Vulcans Finger Scoppetta For 'Biased' Exams

By ARI PAUL

The FDNY Vulcan Society of black firefighters named the Department of Citywide Administrative Services and the Fire Department Sept. 25 as defendants in its complaint accompanying the U.S. Department of Justice's case against the city for allegedly using Firefighter entrance exams that have disparate impact on minorities.

NICHOLAS SCOPPETTA: Say he 'condoned' bias.

A Significant Gap

The plaintiff-interveners' formal complaint went beyond the DOJ's allegations that the 1999 and 2002 written exams for Firefighters violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act. The Vulcans and the three individual minority Firefighter candidates brought the original charges to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in 2002, which led to the DOJ filing its lawsuit in May. The DOJ argued that the gap between minority and white candidates' scores on the written exams was statistically significant.

A Federal Judge ruled Sept. 5 that the Vulcans and individuals could intervene in the case. They argued that DCAS administers all city exams and should be held accountable. Their complaint also held the FDNY and Commissioner Nicholas Scoppetta culpable for not taking action against the allegedly racially-biased written exams.

"Defendant Scoppetta knew or should have known of the discriminatory practices and wrongful acts of the defendants described in this complaint, and condoned, ratified and/or authorized such conduct and recklessly disregarded the resulting unlawful consequences," attorney Richard Levy said in the complaint.

The Vulcans asked that the court certify the action as a class action and that the plaintiffs who were allegedly wronged by disparate impact be reimbursed in the form of back pay and benefits in addition to receiving punitive damages.

City: Lawsuit a 'Waste'

The three individual interveners are civil servant Candido Nunez, barber Marcus Haywood and Roger Gregg, who works at a credit union. All three of them scored 100 on their physical exams, according to the complaint, but did not score well enough on the written exams to be appointed as Firefighters.

"The lawsuit brought against the city and FDNY is based on eight-year-old data, will do nothing to increase diversity and is a complete waste of taxpayer dollars," said Georgia Pestana, the Law Department's Labor and Employment Division Chief.

The judge ruled last month against the Uniformed Firefighters Association's effort to intervene on the side of the city in the liability phase of the case.