A jury's decision in 2008 in favor of Akron firefighters is coming back to haunt the city of Akron.

Federal Court Judge John Adams has ordered the city to promote 18 firefighters to the rank of Captain and Lieutenant by Monday, July 18th.

Firefighters attorney Dennis Thompson says the jury found that the city discriminated on the basis of race and age in its firefighters promotion exams administered in 2004.

The jury agreed that the city's exams discriminated against white applicants for the rank of Captain and black applicants for the rank of Lieutenant. The jury also found that the tests discriminated against candidates over the age of 40.

The Court ordered a new trial on damages for the firefighters who were not promoted. That trial begins on Monday in Federal Court.

Judge Adams also ordered back-pay for the firefighters dating back to 2007.

The original lawsuit involved 23 firefighters. Four have since retired and one is deceased.

As you might expect, the City of Akron is against the promotion ruling.

The city filed an appeal to the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals over the motion, and has also filed for a stay in federal district court.

Interim labor relations director Patricia Ambrose Rubright tells AkronNewsNow.com that the ruling by Judge John Adams was not fair to some firefighters.

"The order allows the plantiffs in this case to basically leapfrog over other individuals that were on the eligibility list," Ambrose Rubright says, "who did not sue in the case, and will not be promoted."

Ambrose Rubright says the order would result in the promotions of 10 firefighters to captain, which she says is more people than the five authorized to be in that position.