Court Rules North Hudson Regional Fire and Rescue Residency Policy Is Discriminatory

Posted on December 15, 2011 by Donald Barbati

 

As reported by nj.com, North Hudson Regional Fire and Rescue’s residents-only hiring policy discriminates against blacks applying to be on the force, a federal appeals court ruled Monday. In issuing its decision, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in favor of the Newark branch of the NAACP, which brought the initial lawsuit in 2007 on behalf of firefighter candidates Allen Wallace, Lamara Wapples, and Altarik White.

“The judges’ decision covered every issue…the argument that a broader hiring process would discriminate against Hispanics (in North Hudson) is thoroughly incorrect,” said one of the NAACP’s attorneys in the matter. ‘Obviously, we’re pleased.”

The Court noted that as of 2000, the population of North Hudson’s member municipalities North Bergen, Weehawken, West New York, Guttenberg, and Union City was 69.6 percent Hispanic, 22.9 percent white non-Hispanic, and 3.4 percent African-American. 

The attorney for North Hudson Regional said the department is “disappointed” by the Court’s ruling. “The decision is inherently unfair to NHRFR communities, particularly the large Hispanic population. There are various other federally mandated policies in other jurisdictions,” he said, adding the department will file for an “en banc” hearing.

A “en banc” hearing would be heard by all of the judges on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. An application for such a hearing must be filed within 14 days of the original ruling. If it is heard, the majority opinion rules. The only other arena for an appeal would be the U.S. Supreme Court.

In its ruling, the federal appeals court took into consideration reports from experts that in the tri-county area of Hudson, Bergen, and Essex, 37.4 percent of firefighters were African-American. Based on this percentage, 121 North Hudson Regional firefighters should be African-American, the court stated. Statewide, the percent of African-American firefighters is 20 percent. Based on that percentage, 65 North Hudson firefighters should be African-American, the court said.

Instead, out of 302 North Hudson Regional firefighters, 240 were white non-Hispanic, 58 were Hispanic, and only two were African-American, according to 2008 Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”) figures, the court said.

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Lawsuit Alleges New Jersey Sergeant Promotional Exams are Badly Biased

Posted on January 8, 2010 by Donald Barbati

 

As reported in the Trentonian on January 8, 2010, the United States Department of Justice filed a lawsuit against the State of New Jersey alleging that New Jersey’s widespread use of a written exam to promote police sergeants discriminates against blacks and Hispanics. The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Newark, accuses New Jersey of civil rights violations for using a written exam in which black and Hispanic candidates scored significantly and consistently lower than their white counterparts.

Moreover, according to the complaint, even when minority candidates passed the test, they were not promoted as often as white candidates because their scores were lower and promotions were granted first to those with the highest scores and most seniority. Significantly, the Department of Justice has not taken issue with using seniority as a factor for promotions. As such, the lawsuit seeks to stop New Jersey from continuing to use the exam and asks the court to order it to offer relief to officers “harmed” by the exam by extending them promotions, back pay and retroactive seniority.

Test scores from 2000 to 2008 reviewed by the Justice Department showed that 89 percent of the white candidates who took the exam passed, compared to 77 percent of Hispanics and 73 percent of black candidates. With the exception of the New Jersey State Police, most law enforcement agencies across the state use the exam.

“This complaint should send a clear message to all public employers that employment practices with unlawful discriminatory impact on account of race or national origin will not be tolerated,” said Thomas Perez, Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division. “The Justice Department will take all necessary action to ensure that such discriminatory practices are eliminated and that the victims of such practices are made whole.”

In a similar case, a federal judge in July sided with the Justice Department in ruling that New York City had discriminated against minorities in its hiring of firefighters, causing blacks and Hispanics to comprise only 10 percent of the fire department’s work force, even though most city residents are minorities.

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