For years the City of New York (the City) has been facing equal employment obstacles, however in the past decade it has become a bigger problem. The City is being accused of discriminating against minorities in their testing procedures. The case United States of America vs. the City of New York officially began in May of 2007 however the unofficial start was in April of 2002 when the Vulcan society filed a federal complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) against the Fire Department of New York (FDNY). The claim is that the major problem with the test is that it does not test the ability to be an effective firefighter. Since the start of the case there have been major rulings that affect the City drastically.
The Vulcan Society was formed in the early 1940’s headed by Wesley Williams. Williams began his career in 1919 when discrimination was the way of life. Williams was only the third black man hired by the FDNY but his legacy would live on forever. Williams proved himself as a valuable member of the department becoming Battalion Chief in 1938. A major breakthrough for the Vulcan Society happened in 1944 when the City Council banned racial practices within the Fire Department. This was a major victory for the African-American community as a whole.
The lawsuit brought forth by the Department of Justice (DOJ) accused the City of violating Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The Vulcan Society and the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) were permitted to join the side of the DOJ however the Uniformed Firefighters Association (UFA) was not permitted to join in with the City. The courts ruled against the City agreeing that exams 7029 and 2043 “constituted a pattern of intentional discrimination against black applicants.” As a result of these findings the City had and continues to have big changes. The courts appointed Mark Cohen to oversee recruitment, post-examination screening and also the equal employment opportunity compliance. The department has gone above and beyond in recent years recruiting minorities. Recruiters were sent into non white communities to help fill out the paperwork, waived the test fees, and set up shuttles to bring the potential employees to the testing center on test day. In March of 2012 the court ruled that the City must pay 128 million dollars in back pay to all the people affected by what they deemed a discriminatory test. The City has the opportunity to lower the amount of the payout if the victims got other jobs; the City will only be responsible for the difference between the amount of money the victim would have earned if hired by the FDNY, versus the amount of their reported earnings. If any of these people worked off the books or did not work at all, they will receive more money than someone who was gainfully employed and positively contributing to the economy. In addition to receiving back pay the victims will also receive the seniority they would have had if they had been hired from the date of the discriminatory tests.
There is no question that the FDNY does not have diversity among employees. “When the first EEOC charge was filed in 2002, New York City’s fire department was 2.9 percent Black” (Center for Constitutional Rights); African-Americans make up 27 percent of New York City’s population. Currently, the entire FDNY as a whole only includes 7.4 percent of people that are Black or Latino; comparatively speaking the FDNY has the lowest percentage out of all major cities. In Los Angeles, 57 percent is Black or Latino, 40 percent in Boston, and 23 percent in Chicago. (Center for Constitutional Rights) To say that the percentage of colored firefighters should be directly correlated to the population is poppycock. In the NYC Department of Corrections Blacks and Latinos make up 90 percent of the inmate population (NYC Independent Budget Office); should the City be required to make those numbers correlate with the population? The population of women in the City is over 50 percent; should over half of the fire department be women? Many of the FDNY firefighters live in the suburbs of New York City including Westchester, Nassau, and Suffolk counties, where the Black and Latino population is much lower. I could not find reliable statistics on the percentage of firefighters who do not live in the City, so I asked my father, an over 17 year veteran of the department and found some interesting trends. In Manhattan where he is currently stationed only one out of about 50 firefighters lives within the City limits; at his old station in Hollis Queens five out of 50 resided in one of the five boroughs of New York City. The only two tests that were determined to be racially discriminatory would not have affected all the prior statistics; only 2.9 percent were black before the racist tests. A major claim was that the problem with the tests was that they did not test one’s ability to be a firefighter. I do not believe that there is any written test that can be given to gauge one’s ability to be a firefighter. The test is looking for people who can quickly be taught to be firefighters; the fire academy will teach the recruits to become New York’s Bravest. Ethnicity and gender should be completely left off the test and the City should hire the top scorers.
The City of New York definitely has a big problem on their hands however I find it hard to comprehend how a written test can be discriminatory against a race of people. The FDNY is regarded as the best fire department in the world; the past tests have clearly done an excellent job selecting those who are best fit to become firefighters. Unqualified and under qualified people should not be given the job just to meet statistical quotas in any field, especially a field where the employees are putting their lives on the line on a daily basis as well as the lives of those they are serving.
The Vulcan Society was formed in the early 1940’s headed by Wesley Williams. Williams began his career in 1919 when discrimination was the way of life. Williams was only the third black man hired by the FDNY but his legacy would live on forever. Williams proved himself as a valuable member of the department becoming Battalion Chief in 1938. A major breakthrough for the Vulcan Society happened in 1944 when the City Council banned racial practices within the Fire Department. This was a major victory for the African-American community as a whole.
The lawsuit brought forth by the Department of Justice (DOJ) accused the City of violating Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The Vulcan Society and the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) were permitted to join the side of the DOJ however the Uniformed Firefighters Association (UFA) was not permitted to join in with the City. The courts ruled against the City agreeing that exams 7029 and 2043 “constituted a pattern of intentional discrimination against black applicants.” As a result of these findings the City had and continues to have big changes. The courts appointed Mark Cohen to oversee recruitment, post-examination screening and also the equal employment opportunity compliance. The department has gone above and beyond in recent years recruiting minorities. Recruiters were sent into non white communities to help fill out the paperwork, waived the test fees, and set up shuttles to bring the potential employees to the testing center on test day. In March of 2012 the court ruled that the City must pay 128 million dollars in back pay to all the people affected by what they deemed a discriminatory test. The City has the opportunity to lower the amount of the payout if the victims got other jobs; the City will only be responsible for the difference between the amount of money the victim would have earned if hired by the FDNY, versus the amount of their reported earnings. If any of these people worked off the books or did not work at all, they will receive more money than someone who was gainfully employed and positively contributing to the economy. In addition to receiving back pay the victims will also receive the seniority they would have had if they had been hired from the date of the discriminatory tests.
There is no question that the FDNY does not have diversity among employees. “When the first EEOC charge was filed in 2002, New York City’s fire department was 2.9 percent Black” (Center for Constitutional Rights); African-Americans make up 27 percent of New York City’s population. Currently, the entire FDNY as a whole only includes 7.4 percent of people that are Black or Latino; comparatively speaking the FDNY has the lowest percentage out of all major cities. In Los Angeles, 57 percent is Black or Latino, 40 percent in Boston, and 23 percent in Chicago. (Center for Constitutional Rights) To say that the percentage of colored firefighters should be directly correlated to the population is poppycock. In the NYC Department of Corrections Blacks and Latinos make up 90 percent of the inmate population (NYC Independent Budget Office); should the City be required to make those numbers correlate with the population? The population of women in the City is over 50 percent; should over half of the fire department be women? Many of the FDNY firefighters live in the suburbs of New York City including Westchester, Nassau, and Suffolk counties, where the Black and Latino population is much lower. I could not find reliable statistics on the percentage of firefighters who do not live in the City, so I asked my father, an over 17 year veteran of the department and found some interesting trends. In Manhattan where he is currently stationed only one out of about 50 firefighters lives within the City limits; at his old station in Hollis Queens five out of 50 resided in one of the five boroughs of New York City. The only two tests that were determined to be racially discriminatory would not have affected all the prior statistics; only 2.9 percent were black before the racist tests. A major claim was that the problem with the tests was that they did not test one’s ability to be a firefighter. I do not believe that there is any written test that can be given to gauge one’s ability to be a firefighter. The test is looking for people who can quickly be taught to be firefighters; the fire academy will teach the recruits to become New York’s Bravest. Ethnicity and gender should be completely left off the test and the City should hire the top scorers.
The City of New York definitely has a big problem on their hands however I find it hard to comprehend how a written test can be discriminatory against a race of people. The FDNY is regarded as the best fire department in the world; the past tests have clearly done an excellent job selecting those who are best fit to become firefighters. Unqualified and under qualified people should not be given the job just to meet statistical quotas in any field, especially a field where the employees are putting their lives on the line on a daily basis as well as the lives of those they are serving.