Six municipalities in New Jersey banded together to provide fire protection and rescue to their residents. And, they required all applicants for positions in the consortium to live in one of the six towns. However, since the demographics of all six were heavily skewed toward Hispanic residents, there were very few African Americans among firefighters and the NAACP filed a lawsuit claiming disparate impact.

What happened. North Hudson comprises the towns of Guttenberg, North Bergen, Union City, Weehawken, and West New York. In 2000, the populations of those towns were 69.6 percent Hispanic, 22.9 percent white non-Hispanic, and 3.4 percent African American. And, North Hudson Regional Fire & Rescue employed 240 white non-Hispanics, 58 Hispanics, and 2 African Americans. The regional and state NAACP offices sued North Hudson, claiming the residence requirement had a disparate impact on African American candidates.

NAACP argued that drawing applicants from the three counties in and around North Hudson would likely yield 121 African American firefighters. North Hudson and six Hispanic applicants countered that firefighters must be familiar with the neighborhoods in which they work and be able to respond quickly in emergencies. A judge in federal district court rejected those assertions and ruled for NAACP. North Hudson and the applicants appealed to the 3rd Circuit, which covers Delaware, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania.

What the court said. Appellate judges first distinguished between disparate treatment, which is intentional on an employer’s part, and disparate impact, which is the charge North Hudson faced. North Hudson argued that surrounding communities also had residents-only requirements, which would disadvantage Hispanics from North Hudson towns.

Judges also parsed an earlier decision to which North Hudson had referred, Ricci v. DeStefano (2009). That case involved the New Haven, Connecticut, fire department. The city administered an exam to applicants, the results of which had a disparate impact on African Americans. So the city threw out the results, along with the pending promotions of 10 white firefighters. And, the white firefighters sued.

Because North Hudson allowed firefighters to live anywhere after being hired, judges felt that weakened many of the consortium’s arguments. So they ruled in favor of eliminating the residence requirement for applicants. NAACP v. North Hudson Regional Fire & Rescue, U.S. Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit, Nos. 10-3965 &-3983 (12/12/11).

Point to remember: The only similarity between this case and Ricci, judges said, was that both involved “fear of litigation alone,” as opposed to real potential for liability.