Supreme Court Rules on Employment Reverse Discrimination Case
The Supreme Court ruled in favor of white New Haven firefighters who claimed they were the victims of reverse employment discrimination. The court held that employers do still have an obligation under the civil rights laws to avoid discrimination in hiring, promoting, and compensating workers based on race, and that the firefighters were unfairly denied promotions because of their race. The majority of the court found that the fire department was wrong to throw out the results of a promotion exam because no African Americans were found likely to be promoted on the basis of the exam.
However, this ruling is surrounded by controversy. It was argued that this new ruling leads to confusing results and makes it difficult for employers to determine whether or not they are complying with the civil rights laws. As justification for their ruling Justice Anthony Kennedy stated that “fear of litigation alone cannot justify an employer’s reliance on race to the detriment of individuals who passed the examinations and qualified for promotions,” and the firefighters’ attorney furthered that “individual achievement should not take a back seat to race or ethnicity.”
In her dissent, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg said that while the court does have “sympathy” for the white firefighters, they have “no vested right to promotion, nor have other persons received promotions in preference to them.” Ginsberg, in addition to the other dissenters, believe that this new holding “will not have staying power.”
