City to Pay Out $45 Million, Hire 111 African American Firefighters

The city and plaintiffs in a long-running hiring discrimination case are close to moving forward after agreeing to a plan to pay out damages and hire 111 African American firefighters by March 2012.

The lawsuit stems from a 1995 firefighter's entrance exam in which almost 6,000 black applicants lost out on the chance to become firemen because the exam and its qualifying cut-off score favored white applicants. The City claimed the black applicants waited too long to file their lawsuit and appealed the case all the way to the Supreme Court, who found the City's case lacking.

The Seventh U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in May the City must hire 111 black firefighters and pay damages. Those damages could be at lease $45 million and, since it will cost the city a $500,000 for every month the city doesn't settle the case, it's in their best interests to put it behind them quickly.

Attorney Matt Piers, who was the lead attorney for the plaintiffs, said signs from the Emanuel Administration pointed toward settling the damages, which could earn every individual plaintiff $5,000, as soon as possible. Those who still wish to become firefighters can do so, provided they pass a pre-employment screening, physical tests, drug screens and medical examinations to be placed on a special eligibility list for the 111 jobs.

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By Chuck Sudo in News on August 17, 2011 4:22 PM

Comments [rss]

Petruce_Carrier

Next they'll probably sue over "pre-employment screening, physical tests, drug screens and medical examinations" being hiring discrimination/favoring caucasians.

Dj Excitement

I really don't see how an entrance exam can be discriminatory?? But hiring 111 firefighters just because they are black is VERY discriminating.. You should hire the best man for the job regardless of race.. What a bunch of bull crap..

Joe Kaiser

Do you happen to know what the logic of the court(s) was in finding the tests discriminatory? Not trying to be an asshole - genuinely curious.

Kaonashi

Someone can correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe the issue wasn't so much the test scores as much as it was not wanting to hire certain people. Now, passing a test doesn't equal automatically getting a job offer, but if a certain group isn't getting hired regardless of how they test then there's a problem.

David

I hope I'm not the only person who finds this ridiculous. From what I can tell, the test didn't favor caucasians, they just tended to score better on it and were thus given jobs. By the logic of whoever found the test to be discriminatory, pretty much all tests are discriminatory. What's the point of having a test?