Judge rules FDNY exams discriminated against minorities

CNN.COM
July 22, 2009
Story Highlights :
Judge found written test had "discriminatory effects," little to do with job of a firefighter
Judge ruled that tests unfairly "excluded hundreds of qualified people of color"
Lawsuit challenged that the exams discriminated against minorities

NEW YORK (CNN) -- A federal judge ruled Wednesday that the New York City Fire Department used recruitment exams that discriminated against African-American and Hispanic applicants.
U.S. District Judge Nicholas Garaufis found that the written tests had "discriminatory effects and little relationship to the job of a firefighter." Garaufis also concluded that the "examinations unfairly excluded hundreds of qualified people of color from the opportunity to serve as New York City firefighters," thus, he said, constituting employment discrimination.
The ruling came in a lawsuit filed by the U.S. Department of Justice against the city of New York, with the suit challenging whether the city's written fire-department exams from 1999 to 2007 disadvantaged would-be African-American and Hispanic firefighters.

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