The New York City Law Department has won a stay pending appeal of a judge's order on remedies in the Fire Department racial discrimination case. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit yesterday said it would stay parts of the remedial order issued by Eastern District Judge Nicholas Garaufis (See Profile) in December 2011 pending the city's appeal of the judge's finding of disparate treatment in the hiring of minority applicants and the sweeping order itself.
Oral argument in United States v. Bloomberg, 11-5113-cv, was heard by a three-judge panel in June 2012 (NYLJ, June 27, 2012), and the parties are waiting on a ruling from the circuit, which is also considering the city's request to remove Garaufis from the case. Garaufis had denied the Law Department's request for a stay last week (NYLJ, Feb. 1).
"We are gratified that the court granted our stay. This will enable the commissioner to exercise hiring discretion without the court monitor's involvement," Georgia Pestana, chief of the labor and employment division of the law department, said in a statement.
