Racial-Hiring Bias Suit Against Cook County Is Now Class Action

Black job applicants who say Cook County’s hiring process for correctional officer jobs disproportionately excludes workers based on race can pursue their claims on a classwide basis, a Chicago federal judge ruled.

Joseph Simpson and seven other rejected job seekers showed that common issues of law and fact underlie their allegations of disparate impact bias in written and physical ability tests administered by the Cook County Sheriff’s Merit Board, the US District Court for the Northern District of Illinois said. Applicants for correctional officer jobs with the county must pass those tests and clear four other steps in the merit ...