Case: City Of Newark Firefighters Union

Plaintiffs: Newark Fire Department employee Lomack, along with 33 other Firefighters, the Newark Firefighters Union and the Newark Fire Officers Union.

Defendant: City of Newark.

The Legal Issue: The legal issue in this case was to determine if the City of Newark transferring employees to other fire houses solely based on race, was constitutional under the Equal Protection Clause and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The Equal Protection Clause in the constitution protects civil rights and states that the laws of a state must treat everyone in similar conditions and circumstances equally, with out the consideration of race.Similarly the Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, prevents an employer from discriminating against

The racial make up of all of the individual fire houses and dozens of firefighters were transferred between the 108 fire houses entirely due to their race. Lomack, along with his fellow firefighters and the union, filed a suit against the city of Newark alleging discrimination under the Equal Protection Clause, and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act. A bench trial in District Court was held and the City argued that it was eliminating de facto segregation, that they were securing the “educational, sociological, and job performance” benefits of having a diverse work place and their actions were in compliance of the 1980 consent decree (Walsh, p. 276). Lomack and the Plaintiff’s claim was dismissed and judgement was entered in the defendants favor. The Plaintiffs filed an appeal shortly after.

The Court’s legal conclusions: The Court reversed the initial judgement and ruled in favor of the Plaintiffs in the appeal citing the three arguments given in the City’s case were

Furthermore, the City’s diversity policy did not include gender, age, or other socio economic classes, so the Court determined “education” was not a compelling reason for the transfers (Walsh p.277). Lastly, the City attempted to cite compliance with the 1980 Consent Decree. The decree created benchmarks for hiring and promotion of minority firefighters and prohibits the city from making unlawfully discriminatory assignments. It states nothing about total diversity requirement, and according to the court does not apply in this situation. This case was not about intentional discrimination in hiring and promotions nor was it about determining if diverse work places are better for employees. This case focused on diversification solely by racial classification and became an issue of racial balancing. The Court, therefore found this practice unconstitutional which is why it overturned the original