In 2003, the New Haven Fire Department conducted a promotion test for lieutenants and captains. Much to the applicants' dismay, the test was really difficult and the results seemed to separate the racial community of firefighters. When the results were reviewed by the Civil Service Board and they realized that only one Hispanic and no African-Americans would get the promotion spots, they decided not to validate the test results for fear of prosecution justice on the part of minorities. Contrary to their ideas, promotable white candidates, who passed the test and were examined, were sued for disparate treatment. The question is whether the City of New Haven acted reasonably in rejecting the test results due to lack of minority representation? This article will analyze the ethical and utilitarian perspectives of the actions undertaken by the City of New Haven and answer the question at hand. The reason the city of New Haven was nervous about accepting the test results was fear of lawsuits by minorities based on affirmative action (AA) grounds. Allen states, “Affirmative action is a means by which government activity overtly promotes the hiring and promotion of members of groups that have historically suffered from employment discrimination” (2003). For this reason, the city of New Haven wanted to ensure that the test and its scoring standards were not flawed. In doing so, she created another potential trial for the majority (whites) based on disparate treatment. Whichever way the city of New Haven took the results, they were backed into a wall. AA was created to force employers to give minorities a chance in the workplace. Disparate treatment was created to ensure that employers did not...... middle of paper ......Executive 5, 45-56.Dorf, Michael. "Supreme Court rules in New Haven firefighter case." FindLaw. Thomson Reuters, July 1, 2009. Web. March 2, 2011. .Gilbert, Jacqueline A, Bette Ann Stead and John M Ivancevich. (1999). Diversity management: a new organizational paradigm. Journal of Business Ethics, 21(1), 61-76. Retrieved March 2, 2011 from ABI/INFORM Global. (Document ID: 43694097Muhl, Charles J. (January 1999). Affirmative Action Requirements. Monthly Labor Review, 122(1), 48-49. Retrieved March 2, 2011, from ABI/INFORM Global. (Document ID: 40292833).Reuters, Thomson (2011). Retrieved from http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?court=US&vol=443&invol=193Robinson, RK: 1992, “Action Plans. positive in the 1990s".: A double-edged sword?', Public Personnel Management 21, 261-272.