Jan. 18--The state Supreme Court refused Wednesday to reinstate a San Francisco jury's $3.7 million damage award to 15 firefighters who claimed age discrimination in the city's scoring of a 2008 exam on promotions to lieutenant.
The Superior Court jury agreed with the firefighters in 2013 that the Fire Department's exam unit had weighed some parts of the test more than others, and ranked the test-takers, in ways that were unrelated to fitness for the promotion, and that had an adverse effect on applicants older than 40. Jurors awarded the 15 plaintiffs damages for lost pay and emotional distress.
But Judge Anne-Christine Massullo, who presided over the trial, overturned the jury verdict in 2014, finding that the test scoring was proper and job-related. A state appeals court later upheld her ruling, and on Wednesday the state's high court unanimously denied review of the firefighters' appeal.
The case resulted in a "horrible miscarriage of justice," said the plaintiffs' lawyer, Murlene Randle.
She said she has filed a similar suit on behalf of another 19 San Francisco firefighters who were denied promotions in the same exam. That case will now move forward, with a different judge, and will not be bound by the legal rulings in the just-completed case, Randle said.
John Coté, spokesman for City Attorney Dennis Herrera, said the Fire Department "administered a fair, job-related exam that followed industry standards. That exam has been validated by the courts at every level."
The 2008 test, the first for prospective lieutenants in a decade, was taken by 745 firefighters, of whom about one-third were promoted. The test included a simulated fire scene and first aid exercise, in which candidates described the equipment they would need and the actions they wold take, and a training and counseling exercise for disciplining a firefighter they would supervise in their new position.
The lawsuit challenged the decisions of a Fire Department committee to assign specific weights to each part of the exam and each applicant's answers. An expert witness for the plaintiffs said the committee's rankings were not closely related to a lieutenant's job duties, and also testified that the numerical scores themselves were given too much weight, disqualifying candidates who lagged behind by a few points but had greater experience than those scoring higher.
But Massullo ruled in the city's favor and was upheld in October by the First District Court of Appeal. While the exam was not flawless, the city "conducted a thorough job analysis" before designing the test, and "relied on knowledgeable experts" for its scoring system, the court said.
The city made changes in the exam system in response to the lawsuit and the criticism that followed. But Kevin Smith, president of the San Francisco Black Firefighters and a battalion chief in the Fire Department, said Wednesday that the only significant change he has seen was the hiring of an outside contractor to conduct the exam, while the scoring system is largely the same.
The case is Danner vs. San Francisco, S245139.
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