Judge delays firefighters' hiring, calls test biased

A Brooklyn federal judge Wednesday ordered New York City to halt plans to hire a new firefighters' class this summer, ruling that the Bloomberg administration's current test - like past tests - illegally discriminates against blacks and Hispanics.

"The City has not shown that the current examination identifies candidates who will be successful firefighters," wrote U.S. District Judge Nicholas Garaufis. " . . . As a result, hundreds of minority applicants are being denied the opportunity to serve as New York firefighters, for no legitimate or justifiable reason."

Garaufis ruled last year that FDNY tests used from 1999 through 2007 discriminated, but the city had argued that its latest test in 2008, designed under Mayor Michael Bloomberg, was adequate for interim hiring while a new test is developed.

The judge ordered a class of 300, which the city wanted to appoint this month, delayed at least until a hearing on Oct. 1. He said the city will have to explain "why the need to appoint a few hundred rookie firefighters using an invalid test outweighs the need to avoid racial discrimination in municipal hiring."

Bloomberg had no comment. The city's law department in a statement said it was "extremely disappointed" and complained, "If the Fire Department is not allowed to hire a new class . . . the City will have to make up for the understaffing by paying overtime at a cost of almost $2 million per month."

Lawyers for the Vulcan Society - the black firefighters group that has joined the federal government in pressing the suit - said they were elated. "This is exactly what we wanted," said Dana Lossia. "The city said this was a new day, but they've been using the same kind of flawed test they used in the past."

Garaufis' previous decisions - which sparked some sharp criticism from Bloomberg - found that the tests had been part of a pattern of intentional discrimination persisting for decades that turned the FDNY into a disproportionately white enclave.

The latest test, he said, was taken by 21,983 applicants and 21,225 passed. Hiring proceeds based on the scores for candidates who are able to pass other hurdles - such as physical and psychological exams.

An estimated additional 298 black and 132 Hispanic candidates failed in comparison to a test in which all groups performed equally, Garaufis wrote, and over several fire classes, the disparity in scores would have accounted for 74 fewer black hires.

Experts for the two sides will hold their first meeting on designing a new test later this month, Lossia said. If the city needs new firefighters right away, she said, Garaufis might allow it to choose randomly from those who sat for the last test, or might require that it hire in proportion to the percentage of each racial group that took the test.