New York City raps judge, cancels firefighter class

In an unexpected turnabout, New York City on Friday canceled plans to hire more than 600 new firefighters, accusing the federal judge overseeing a discrimination case against the Fire Department of insisting on an approach with illegal racial quotas.

"Every one of the five proposals from which the court is allowing the city to select involved some form of race-based quota," Corporation Counsel Michael Cardozo wrote to U.S. District Judge Nicholas Garaufis. "The city respectfully believes that using race-based quotas to select firefighters is both illegal and unwise public policy."

The decision escalated the long-simmering standoff between the Bloomberg administration and the judge - which has featured sharp public criticism of Garaufis' decisions by Mayor Michael Bloomberg, and attacks on the judge's attempt to name former Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau as a special master.

The 11,214-member FDNY is 89.6 percent white, 6.4 percent Hispanic and 3.2 percent black. Garaufis found the city had engaged in a pattern of discrimination for decades and ruled that even the Bloomberg administration's latest test - administered in 2008 - was discriminatory.

The judge barred any new hiring until a new test is designed. When the city said it had an urgent need for new recruits, Garaufis laid out five options that involved either random selection or matching the racial proportions of the 21,000 test-takers - 60.7 percent white, 18.4 percent Hispanic and 17.4 percent black.

In a news release accompanying Friday's court filing, Cardozo said the hiring freeze - canceling an already chosen class of 316 and another class of 300 in January - would not affect public safety. But he blamed the judge for threatening the FDNY's quality and forcing the city to pay extra overtime.

"The citizens of this city are entitled to firefighters who are hired based on their ability rather than on their race or ethnicity," he said. "The city will have to find a way to cope with the economic consequences of being unable to hire new firefighters at this time."

The city's decision had one possible strategic advantage: Up until now, it has been unable to appeal Garaufis' decisions because requests for nearly $80 million in damages, the new test and other issues are unresolved. With the city rejecting his options, the judge now will have to extend an injunction on new hiring that expires on Oct. 1, and the city may be able to appeal the injunction.

The two sides in the case claim wildly different results for the 2008 test. Cardozo said minorities constituted 33 percent of the "top scorers." The Vulcan Society, the black firefighters group that brought the suit in 2007, says the new class was chosen from a pool less than 16 percent minority.

Darius Charney, a lawyer for the Vulcans, said he was surprised at the city's decision to freeze hiring. "It seems to contradict their assertion that this was an urgent staff shortage," he said. "To now say 'We'll pass' is a little strange."

Charney also called the city's attack on Garaufis' proposals for proportionate hiring legal bluster, saying, "These are well-accepted, long-established remedies after a finding of discrimination."