she still believes is happening. Those clients who are still eligible for employment with the department seek to be hired and given back-pay, Jones said. "The Fire Department has a class of 20 set to graduate Dec. 29 under the new hiring system. "The class originally had 25 members -- four black men, one white female and 20 white men. Now the class is made up of one black male, one white female and 18 white men, Cochran said. "But Cochran isn't ready to say the new system will hurt the racial make up of the department. " 'It's premature to say that because we were hiring from an old civil service list,' Cochran said, adding that he feels next year's class will be more diverse because there are 300 candidates who have signed up." Excerpted from the Shreveport Times
01/26/06 END Shreveport Fire Department Reverse Discrimination |
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