Posted on 07/16/2012 7:30:42 PM PDT by Altura Ct.
A federal judge is ordering the New York City Fire Department to implement racial quotas to address grievances from minorities who failed entrance exams.
On July 5 in Brooklyn, Nicholas G. Garaufis, a Clinton-appointed judge for the Eastern District of New York, issued a ruling that requires two of every five newly hired fireman to be black and one of every five, Hispanic -- until the department has fulfilled the court-ordered quota of 186 black and 107 Hispanic hires.
The ruling allows back pay -- totaling an estimated $128.7 million -- for minorities who failed written tests.
The court order is a response to a lawsuit alleging that two placement exams (Written Exams 7029 or 2043) for the FDNY were discriminatory against blacks and Hispanics, because fewer minorities passed the exam than whites. (See copies of the exams here.)
The Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division is responsible for prosecuting cases under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The DOJ claims the written exams had an “unlawful disparate impact,” causing fewer minorities to be hired.
“Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits not only intentional discrimination, but also employment practices that appear to be fair in form but are discriminatory in operation,” the Department states in a fact sheet on the FDNY case. “A facially neutral employment practice, such as a written examination, that disproportionately excludes individuals from employment opportunities on the basis of their membership in a protected group, such as a particular race or national origin, and cannot be shown to be related to job performance, violates Title VII.”
Judge Garanufis ruled that any black or Hispanic individual who failed either written exam with a score of 25 out of 100 or higher is eligible to receive place on the priority hiring list as well as damages, including “non-economic damages.”
Non-economic damages are intended to compensate for the “lost intangible benefits of being a firefighter.” The intangible benefits include “prestige, job satisfaction, camaraderie, unique excitement, enjoyment of flexible scheduling, unusual employment stability, feeling of security derived from retiring with a full pension and lifetime medical benefits, and the potential for career advancement.”
All new hires must pass an updated test—Exam 2000—as long as it is found to comply with Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, the ruling states.
Further, Judge Garanufis ruled that minorities who were not hired because they failed the entrance exams must be paid a “retroactively higher salary” and receive “retroactive seniority” once they are hired through the new quota system. Retroactive seniority affects accrual of vacation and sick leave, among other benefits.
The Bush Justice Department filed suit against the FDNY in May 2007, challenging the exams that were first administered in 1999 and 2002. In July 2009, Judge Garaufis ruled that New York City had violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, and then in 2010 he found the city liable for “intentional discrimination against black applicants,” according to the DOJ.
In a previous ruling, Judge Garaufis accused the FDNY of being a “bastion of white male privilege.”
"While the City's other uniformed services and fire departments across the country have changed to reflect the communities they serve, employment as a New York City firefighter -- arguably 'the best job in the world' -- has remained a stubborn bastion of white male privilege," Garaufis wrote in October 2011.
This is just the beginning. I went through this.
First it’s the quota’s for hiring, then they have to have a quota for promotion, because the idiots who couldn’t pass the entrabce exam, cannot pass the promotions exam.
They will lower the standard and jury rig a promotion process the blacks can pass.
Another great job going down the tubes , next we will hear from the women.
Whats wrong with these people in New York City..
They can’t see this as racist a rule as “whites only” rules?..
Talk about being NOT BEING color blind this is color coded hiring policies..
They deserve their insane givernment... they deserve it..
I’m surprised the obviously race disoriented judge, by my belief of societal benefit, did not simply throw out the entrance exam procedure. He essentially established a pool for blacks and a pool for Latinos and a left over pool for white skinned Caucasians. Of course this is not racial profiling because a judge set it up. The judicial system needs some serious personnel changes.
When his house or court is on fire, let him deal with a ladder of affirmative action hires and an affirmative action lieutenant.
There's only two possibilities - since the test can be taken more than once - and that's either they're too stupid to pass or too lazy to study. There are no other answers.
Think HS Football ...
The other Team CHEATED! They Practiced!
TT
Do I understand this correctly???
They didn’t pass the test & they will get ‘back pay’ for a job they never held?????
Unbelieveable.
Cannot wait until this is imposed upon private businesses!!!!
Didn’t you even read the article? They failed the test because tests are racist. Duh!
Doesn’t the University of Ca v Bakke case effectively set precedent? Hayes v City of Charlotte? How many times does this have to be decided??
They didn’t pass the test & they will get ‘back pay’ for a job they never held?????
It’s called reparations.
“So I guess the test was full of questions that only White people could answer.”
I say old chap, which burns faster-pate de foie gras, a highball, or filet mignon?/s;)
A few years back (in O’Malleys 1st term as Mayor - I think), a graduating class of the Baltimore City Fire Dept seemed to be missing any minorities. To ‘solve’ this problem, they ordered another class to form immediately and it was strictly minority.
The fire dept tried to explain that their was something like 15 or so months between classes and only the most dedicated ‘sat around waiting’ and a lot of the starters just went into another line of work rather than sit idle for 18 months - with the majority of the class being ‘family’ type recruits.
Upon hearing the news some Black lady proclaimed (either or camera but definitely on a radio interview) “I don’t care if the person coming to rescue my 300 lb Black Ass is green as long as he can haul me to safety” (Not quite a perfect quote, but the gist is there).
That is end of meritocracy and installation of mediocrity.
so does a WASP who pretends to be Cherokee have an edge?
Does a biracial with no slave blood get an edge?
Does a visigoth from argentina get an edge?
And this is how people end up believing that no one is the agent of his own fate - achieve well on a test - or not - and some judge somewhere is going to invalidate your performance and if you did crappy he will put you over the top anyhow, and if you did well on your own - well shame on you.......
It really is time for cities, and states to start IGNORING Unconstitutional Court orders such as this. That includes the recent one(Among others) from the USSC as well. The political corruption of court systems cannot go on.
http://www.force-ten.com/electronic-warfare-c-34.html
I defy anyone to to show me an example of a “racially biased” question on a written exam.
We already heard from the women decades ago. The Fire Department made one sideways passageway in the test so narrow that women couldn’t get through. There was actually a guy who died taking the test because they tried so hard to design it to exclude the women.
I’m glad that battle seems to be over and my firefighters are men.
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