New York City Ordered to Hire 186 Black Firefighter Applicants

A federal judge has ordered New York City to pay $82 million to African-American firefighter applicants who were never hired or hired late from the eligibility lists for the 1999 and 2002 firefighter examinations.

United States District Court Judge Nicholas G. Garaufis on Thursday, March 8, also ordered the New York Fire Department to hire 186 African-American firefighters. 

Capt. Paul Washington, past president of the Vulcan Society Inc., which represents black New York City firefighters, hailed the decision as long overdue.

“The Vulcan Society has been fighting for almost 75 years to open the doors of the Fire Department to black firefighters,” he said. “This is a great victory for those who have been excluded from serving our city because of their race.  We hope the FDNY (Fire Department of New York) moves quickly to welcome 293 black and Latino applicants who are entitled to be hired, and we look forward to serving with them.”

The Vulcan Society was founded in 1940, when there were 40 black men employed as New York City firefighters.  All of the black firefighters faced discrimination within the New York Fire Department. The Vulcan Society promotes the interests of African-American firefighters.

Judge Garaufis, who sits on the bench in the Eastern District of New York, also ordered New York City to pay Hispanic firefighter applicants $42 million and to hire 107 Hispanic firefighters. 

The judge issued the order in the case titled The Vulcan Society Inc. and the United States versus The City of New York and The Uniformed Firefighters Association of Greater New York.  There also were seven named plaintiffs involved in the lawsuit.

The legal action began in 2007 when the United States Justice Department sued New York City alleging that city's policies for selecting entry-level firefighters violated Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. The federal government alleged that New York City employed two examinations, written and pass-fail, that had a disparate impact on African-American and Hispanic-firefighter applicants.

In his 64-page decision, Judge Garaufis ruled that New York City has power to prevent or remedy the need for damages proceedings for a decade, and it has not done so. He added that the required back pay was “the consequences of the city's decision to ignore clear violations of the federal law.”

The federal government's intervention followed a series of legal challenges by the Vulcan Society against the New York City Fire Department that first began on April 9, 2002. The Vulcan Society filed a federal EEOC complaint against the New York City Fire Department, alleging discriminatory hiring practices.