Judge slams city's response to his firefighter ruling

Days after the Bloomberg administration said all of his proposals for hiring new firefighters involved illegal racial quotas, the judge overseeing a discrimination suit against the New York City Fire Department Tuesday scolded the city's stance.

"The city is counseled that further obstructionism in this litigation will ill serve the public interest," wrote U.S. District Judge Nicholas Garaufis of Brooklyn in a ruling that extended an injunction against all FDNY hiring from Oct. 1 until Oct. 31, and said it may be further extended until a new test is designed - which could take from six months to two years, according to various estimates.

After the judge ruled last month that the latest firefighter test discriminates against minorities, the city said it urgently needed a new class. Garaufis last week offered five options for interim hiring until a new test is designed, all involving some form of racial proportions, but on Friday the city rejected them all.

Tuesday, the judge said the city's stance raised questions about whether its initial insistence that it desperately needs new firefighters was factual or political. "If the city's policy preferences compel it to forgo hiring altogether - rather than to hire in accordance with its legal obligations - its claims about the urgency of its hiring needs lack credibility," Garaufis wrote.

He also took issue with the city accusing him of imposing an "illegal" quota without citing any legal precedents. "The city is admonished that any arguments concerning the legality or illegality of possible injunctive relief must be accompanied by citation to relevant legal authority," Garaufis warned.

Currently, 89 percent of the FDNY is white. The Vulcan Society, a black firefighters' group, and the federal government sued for discrimination in 2007. In rulings last year and in January, Garaufis found a pattern of intentional discrimination going back decades.

To use the latest test, from 2008, Garaufis has ruled, either the hiring pool or the class hired would have to match the proportions of applicants who took it - 60.7 percent white, 18.4 percent Hispanic and 17.4 percent black.The city rejected any such approaches last week, and said it preferred paying extra overtime.