Samuel v. Ortiz

OPINION OF THE COURT

David B. Saxe, J.

Where the civil service job position of custodial assistant is described as not requiring any formal educational background, and in fact none is needed for adequate employment performance, is it arbitrary and capricious for the employer City of New York to impose a written competitive examination (in the English language only) upon the employees, many of whom are of Hispanic origin and cannot read or write English? The petitioners, who have each been employed in this capacity for several years, contend that testing for fitness for the job should be…