He sues, says department won’t hire blacks; chief says diversity a priority
By Donna Fielder
The Dallas Morning News
DALLAS — A Dallas firefighter who lives in Denton has filed a federal class-action lawsuit against the Denton Fire Department and the city of Denton, alleging that the department was discriminatory by not hiring him in 2006 and routinely discriminates against black applicants.
David Johnson filed the suit Monday in the U.S. Court for the Eastern District of Texas in Sherman.
Mr. Johnson referred questions Tuesday to his attorneys, Kevin Wiggins and Tracey Wallace. Neither responded to telephone messages asking for comment.
City Attorney Ed Snyder said Tuesday that the city received the suit that day but that he could not comment because he had not had time to analyze it.
“But we don’t think it has any merit,” Mr. Snyder said.
The suit states: “The hiring system is implemented by the fire chief exercising undue authority to make biased and inconsistent determinations with little or no oversight. Because of the undue discretion of the fire chief, the City of Denton Fire Department does not hire African-Americans as firemen.”
The suit claims the practice represents a pattern of discrimination against blacks and asks the federal judge to certify it as a class-action suit.
According to city records, three blacks work at the department. None is a firefighter. Of the eight Hispanics in the department, six are firefighters. The department also has one American Indian firefighter, and 166 whites, 148 of them firefighters.
Mr. Johnson took the December 2005 test, according to city records. He scored 92, with 87 applicants scoring higher than he did. His application was thrown out. The application should have contained a witness’ signature to his authorization for a background check; that space was blank.
Fire Chief Ross Chadwick has been criticized for years because there are no black firefighters in the Denton department. Last year, he hired Quentin Brown, who is black and a former New Orleans fire captain, as a recruiter. Chief Chadwick and Mr. Brown both have said that Mr. Brown’s focus is to get qualified black applicants to come to Denton.
Chief Chadwick did not return a telephone message Tuesday asking for comment.
Civil service rules for the Fire Department mandate a strict procedure for hiring. According to the civil service rules, the highest scorer on the test will be hired unless the background check or physical agility test eliminates that applicant.
Chief Chadwick said that department officials and the Denton Fire Fighters Association, which has a contract with the city to speak for the firefighters, are constantly looking for ways to increase the number of black firefighters. They voted recently to change the rules so that the highest 15 scorers would be considered for a position based on experience and ability.
Chief Chadwick said this would allow a black applicant to have a better chance at being hired.
But the lawsuit alleges that the department has “written and unwritten policies and practices for hiring that allow biased and inconsistent determinations to the detriment of African-Americans.”
Copyright 2007 THE DALLAS MORNING NEWS