LeBlanc v. City of Pawtucket

Cooperating attorneys for the American Civil Liberties Union of Rhode Island today filed a federal lawsuit against Pawtucket city officials on behalf of five firefighters whose personal lockers at the fire station were searched by police without their knowledge or consent.

The ACLU of Rhode Island today filed a federal lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of an unprecedented state law passed by the General Assembly last month that gave the Town of North Smithfield a one-time exemption from the state’s major law banning employment discrimination. The suit was filed on behalf of an Hispanic female applicant, Christine Melendez, who is barred from obtaining any position with the newly-created North Smithfield Fire Department because of the law. Instead, the town has voted to hire 21 white males who currently work for the town’s private fire and rescue service. Last week, the Town, which has no fire department of its own, took formal action to acquire the private fire and rescue service that has been serving North Smithfield. In doing so, the Town voted to hire en masse the service’s all white and all male firefighting force. Before taking this action, the Town sought and obtained an exemption from the state’s Fair Employment Practices Act (FEPA), the state law prohibiting employment discrimination on the basis of race, gender and age. The exemption, granted by the General Assembly, bars any individual from filing an employment discrimination claim under FEPA for the Town’s mass hiring. However, the law did not – and legally could not – exempt the Town from federal anti-discrimination statutes.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Rhode Island is urging the Pawtucket Police Department to conduct an in-depth examination of some of its policies and procedures in light of “disturbing” allegations of racism among its officers described in a recent news article.