The SIOP Exchange

Supreme Court Decides on Ricci Case

The U.S. Supreme Court justices handed down their decision June 29 on the Ricci v. DeStefano case. In a 5-4 decision, the justices stated the city’s action in discarding the tests violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Detailed stories can be read on the New York Times.com, CNN.com, and various other news Web sites.

To voice your own opinions on the decision and its implications for the field of industrial-organizational psychology, add your comments below!

Ricci v. DeStefano: An Opinion

Personal Reflections from Hearing the Oral Arguments in the Ricci v. DeStefano Supreme Court Case

By Dan A. Biddle, Ph.D.
CEO, Biddle Consulting Group, Inc.

On April 22, 2009 the U.S. Supreme Court (“USSC”) heard the oral arguments offered by each side in the Ricci v. Destefano testing case. In this case, 18 candidates (17 Whites and 1 Hispanic), who successfully passed two exams for promotion to Lieutenant and Captain positions, are suing the City of New Haven, Connecticut for refusing to certify the exams and make the promotions because the tests had adverse impact (whites scored higher than African-Americans) and were not justifiably valid. The plaintiffs argued that their rights under Title VII and the 14th Amendment Equal Protection Clause were violated. 

One of the major questions being evaluated in this case is: Should the City be allowed to pull the exam results because they believed the tests themselves were flawed, and also knew of other lower-adverse impact alternatives?

The Ricci Case: Prelude to a Decision

The current U.S. Supreme Court case, Ricci v. DeStefano, has garnered a great deal of press interest in recent months. In the midst of the Court’s impending decision on the case—Ricci will continue to be of significance to both the media and the field of industrial-organizational psychology.

The case revolves around employment testing and selection practices at a municipal fire department in New Haven, Connecticut. Seventeen incumbent white firefighters and one Hispanic firefighter who scored high enough on a test battery to be promoted filed a lawsuit against the City of New Haven when the city refused to certify the overall results after finding that no incumbent African American firefighters scored high enough on the exam to be promoted. The city argues the test was invalid and unfair to the African American firefighter applicants within the department, and that the city was within its rights to protect itself from a Civil Rights lawsuit. The plaintiffs argue that the test should be upheld as a valid measure of the most qualified candidates for promotion.

Living Forever in the South Bronx

Jeffrey Saltzman, Kenexa 
 
There is an old story that goes something like this: this story is about a very rich man, let’s say he lived in Manhattan, who had everything he wanted out of life except for one thing—he wanted to live forever. He struggled mightily with trying to figure out how he could accomplish that goal. Finally he came to the realization that he needed the assistance of others if he was to accomplish that goal. He thought about consulting some I-O Psychologists he knew, or going to see his doctor, but he finally settled on the smartest people that he knew, the New York council of elders. He went to the council of elders and he said, “I am a very rich man and I want to live forever. If you can tell me how I can accomplish that I will give the city ½ of my wealth.”