'Justice' to Sue On Firefighter Testing Bias; City Notes Improved Minority Recruiting In Its Defense

'Justice' to Sue On Firefighter Testing Bias;
City Notes Improved Minority Recruiting In Its Defense

By RICHARD STEIER

The U.S. Department of Justice intends to sue the Fire Department for allegedly discriminating against black and Latino candidates in its hiring process, based on an investigation that examined two previous Firefighter tests and their results.

MICHAEL A. CARDOZO: Lawsuit unwarranted. City officials have protested that the department's Civil Rights Division has failed to consider significant changes that have been made since then, from an intensified recruiting campaign that significantly increased the number of minority applications to a revamping of the test format.

Cardozo: What's Gained?

Noting that the tests which Federal officials objected to were held in 1999 and 2002, Corporation Counsel Michael A. Cardozo stated in a letter to them, "Your decision to bring a lawsuit over civil service exams that were administered eight and five years ago does not further the public or the government's interest in eradicating discrimination."

Prosecutors gave the Bloomberg administration 30 days to respond to the notice of intent to sue before actually going to court. A Civil Rights Division spokeswoman in Washington, D.C., Cynthia Magnuson, said April 25, "Unfortunately, because we haven't filed a lawsuit yet, there's not much I can comment on."

JOHN COOMBS: Wants testing limited. A similar sentiment was expressed by the spokesman for U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District Roslynn A. Mauskopf, whose staff would prosecute the case.

Neither Federal officials nor a spokeswoman for Mr. Cardozo would release a copy of the Justice Department letter detailing the reasons it is bringing suit.

One city official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said it appeared the Justice Department was acting without waiting to see the results of the latest exam because it wanted to redress the claims of those who believed they were victims of discrimination on the previous two tests.

Prodded by Vulcans

The Justice Department began examining Fire Department employment practices at the urging of the Vulcan Society, a black fraternal group of firefighters that has frequently clashed with the FDNY over recruiting, hiring and promotion policies. An important factor in its decision was the makeup of the firefighting force: despite some progress among minority candidates in recent years, it is about 90 percent white and 99 percent male.

STEVE CASSIDY: Offers alternative prescription. Where city officials previously said the recent recruitment campaign cost $1.4 million, in his letter Mr. Cardozo put the figure at $2.5 million and said that nearly three times as many black candidates took the written test in January as had competed on the 2002 exam, and the Latino contingent nearly doubled.

"Consequently," the letter stated, "we have far more African-Americans and Hispanics interested in becoming firefighters than ever before and have an unprecedented opportunity to significantly increase the diversity of the Fire Department."

As part of the effort to diversify, the FDNY reduced its education requirement from 30 college credits to 15, and waived it altogether for those who have six months' work experience or military service.

Says Tests Can Stand

Mr. Cardozo also defended the two previous exams for Firefighter, saying he believed that they could survive court scrutiny for alleged bias.

The head of the Vulcan Society, John Coombs, told this newspaper recently that he believed that the new written test was no more relevant than the prior editions in determining who was qualified to be a good Firefighter, and that he intended to join a lawsuit challenging that exam that is being contemplated by a group of predominantly white candidates. Mr. Coombs has argued that a written exam should go no further than to determine whether a candidate has sufficient mental skills to allow him or her to be trained to be a competent Firefighter.

UFA Leader's View

The president of the Uniformed Firefighters' Association, Steve Cassidy, during an April 26 phone interview declined to directly comment on the Justice Department's intent to sue or the city's defense against the accusation of bias. He had previously objected to the FDNY's decision to change the scoring of the Firefighter physical test - which in the past accounted for half of candidates' grades - to pass/fail, contending that this would actually hurt the chances of minority candidates.

"Our position is simple," Mr. Cassidy said last week. "We have maintained that the department should make the physical harder and recruit from the military. They would get the most physically fit candidates and they would also be able to diversify the work force."

But, he said of the Fire Department, "It seems it is afraid to do that because it's worried about being sued by the women's groups."

Women's Case

The FDNY 25 years ago was forced to modify its physical exam by a Federal District Judge in Brooklyn, responding to a lawsuit brought by female candidates who contended that the test put too great an emphasis on upper-body strength rather than other job-related physical skills which women could display at a competitive level with male candidates.

The women who were part of a class-action suit against the 1978 fire physical were allowed to take a separate test for the job that led to more than 40 of them being hired in 1982. Subsequent fire physicals have closely resembled that modified exam, but competing against male candidates - none of whom had been permitted to take the 1982 test because they were not part of the class action - few women have scored high enough to gain Firefighter jobs since then.