Rating the oral test performance by applicants in a civil service examination to be based on objective standards

Rating the oral test performance by applicants in a civil service examination to be based on objective standards
Merlino v Schneider, Ct. of Appeals, 93 NY2d 477

Oral tests are sometimes included as part of the examination for appointment and promotion in the public service. The Merlino case sets out the basic standard used by the courts in reviewing appeals challenging the candidate’s oral test score.

Carmen Merlino challenged her oral test score for an examination for language proficiency. The Court of Appeals held that Merlin’s test results were based on “objective standards,” commenting that the abilities for which candidates would be tested and the substance, form and method of the oral exam were all clearly delineated. Essentially, courts require oral tests to provide a reviewable record and an objective rating scheme to pass judicial scrutiny.

The court said that in this instance:

The oral language exam tested grammar, pronunciation, and vocabulary in the context of a 15-minute extemporaneous conversation. These qualities cannot be measured solely by objective criteria. Although some subjective elements, of necessity, entered into the evaluation, the fact that a subjective element may have been involved to some degree in petitioner's rating is not sufficient in and of itself to invalidate the Department's ultimate determination: "The mandate of the Constitution for the ascertainment of merit and fitness, so far as practicable, by competitive examination, may not be transformed into an interdict against the examinations which are best adapted for the demonstration of fitness. It would be impossible to formulate a standard by which such qualities may be defined or measured with entire objectivity.”
.