Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

The United States’ lawsuit was initiated on October 2, 2024, with the filing of its Complaint. The Complaint is available on this website under Documents, and it includes the facts that the lawsuit is based on. The other documents available on this website under Documents also have information about the case. There is no separate investigative report or findings letter related to this case.

Under the settlement, MDSP agreed to use only lawful tests moving forward.

MDSP also agreed to provide monetary awards and priority hiring awards to affected female and/or African-American applicants who could have become Troopers if MDSP had not used the challenged tests.

• Monetary awards (sometimes called “back pay”) are meant to make up for some of the pay an eligible applicant would have earned if they had not failed one of the challenged tests and had instead been hired as a Trooper. MDSP agreed to provide $2,750,000.00 in back pay that will be divided among eligible applicants.

• Priority hiring awards provide a chance for eligible applicants who failed one of the challenged tests to be hired as a Trooper if they meet the current minimum qualifications for Troopers. MDSP agreed to hire up to twenty-five (25) eligible applicants as priority hires. The people selected by MDSP as priority hires will receive specified retroactive seniority and a hiring bonus.

• Retroactive seniority means that priority hires will be treated as if they were hired on an earlier date than their actual hire date for certain purposes, including determining how much they are paid.

• Hiring bonuses will be provided to priority hires to make up for some of the pension benefits they would have received if they had not failed one of the challenged tests and had been hired as a Trooper earlier.

• The date used for retroactive seniority and the amount of the hiring bonus will depend on the year the priority hire first failed one of the tests.

Monetary awards and priority hiring awards will only be provided to eligible applicants. Applicants are eligible only if:

• They are female,
• They applied for a Trooper job at MDSP and were disqualified by the challenged physical fitness test between 2017 and the present, and
• When they were disqualified by the challenged physical fitness test, they met the minimum qualifications that were then in place,

OR

• They are African American or Black,
• They applied for a Trooper job at MDSP and were disqualified by the challenged written test between 2017 and the present, and
• When they were disqualified by the written test, they met the minimum qualifications that were then in place.

To be eligible to become a priority hire, applicants must also meet the minimum qualifications that are now in place.

If you believe you are eligible for an award and would like to get one, you do not need to do anything at this time.

After the Court gives final approval to the consent decree, at or after the Fairness Hearing on March 10, 2025, people who may be eligible for an award will be notified and be able to submit a form to say they would like an award.

You have the right to object to the settlement. If you do not want the Court to approve the settlement because you believe that the settlement is unfair, unreasonable, inadequate, unlawful, a product of collusion, or against the public interest, you can object by filling out the form here by January 20, 2025. If you do not object by this date, you may not have another chance to object to the settlement in the future. At the Fairness Hearing on March 10, 2025, the Court will consider all objections received.

You do not need to object in order to get an award. You do not need to do anything at this time if you want the Court to approve the settlement or if you want to get an award.

Before awards can be made, the Court must give final approval to the terms of the consent decree. On November 8, 2024, the Court provisionally approved the decree. The Court will consider whether to give final approval to the consent decree at a Fairness Hearing on March 10, 2025.

If you do not want the Court to approve the settlement because you believe that the settlement is unfair, unreasonable, inadequate, unlawful, a product of collusion, or against the public interest, you can object by filling out the form here by January 20, 2025. If you do not object by this date, you may not have another chance to object to the settlement in the future. At the Fairness Hearing on March 10, 2025, the Court will consider all objections received.

If and when the Court gives final approval to the consent decree, people who may be eligible for an award will be notified and be able to submit a form to say they would like an award.