Court Rules Detroit Can Lay Off Black Officers
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CINCINNATI — The city of Detroit can legally lay off 1,100 police officers, most of them black, using a seniority system, a federal appeals court ruled Friday.
The ruling by the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals reversed the U.S. District Court in Detroit, which had halted the 1981 layoffs. The lower court had ruled that since the black officers were hired under an affirmative action plan, they could not be fired under a seniority plan.
But the appeals court ruled that because Detroit’s affirmative action plan was voluntary, it was not subject to the court order.
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