Copyright 2006 The Omaha World-Herald Company
By JENNIFER GREFF
Omaha World-Herald (Nebraska)
Two Omaha fire captains on Monday won a federal appeal of a lawsuit that claims they were discriminated against under the City of Omaha’s affirmative action plan.
The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that a 2004 decision in favor of the city was wrong, and the lawsuit was reinstated.
In the lawsuit, John Kohlbek and Michael Pritchard contend that they were unfairly passed over for promotions and that less-qualified black men were promoted instead. A third man, William Schrack, is no longer a plaintiff in the case.
At issue are the City of Omaha’s affirmative action plans, which address problems in individual departments and classification of employees. The 8th Circuit judges said a 2002 city plan was not narrowly tailored to remedy past discrimination. Fire union attorney John Corrigan originally had argued that the city’s plan did not meet that standard.
Omaha had also cited another justification for the affirmative action plan -- retaining a diverse work force in the Fire Department. Because the lower court did not examine that issue, the appeals court on Monday sent the case back. The city can continue to defend its plan based on that justification.
In 2001, the City of Omaha settled with two white firefighters who filed lawsuits contending that they were passed over for promotions solely because of their race. Both men were promoted and given three to seven years’ worth of back pay in exchange for dropping their lawsuits.