Court: Chicago must hire 111 black firefighters

[lostinblue 1,989]

Court: Chicago must hire 111 black firefighters

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The Associated Press

3:15 p.m. CDT, May 13, 2011

A federal appeals court ruled on Friday that the Chicago Fire Department must hire 111 African Americans who passed a firefighters entrance exam 16 years ago and pay millions of dollars to thousands more who took and passed the same test.

The Seventh U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruling was the latest blow to the city, which has been on the losing end of court decisions regarding the 1995 test for years, including a 2005 ruling by a federal judge who said the test discriminated against black applicants and a U.S. Supreme Court ruling last year that the candidates did not wait too long to sue the city.

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U.S. Supreme Court An attorney for the black firefighter candidates said that the 111 jobs would be filled from the applicants who passed the 1995 test and their pensions would be adjusted as if they'd been firefighters since 1995. And, said Joshua Karsh, 6,000 others who also passed the test will divide “tens of millions of dollars” that would have been paid 111 firefighters from 1995 until today.

A spokeswoman for the city's law department called the decision a “partial victory” for the city because it reduced the number of African Americans the fire department must hire from 132 to 111. “Reducing the number of plaintiffs who are eligible reduces the damages,” said Jenny Hoyle.

Hoyle said that the city was still calculating the damages as result of dividing the back pay of 111 firefighters among the 6,000 applicants, but that officials estimate the payout will be about $30 million.

The ruling stems from a test given in 1995. After the test, anyone who scored 64 or below was deemed not qualified, but officials told those who scored above that number that while they passed, they would randomly hire the top 1,800 who scored 89 or better.

Because only 11 percent of the African Americans scored 89 or better, the overwhelming number of applicants hired from that test were white.

Karsh said the test was discriminatory because there was no evidence that the applicant who scored 89 or better would be any better firefighter than another who scored a 64, and in fact in 2005 a federal judge said the test discriminated against black candidates.

“If the city of Chicago had selected firefighters at random from all the people who passed the test it would have gotten a pool of equally capable firefighters and the pool would have been more integrated,” he said. He said he did not know when the hiring might begin, but said that he expected it to start soon.

In fact, the city's firefighter applicant test is now pass/fail, Chicago's outgoing mayor, Richard Daley, has said.

http://www.chicagobreakingnews.com/news/local/chibrknews-court-chicago-must-hire-111-black-firefighters-20110513,0,3811769.story

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

It couldn't have happened to a more Progressive town.

[Ban Hammer 13,399]

It couldn't have happened to a more Progressive town.

now maybe chicago will go bankrupt.

[Obama 2012 1,714]

What was it, Rhode Island where too few "African-Americans" passed the test and a bunch of White Firefighters did...

So the city didn't hire the white firefighters because the black ones failed....

We live is a fvcked up PC country right now.

[Peikko 1,575]

I don't k now where you live, but I don't see anything too PC here. If the pass rate is set at 64% then you pass at 64%. The stupid was not hiring based on the given criteria in the first place - ie randomly selecting from everyone who passed. If they wanted a pass of 89% or better, that is how they should have set the test.

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

Evidently, you have never taken a civil service exam.

Edited May 15, 2011 by Some Old Guy

[Danno 1,228]

<<<The ruling stems from a test given in 1995. After the test, anyone who scored 64 or below was deemed not qualified, but officials told those who scored above that number that while they passed, they would randomly hire the top 1,800 who scored 89 or better.

Because only 11 percent of the African Americans scored 89 or better, the overwhelming number of applicants hired from that test were white. >>>

You can have standards that one must aspire to achieve or you can have diversity. You can have a nation where merit matters or you can have diversity.

[lostinblue 1,989]

http://plf.typepad.com/plf/2010/02/lewis-v-chicago-chicago-fire-department-douses-claims-of-discrimination.html#tp

Lewis v. Chicago: Chicago Fire Department douses claims of discrimination

Author: Ralph W. Kasarda

The United States Supreme Court heard oral argument today in Lewis v. City of Chicago. In this case, African-American fire department applicants sued the City of Chicago under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. They claimed that a written examination was discriminatory when it resulted in Chicago’s decision to hire only applicants that scored "well qualified."

While the main issue in the case centers around the statute of limitations, the NAACP Legal Defense Fund has issued a press release that claims the City of Chicago admits that it engaged in unlawful hiring discrimination. Did the City of Chicago really make such an admission? Let’s take a quick look at the facts of the case and see what the City really said.

To become a firefighter in Chicago, applicants must first take a written examination. Based on the results of the examination, applicants are called for a physical abilities test, background check, medical evaluation, and drug test. The top applicants are hired and sent to the firefighting academy

To ensure that its written test was not discriminatory, the City hired Dr. James Outtz, an African-American industrial-organizational psychologist to analyze the firefighter position and develop an examination. The development of the examination took years and cost the City of Chicago $5 million.

To reduce any disparate impact on minority applicants, Dr. Outtz split the written examination into two parts. The first was a multi-choice "open-book" section, developed at the 12th grade reading level. The second part featured short video segments to test note taking and answering questions. Before the test was administered, the City distributed study material created by Dr. Outtz to 35,000 people who registered to take the test. Those taking the test were free to refer to the study material during the actual examination. The test was administered in 1995.

After the test was given, the City determined it would need to hire 600-800 applicants over the next three to five years. Accordingly, the City decided to call up 2,000 applicants it considered "well qualified," which were those applicants who scored above 89 on the test. Of those persons designated well qualified, 75.8% were white, and 11.5% were African American. To further reduce a disparate impact on minorities, the City of Chicago called up well qualified applicants on a random basis, not by their actual test score.

The City of Chicago thus admits to the test results. But that is a far cry from an admission of intentional discrimination as the NAACP might have you believe. In fact, the City spent millions of dollars to make sure it was not biased against minorities, and admitting the test has a disparate impact is not akin to admitting that it was discriminatory. As my PLF colleague Joshua Thompson has pointed out numerous times, "disparate impact" is a flawed theory that makes race-neutral acts illegal when they don't achieve the "proper" racial outcome.

Title VII was originally intended to combat the evils of intentional discrimination in employment. Now it permits claims based upon a mere disparate impact theory, without a showing of discriminatory intent. If successful, these claims sometimes force government employers to grant racial preferences in hiring, even though the government never engaged in intentional discriminatory hiring practices. The granting of preferences to one race, requires discriminating against other races. That is why the Court should reject the claims of the applicants in Lewis v City of Chicago, and hold that Title VII’s disparate-impact provisions are unconstitutional.

[Danno 1,228]

Again, you can have colored-blind competition for jobs or you can have diversity.... take your pic.

Houston is promoting 7 Black Captains, not because they deserve it but rather because they scored lower, yet are Black. (Back pay will be included).

Seven black city firefighters passed over for promotion because they did not score high enough on a written exam will rise to captains' ranks and get cash payments if the Houston City Council approves a lawsuit settlement Wednesday.

Lawyers for the city have negotiated a settlement that offers $301,165.12 in attorneys fees and back pay to Dwight Bazile, Johnny Garrett, Thomas Ward, Mundo Olford, George Runnels, Trevin Hines and Dwight Allen.

Garrett, Ward and Runnell have retired since the lawsuit was filed.

The seven passed exams for captain or senior captain in 2006, but many white firefighters scored higher. Because promotions were awarded to candidates with the highest scores, the seven did not make the cut.

They sued in 2008, arguing the city discriminated against them by using a racially biased test. The lawsuit states that the promotional exams "have an adverse impact upon African-Americans."

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/7486738.html

[Hilarious Clinton 452]

Don't hire the most qualified, just hire someone with the correct skin color.

[TBoneTX 45,498]

Don't hire the most qualified, just hire someone with the correct skin color.

Si, man... if my house is on fire, I want the most qualified firemen to show up, of any race. Of those who scored 65% (that's passing?!) versus those who scored 89%, what questions did they miss that are fundamental to the judgment, skill, and procedural acumen necessary to respond to life-threatening emergencies most efficiently and with the highest-percentage chance of a successful outcome? Let the supporters of the 65%-scorers answer these questions satisfactorily, and then perhaps we can talk about racial bias.

[sandinista! 1,816]

how relevant is the actual test score to being able to perform the job though? in my line of work, as a nurse, I had to take an exam in order to get licensed, but nowhere in my job hunting process after getting licensed did my test scores on the licensing exam ever come up. not once. i did great on my exam, but when it actually came to the clinical performance of my job, for the first several months, i was a complete n00b. test smarts don't always translate to performance smarts, by any means. what if the guy who scored a 98 on the exam completely chokes under pressure, but the guy who scored an 88 can stay calm, cool and collected under the most harrowing of conditions? sitting in an exam room is a really different situation from a burning building with mommies and kids and puppies inside. and being able to score a 98 on a written exam will only get you so far in a situation like that.

Edited May 16, 2011 by sandinista!

[luckytxn 2,264]

They should have just said from the very beginning that only minorities or woman get jobs, no whites allowed.

[lostinblue 1,989]

how relevant is the actual test score to being able to perform the job though? in my line of work, as a nurse, I had to take an exam in order to get licensed, but nowhere in my job hunting process after getting licensed did my test scores on the licensing exam ever come up. not once. i did great on my exam, but when it actually came to the clinical performance of my job, for the first several months, i was a complete n00b. test smarts don't always translate to performance smarts, by any means. what if the guy who scored a 98 on the exam completely chokes under pressure, but the guy who scored an 88 can stay calm, cool and collected under the most harrowing of conditions? sitting in an exam room is a really different situation from a burning building with mommies and kids and puppies inside. and being able to score a 98 on a written exam will only get you so far in a situation like that.

What about dealing with a Hazmat situation. A chemical fire for example. Who do you want fighting this fire? The force that only understands ebonics and gets 65% on the test that was designed for them in the first place. Or Someone with a chemical knowledge to understand a danger to the community when X and Y chemical gets mixed together in a roaring 3 alarm fire.

[Vi-Jay 218]

Is there enough room to add one more face to Mount Rushmore?

What about a new currency increment? Is that in the works?

What about all the monuments in Washington. Space for a new one? A really big one?

Does anybody know?

$5 million spent to develop an anti-discrimination exam. An African-American spent "years" developing the exam.

$30 million penalty for hiring the one's that tested the best?

69% test result or 89% test result? Duh!

Found this a bit interesting;

Civil-rights lawyers appealed on behalf of Arthur Lewis and the other black applicants. They were joined by the Obama administration, which said the federal civil rights law forbids the "use" of discriminatory tests. And by that standard, the suit was filed on time.

chicagobreakingnews.com