HispanicBusiness

When it comes to promoting minorities, the New Haven Fire Department at the center of this week's Supreme Court ruling has a blemished history.

The tension dates back to 1973, when an organization of black firefighters called the Firebird Society challenged almost all aspects of the New Haven department's hiring and promotion practices. Specifically, the group alleged that the department's entry exam, minimum requirements, promotional exam and use of supervisory recommendations for promotions followed a pattern of "willful discrimination."

The suit ended in a consent decree requiring the department to increase minority recruiting, create entrance and promotional exams that were job-related and modify other practices to diminish the adverse impact on black firefighters, according to Supreme Court documents.

In 1989, the conflict flared up again.

The Firebird Society decried the department's long-standing practice of disproportionately promoting white firefighters to not-yet vacant positions just prior to the expiration of a promotion eligibility list. The courts agreed with the Firebird Society: The Connecticut appellate court upheld a trial court finding that the practice violated civil-service laws.

In 1998, black firefighters sued the New Haven department once more. This time, they took exception to how the department used lower-ranked officers to fill positions budgeted for a higher rank. Known as "under-filling," this practice created a disproportionately large pool of white candidates for captain exams, and resulted in blacks getting fewer promotions, according to court documents. The Connecticut Supreme Court held that the practice violated civil-service laws, and reversed a trial court's dismissal of the plaintiffs' claim of intentional discrimination against black firefighters.

Consequently, two of the plaintiffs won sizeable awards of front pay and back pay.

Nearly 10 years later, in 2007, attorneys for the defendant argued that New Haven's diversity record as it relates to supervisory positions was still poor. Blacks held about a third of all entry-level positions, but only 15 percent of all supervisory positions, according to court documents.

The most recent case, Ricci v. DeStefano, involves a group of 20 firefighters -- 19 white and one Hispanic -- who were passed up for a promotion by New Haven even though they achieved the highest marks on an exam. The city withheld their promotion on the grounds that the test left none of the department's black firefighters in line for a promotion. The city concluded that the test must be flawed, leaving it vulnerable to legal attack. Upholding the city's decision was a three-member panel of the U.S. 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals that included Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor.

On Monday morning, the Supreme Court reversed the Second Court's ruling, siding with the white firefighters.

While the general public in a CNN poll seemed to support the decision, some diversity advocates fear that the ruling could have a chilling effect on diversity in the workplace.