Court Opinion

ID: 9727646
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 13:46:00.274306+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:25:41.204679
License: Public Domain

JUSTICE WELCH, dissenting: I dissent and would reverse outright the decisions of the Commission and the circuit court. Their findings that the employment practice in question was not justified by business necessity are against the manifest weight of the evidence. SIU’s decision not to hire James Knight was not based upon the fact of his arrest, but upon the facts and circumstances surrounding that arrest, including the admitted fact that he had lied to an East St. Louis police officer conducting a criminal investigation. Also a consideration in SIU’s decision was that, when Chief McDonald asked Knight about the incident, Knight gave an incredible response and stated that he would not have allowed the background check had he known SIU would learn of his prior arrest and conviction. Knight was an applicant for the position of police officer. Unlike other work positions, this position combines aspects of both professionalism and significant public risk and responsibility. It has been held that, “when the job clearly requires a high degree of skill and the economic and human risks involved in hiring an unqualified applicant are great, the employer bears a corresponding-lighter burden to show that his employment criteria are job related. [Citation omitted.] The courts, therefore, should proceed with great caution before requiring an employer to lower his pre-employment standards for such a job.” (Spurlock v. United Airlines, Inc. (10th Cir. 1972), 475 F.2d 216, 219.) Spurlock has been approved by the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals in Hodgson v. Greyhound Lines, Inc. (7th Cir. 1974), 499 F.2d 859 at 862-63, cert. denied (1975), 419 U.S. 1122, 42 L. Ed. 2d 822, 95 S. Ct. 805. The court in Hodgson stated that where the employee would be entrusted with “the lives and well-being” of the public, the employer “must continually strive to employ the most highly qualified persons available.” 499 F.2d at 863. A police officer who carries a firearm is entrusted with the lives and well-being of the public. He is in a position of public trust and must be both trustworthy and honest. One who employs an individual for such a position must be especially careful to employ only the most qualified applicants. This case is unlike City of Cairo v. Fair Employment Practices Comm’n (1974), 21 Ill. App. 3d 358, 315 N.E.2d 344, in which the city had a policy of excluding all persons with arrest records from employment on the city’s police force. SIU has no absolute bar against hiring individuals who have been arrested. Instead, each applicant is evaluated on a case-by-case basis, and, in fact, SIU has hired individuals as police officers who have had both arrest and conviction records. Finally, SIU did conduct an investigation of the facts and circumstances surrounding Knight’s arrest. Chief McDonald asked Knight for his version of the incident. Knight’s explanation contradicted the police report, indicating that he had lied to the investigating officer or was lying to Chief McDonald. Chief McDonald found Knight’s explanation confusing and incredible. Knight did not provide Chief McDonald with the names of any possible witnesses who could corroborate Knight’s version when Chief McDonald asked for them. Chief McDonald also received a letter from the attorney who had represented Knight which indicated that Knight had owned the gun in question. Knight denied ownership-of the gun. Faced with the conflicting versions of the facts and circumstances surrounding Knight’s arrest, the fact that Knight had either lied to the investigating officer or to Chief McDonald, and the fact that Knight was applying for a position as a police officer, a position of public trust, SIU’s refusal to hire Knight was justified by business necessity. I would therefore reverse.