Thursday, March 8, 2012

A Segregated Fire Department?

In a recent hearing by the U.S. district judge, the New York City fire department has been found guilty of using entrance exams that deliberately kept out African American and Latino Americans off the force. In response to this the judge ordered that 128 million dollars be paid to the fire fighters and that the New York Fire Department hire at least 293 African American or Latino Americans. This seems to be a fair ruling to try to get the percent of minorities on the force more proportional to the amount living in the city. What do you think about this ruling?

6 comments:

Ari R said...

In response to the discrimination, setting a quota for the number of African Americans and Hispanics to be hired seems to be very reasonable. However, paying back $128 million to the minority applicants seems to be too...generous. According to this New York Times article, all minority applicants who took the screening test in 1999 or 2002 and were not hired will be eligible for compensation. "Each applicant will then earn a proportion of the difference between the total earnings of the class and the $128 million." While the applicants do deserve to receive compensation for the discrimination held against them, perhaps $128 million is a bit too much to be spending all at once...

Elise Yee said...

I agree with Ari that paying back 128 million dollars to the minority is a little much. However, I'm glad to hear that there are efforts to make the fire department less segregated. I think hiring 293 African American or Latino American is a great way to rid discrimination.

itsALEXZ said...

In reading the article that Ari cited, I believe that there is a quote that Mr. Cardozo said, "When all the proceedings have been completed, the damages, if any, that the city will have to pay will be far less than $128 million." Therefore it is safe to say that 128 million dollars offered is merely a generous maximum set by the judge. Whether the fire department actually intends to use all that money to pay back its applicants is speculative at best. The decision made by the federal judge makes sense to me. It isn't fair for discrimination to exist in any job, especially a government job.

Fair is fair.

Jennifer Nguyen said...

I have to agree with Ari. $128 million seems like a bit much especially when you look at our current economy. That money could be used to fund a lot of needed programs or repairs as opposed to compensation. I do agree that the firefighters do deserve compensation, but I feel like now is not the best time for them to be receiving that large of a settlement. I guess that by giving them the money, it could ultimately stimulate the economy, but I worry that it might not benefit our country as much as if that money went towards programs or services.

JeremyHardy said...

The first thing I thought of when I read Adam's post was the literacy tests given to African-Americans in the South to prohibit them from voting; it's terrible that something similar has weasled its way into the 21st century. I believe another reason for such an enormous sum for compensation was to try to prevent this from happening again. Aside from the notion that a good part of the $128 million might be better used elsewhere in the municipal economy (as Jennifer suggested), I agree with everyone in approving of employing 293 African Americans or Latino Americans.

SimoneJacobs said...

I think that situation is slightly ironic if one also considers the Supreme Court case of Firefighters v. Stotts (1984). When the city of Memphis was forced to lay off some of its firefighters due to financial trouble, the city abandoned typical protocol by firing employees based on race as opposed to seniority. The city had recently instated a new affirmative action plan meant to increase the hiring of blacks, influencing the federal district judge to insist that the city fire whites with more seniority as opposed to newly hired blacks. The Supreme Court condemned the city’s actions, thereby ensuring that it would never be legal to lay off whites in favor of disadvantaged groups.

I think that it is wrong to deliberately attempt to bar minority groups, but I think that the New York Fire Department needs to be careful about over compensating. Also, I'm curious as to how the content of the entrance exams deliberately kept any groups out of the force.