By Anthony M.
Newsday (New York)
Copyright 2007 Newsday, Inc.
NEW YORK — The Department of Justice is expected to file a lawsuit against the city Monday, accusing it of discriminatory practices in the hiring of black and Hispanic firefighters, civil rights advocates said Friday.
The lawsuit comes one month after federal officials warned city officials that legal action was imminent because a written test used to screen applicants for fire fighting jobs appeared to discriminate against minority applicants.
Federal investigators had opened a probe into FDNY hiring practices after lawyers for the Center for Constitutional Rights filed a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in 2002 on behalf of the Vulcan Society, a fraternal order of black fire- fighters. The CCR said last month that the EEOC found the written test used to screen job applicants was discriminatory.
Shayana Kadidal, a senior attorney with the Center for Constitutional Rights, said Friday the impending lawsuit would be filed in Brooklyn federal court and will seek hirings and unspecified monetary damages.
“We are in the process of awaiting the legal papers and will review them thoroughly,” said Kate O’Brien Ahlers, a spokeswoman for the city Law Department.
A spokesman for the Department of Justice, civil rights division, couldn’t be reached for comment Friday.
Last month federal officials sent a letter to City Hall saying a lawsuit was coming unless the city took action in 30-days to settle the matter.
In a response dated April 12, city lawyers said they were disappointed in the Department of Justice stance. The city said it had instituted new hiring practices, including a recruitment campaign and a revamped written exam for firefighters.
“Consequently, we have far more African-Americans and Hispanics interested in becoming firefighters than ever before,” said the city in a letter written by corporation counsel Michael Cardozo.
Kadidal said that despite such action the number of blacks in the department is still at about 3 percent, the level it was in 2002 when the first complaint was filed by the Vulcan Society.
“It’s a working, middle class job, you don’t need advanced degrees,” Kadidal said.