City lawyers are evaluating their next steps in the wake of a $3.7 million jury verdict won by 15 firefighters Monday in an age discrimination case, a spokesman for the city attorney’s office said today.
“We’re looking at our options to see what we might do,” Deputy Press Secretary Gabriel Zitrin said.
The 15 current and retired firefighters, all over the age of 40, won the award for back pay and damages from a jury in the court of San Francisco Superior Court Judge Anne-Christine Massullo.
The verdict was by a 9-3 vote of the civil jury, Zitrin said.
The workers claimed in a 2010 lawsuit that a written test given in 2008 for promotion to the rank of lieutenant had “irregular and/or questionable” issues relating to the preparation, administration and scoring of the exam.
The alleged problems hindered the promotions of older, experienced firefighters over the age of 40 and favored younger ones, the lawsuit claimed.
A lawyer for the firefighters was not immediately available for comment.
Julia Cheever, Bay City News
