Employee sues over test OK'd by Supreme Court

A recent Supreme Court case now has a new element of confusion.
The Supreme Court recently ruled on a case involving employees at a fire department in Connecticut. To be considered for a promotion, the employees had to take a written and oral test. Candidates with the best scores were chosen.
A group of African-American firefighters complained that the test was biased, so the department threw out the results and started from scratch.
However, the white employees who would’ve been promoted based on the test scores sued. The Supreme Court agreed, ruling the department threw out the results of a perfectly good test.
Now, an African-American employee has filed his own suit. He’s claiming the test really was biased, and that he was unfairly denied a promotion when the policy on the test was reinstated.
Got that? We’ll keep you posted on how the suit proceeds.
One thing these cases show: Employment tests can be complicated. Companies should track results to look for signs of a disparate impact.