Do Written Exams for Entry-Level Firefighters Discriminate Against Minorities?
May 24, 2007 The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) on May 21 filed a lawsuit alleging that the City of New York uses written examinations that discriminate against blacks and Hispanics in the hiring of entry-level firefighters in the Fire Department of the City of New York (FDNY). According to DOJ’s complaint, of FDNY’s 11,000 uniformed firefighters in all ranks, only about 3 percent are black and 4.5 percent are Hispanic. These figures contrast sharply with the percentages of blacks and Hispanics in the city’s police department (NYPD) which, according to a 1999 city report, are 13.4 percent and 17.2 percent of the uniformed officers, respectively; those percentages have since increased. Filed in the Eastern District of New York, the suit claims two written examinations used by FDNY in the selection of firefighter applicants violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, because they result in a disparate impact against black and Hispanic applicants and do not accurately determine
