By John Grant Emeigh
The Montana Standard
BUTTE, Mont. — The Montana Supreme Court has ruled that a state law setting an age limit for hiring new firefighters is unconstitutional.
The high court made the decision Tuesday after reviewing an appeal filed by Butte resident Steven Jaksha, who was denied a job with the Butte-Silver Bow Fire Department because he was over age 34. The ruling effectively makes the state law requiring new firefighters to be 34 or younger unconstitutional and drops the age limit for hiring firefighters statewide.
The legal battle started after Jaksha, of Butte, was denied an appointment to the fire department in 2005 because of his age.
Jaksha’s attorney, Rick Sherwood of Helena, told The Montana Standard that Tuesday’s ruling is an important victory in the fight against age discrimination. Sherwood said he’s glad to see this ruling will eliminate the age-limit law on hiring firefighters in Montana.
“It was an archaic and foolish law,” Sherwood said.
Jaksha filed a lawsuit in January 2006 after the county refused to hire him as a firefighter because he was over 34. A jury ruled in favor of the county after a trial in Butte district court. After losing the appeal of the verdict in district court, Jaksha took his appeal to the state’s Supreme Court earlier this year.
In this appeal, Jaksha asked the high court to strike down Montana’s age restriction on hiring new firefighters and to reverse the district court decision.
Though the high court found the law unconstitutional, the high court didn’t reverse the jury’s verdict or the post-trial rulings in Butte district court.
Because of this, Jaksha will not get a new trial or any compensation for damages by the county. The Supreme Court decided in the 14-page ruling that Jaksha failed to demonstrate or allege that the county acted with malice or corruption when it didn’t hire him, because it was following state and local law at the time.
Jaksha, who is now 39, told The Montana Standard he has mixed feelings about the high court’s decision.
“After reading the opinion Wednesday morning, I said, ‘I won, but I lost,’” he said.
Jaksha said he plans to take the firefighters test again in June 2010.
“I plan to pursue that (a career as a firefighter) again; it’s just a shame I had to wait four years,” he said.
Jaksha was 34 when the Butte-Silver Bow Council of Commissioners approved him as a candidate for a firefighting job. However, he turned 35 in April 2005, before a position became available with the Butte department, and was listed as no longer eligible to work as a firefighter.
Chief Executive Paul Babb, who is responsible for hiring entry-level firefighters, appointed a firefighter candidate younger than Jaksha to the department in June 2005.
Prior to Tuesday’s Supreme Court ruling, state law mandated that a firefighter may not be more than 34 at the time of original appointment. The law stated the age limit was necessary because of the “rigorous physical demands of the firefighting profession and the expectation of many years of emergency service.” In Tuesday’s opinion, which was written by Justice Patricia O. Cotter, it was determined that there is no factual basis for the state’s age limit for firefighters.
“The fact that firefighters in their 50s can perform their functions competently demonstrates that this age limitation is without any rational basis,” the opinion states.
The other justices signing the opinion are Mike McGrath, John Warner, James C. Nelson and Jim Rice.
Jaksha said the legal fight put a great deal of strain on him and his family, but he received plenty of support.
“People in Butte and from outside of Butte called me and told me to see it through,” he said.
Copyright 2009 The Montana Standard