City of New Haven Pays $5 Million To Settle Reverse Discrimination Suit
A few months ago we sent out a News Alert about a Supreme Court ruling in favor of a group of white firefighters in a reverse discrimination case. Interestingly, current Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor had ruled against the white firefighters when she was a Judge in the Court of Appeals.
Well, the damages part of the case was finally resolved with a settlement between the firefighters and the city of New Haven. The city has agreed to pay a whopping total of about $5 million! It will pay 20 firefighters about $2 million in damages, and it will also pay the firefighters’ legal bill of about $3 million. The white firefighters also got the promotions they should have received based on test results back in 2003.
A monetary hit like this underscores the importance of having objective hiring and promotion criteria to the extent possible, sticking to those criteria when making decisions, and documenting legitimate reasons to support your decisions.
Post by: Richard N. Sheinis
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