NYC stops hiring rookie firefighters until new exam is created that doesn’t discriminate
By APFriday, September 17, 2010
Amid bias suit, NYC won’t hire rookie firefighters
NEW YORK — New York City won’t hire rookie firefighters until a new entry exam is created to replace one a judge has declared discriminatory.
The city’s law department had until Friday to choose one of five alternatives to hire entry-level firefighters while awaiting the new exam.
But the department said in a letter to the court it is choosing none of the alternatives because they all involved a race-based quota. Corporation Counsel head Michael Cardozo says that would be bad public policy.
U.S. District Judge Nicholas Garaufis (GEHR’-ah-fuhs) found in August that the test used by the mostly white department was unfair to black and Hispanic applicants.
It’s not clear how long it will take to create and approve a new test.
