New laws require FDNY to hire more minorities, women 

New York City Mayor Eric Adams signed a package of bills Monday that requires the FDNY to hire more female and minority firefighters — a move that comes after the department was repeatedly sued for discriminating against nonwhite applicants.

The five bills, now law, mandate that the city implement a diversity plan for the FDNY by March 1. They also require firehouses to upgrade their facilities to accommodate more women in their ranks while broadening transparency in its hiring practices.

Adams Monday said the new laws will promote diversity in the department "that reflects both the demographics and the spirit of our city. All of these bills have a significant reason and purpose."

Currently, of the FDNY's 11,000 uniformed firefighters, 76% are white, 8% are Black, 13% are Hispanic, 2% are Asian and 0.8% identify as another ethnicity, according to a report from the New York City Council's Committee on Fire and Emergency Management. Less than 1% of the department’s firefighters are women — 137 females in total — while the FDNY's leadership is largely white men, the report said.

A 2007 federal lawsuit from the Vulcan Society, a Black firefighters group, argued that the FDNY’s firefighter exam discriminated against minority applicants.

The courts agreed and said the department's hiring practices amounted to intentional discrimination, appointing a monitor to oversee the issue. The FDNY settled the suit in 2014 for $98 million in back pay and benefits to minority firefighter hopefuls while agreeing to change its hiring practices.

The Vulcan Society did not respond to requests for comment Monday.

The Uniformed Firefighters Association and Uniformed Fire Officers Association, the unions that represent FDNY members and leaders, did not respond to requests for comment

FDNY Commissioner Laura Kavanagh, the first woman to ever hold the post, said, "change and tradition can live side by side … We will always be brave and honorable. But change has also been a fundamental part of our story and of the city's story."

The department said applications have been more diverse in recent years. In the March, 2022 graduating probationary firefighter class, 37% were people of color and there were 13 women, the FDNY website said.

The legislation, which passed the City Council unanimously earlier this month, requires the FDNY to develop a plan to recruit and retain individuals from "underrepresented populations" within the ranks.

The new laws also require the department to determine which firehouses need facility upgrades to support more women and to make the necessary changes; to report annually on its firefighter demographics while boosting anti-discrimination and harassment policies and to produce a report on complaints filed with its Equal Employment Opportunity office and what corrective actions were taken.

"For many decades, the FDNY has struggled to provide opportunities for all New Yorkers to serve our city," said Council Speaker Adrienne Adams, who sponsored the primary legislation. "It's not been representative of our city's rich diversity, and we must acknowledge these shortcomings if we want to make progress. Simply put, the diverse makeup of our city's neighborhoods has not been reflected in the fire department."