De Blasio Settles FDNY Racial Discrimination Suit For $98 Million

Ending a long legal saga that began back in 2005, the de Blasio administration has agreed to pay approximately $98 million in back pay, fringe benefits and interest to FDNY applicants who took two civil service exams found to be discriminatory against African American and Hispanic applicants.

The lawsuit was filed by the Vulcan Society of black firefighters in conjunction with the U.S. Department of Justice's challenge the city’s use of the written exams; a Brooklyn federal judge ruled that the tests were discriminatory and screened out black and Hispanic applicants at a higher rate than whites. But an appeals court overturned that decision last May and ordered a retrial.

Under the City’s settlement, the City will pay claimants who took the two tests in 1999 and 2002 but were not hired, as well as FDNY members who may have been hired late due to the tests’ disparate impact. The de Blasio administration also agreed to the following changes:

• Use best efforts to recruit African American test-takers for the civil service exam in proportions closely approximating the representation of age-eligible African American New Yorkers in the city’s labor market, plus 3 percent.
• Create an executive staff position of Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer (CDIO) for the FDNY, who will report directly to the Fire Commissioner. The CDIO will appoint a uniformed member to a position of full-time Diversity Advocate, who will be responsible for raising concerns relating to fairness, transparency, and respect for firefighter candidates during the hiring process and probationary firefighters in the Fire Academy.
• Increase FDNY transparency regarding the medical standards and components of the medical exam applicable to firefighter candidates.
• Give New York City residents who graduate from the Fire Academy first priority for placement into a fire company within the division in which they live, to the extent reasonable, practical and consistent with operational needs.
• Engage with the Department of Education and New York City colleges to create educational and other opportunities that will enhance the ability of minorities and women to pursue careers as firefighters.

"This administration is fully committed to promoting diversity and equal access in every sector across our five boroughs, and this settlement will move New York City one step closer to this goal,” de Blasio said in a statement. De Blasio's predecessor, Michael Bloomberg, had been expected to be compelled to testify if the appeal had gone to trial.

"We are pleased that after 40 years, the City of New York has finally stopped denying it has a problem in the FDNY," said Darius Charney, senior attorney with the Center for Constitutional Rights, which filed the lawsuit with the Vulcan Society. “With this settlement, the City has agreed to take the steps the Vulcans have said all along are necessary to fix that problem.”