Articles

Lawyer wants quick decision on police hires

Wednesday, October 20, 1999

By Michael A. Fuoco, Post-Gazette Staff Writer

The attorney for the nine men who sued after they were not hired as Pittsburgh police officers said yesterday he's willing to wait "a little bit" before demanding the city adhere to last week's court decision and hire the men, paying them nearly $900,000 in lost wages, interest and legal expenses.

"I'll probably give them a little time," attorney Samuel J. Cordes said, "like a week or two. But I'm going to oppose any further stay."

A panel of judges from the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals last week affirmed a lower court ruling that the men were passed over for jobs on the Pittsburgh police force because they are white. The plaintiffs' 1993 lawsuit contended that the city used a half-hour oral exam, given on a pass-fail basis, to weed out qualified white applicants and boost hiring of minorities and women.

The city has 90 days to appeal the decision to the U.S. Supreme Court, but whether it will do so is unclear. City Solicitor Jacqueline Morrow's office said yesterday afternoon she "had not had the opportunity to read the opinion so she can't comment on it right now."

The appeals court judges upheld an order handed down by Senior U.S. District Court Judge Maurice B. Cohill Jr. that said the city must hire the men after they complete any physical and psychological exams required by the police department.

Cohill also ordered the city to pay them the difference between what they earned from the time of the June 1998 jury verdict and what they would have earned had they been hired as Pittsburgh police officers. That comes to $881,000 thus far and increases by an estimated $10,000 a month, Cordes said.

The city didn't have to adhere to Cohill's order immediately because, at the city's request, he issued a stay pending appeal of the verdict.

Cordes said he interprets the appeals court decision as voiding that stay. Should the city continue to appeal, it would have to get another stay, Cordes contended, adding he would oppose such a request.

"The ball's in their court right now," he said. "They need to call me or somebody and say, 'Here's a check and go for your physicals.' I'll wait a little bit, but I'm not going to wait too long."

Cordes said all nine of his clients still want to join the Pittsburgh force, despite the years that have passed since their suit and despite the fact they have other jobs, some in law enforcement. If and when they join the force, they would be given seniority back to Jan. 1, 1993, Cordes said.

The next class of Pittsburgh police officers will not enter the training academy at least until January, police Chief Robert W. McNeilly Jr. said yesterday. That class probably would number about 40. In the last four years, only one class of 22 officers has joined the force.

The nine plaintiffs include three members of the Wilkinsburg Police Department -- Michael Hopp, 43, of Morningside; Donald Hamlin, 33, of Munhall; and Charles Knox, 33, of North Versailles.

The others are:

John Shamlin, 37, of Overbrook, a police officer at the University of Pittsburgh.

Lawrence Skinger, 40, of the North Side, who works at Mercy Providence Hospital.

Harry Lutton, 31, of Brookline, a part-time officer for Brentwood who also works undercover for the state attorney general's office.

Brian Dayton, 27, of Taneytown, Md., a member of the Taneytown Police Department.

Joe Dinnien, 31, who works in sales and marketing for Prudential Insurance but has experience as a police officer in Cheltenham, Montgomery County, and in Florida.

Mark Joyce, 40, of Frederick, Md., who is in the uniformed division of the U.S. Secret Service. Joyce was not awarded back pay because his salary as a Secret Service agent was more than he would have made as a Pittsburgh police officer.

The plaintiffs' case followed a 16-year period in which Pittsburgh police were under a court-ordered quota hiring system. From 1975 to 1991, the bureau was required to hire equal numbers of white males, white females, black males and black females.

The quota system was dissolved after a legal challenge by four white male applicants who said the need for quotas had diminished. The plaintiffs were in one of the first pools of applicants following that dissolution.