Opinion ID: 2470930
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The April 20, 2007 Opinion

Text: After holding hearings on the remaining factual issues, the district court issued a second opinion. See NYC Board IV, 487 F.Supp.2d 220. This opinion discussed the results of those hearings and responded to several motions for reconsideration. In it the court held that:  Exam 8206 had been adequately shown to have had a disparate impact on Hispanics. Id. at 224-32.  There was an issue of fact requiring a hearing as to whether the parties to the 1999 settlement agreement intended to distinguish between testing claimants and recruiting claimants, or whether instead the intent of the Agreement was to give relief to blacks and Hispanics regardless of whether they failed a challenged exam. Id. at 232-33.  If the former were true, then the district court would not hold a hearing as to whether any recruiting-claim Offerees were actual victims of discrimination, because at summary judgment there was insufficient evidence to warrant a hearing on any claim that they were actual victims. Id. at 224 n. 3, 233-34.  If the latter were true, the district court said, it would be necessary to reconsider the Equal Protection Clause narrow tailoring analysis for the male recruiting claimants. Id.  As a clarification, the Equal Protection Clause prohibited not only contested retroactive seniority for the minority male recruiting claimants, but also seniority benefits based, under the settlement agreement, on these claimants' permanent appointment dates. Id. at 234-35.  The Brennan Plaintiffs' class was expanded to include all custodial employees whose seniority for purposes of transfers, TCAs and layoff protection has been adversely affected by the grant of seniority benefits to the Offerees. Id. at 236. In other words, the class was no longer limited to individuals affected by the grant of seniority benefits to non-victims of discrimination, nor was it limited to individuals who lost layoff protection rather than transfers or TCAs.