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Boston police officers are seeking Class certification for the remedy stage of a case after a Massachusetts federal judge ruled that an exam for promotions was discriminatory.
This discrimination class action is the second lawsuit taking issue with alleged discrimination in a police officer promotion test, but a different decision was reached in this case.
A group of police officers, all people of color who took a 2008 exam to determine promotions, are seeking Class certification. They claim that it will not be possible to determine who would have received a promotion had the exam not been discriminatory, as they claim it was.
According to the police officers, since it is not possible to determine who would have bene promoted, the best remedy for the alleged discrimination would be to estimate overall financial injury done to police officers who took the test. They also asserted that a lump sum should be distributed to affected officers.
The officers stated that “otherwise, if the case proceeds for only individual relief, the remedy stage risks devolving into an unnecessarily complicated dispute about each plaintiff’s unique qualifications (as of ten-plus years ago), and how he or she compared to every other lieutenant candidate.”
In 2017, U.S. District Judge William G. Young determined that a test used to promote police officers violated anti-discrimination laws, and disadvantaged black and Latino officers. This decision was in contrast to a previous one by a higher court that determined that another police exam was legal.
The two tests were reportedly similar, and determined who would be promoted. Additionally the two cases reportedly were in the court system at the same time, but were heard by different judges.
In the previous case, a judge determined that the test was indeed racially discriminatory, but that there were other elements that would contribute to determining who got a promotion that would allow the test to be considered legal despite its discriminatory elements. The first discrimination lawsuit was appealed, and a court upheld the initial decision that the test was legal.
Though in the previous case, a judge determined that the best candidates could be promoted without discrimination, Judge Young said that the test was discriminatory enough that it would not enable the best candidates to be promoted.
The police officers are represented by Harold Lichten and Benjamin Weber of Lichten & Liss-Riordan PC, and Stephen Churchill of Fair Work PC.
The Police Officer Discrimination Test Class Action Lawsuit is Smith, et al. v. City of Boston, Case No. 1:12-cv-10291, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts.
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