Feds, City Say FDNY Hiring Quota For Minorities Is Bad Idea
By MEREDITH TRAINA | wpix.com

4:00 p.m. EST, January 2, 2010
NEW YORK (WPIX)—
Lawyers for New York City and the Justice Department urged a federal judge Saturday to reject one group's plan to institute a minority hiring quota at the FDNY.

A firefighters fraternal group called The Vulcan Society has proposed that the department be forced to make six of every 10 new hires either black or Hispanic.

City lawyers say the quota would be unconstitutional. Federal authorities call the plan too broad.

Though lawyers and feds have both shot down the proposal, the Justice Department took the city to court over FDNY hiring practices just last year, citing unfair entrance exams.

The lawsuit claimed the tests "do not accurately determine whether an applicant will be able to perform the job of firefighter" and that the tests "disproportionately [screen] out large numbers of qualified black and Hispanic applicants." A judge ruled last year that two previous FDNY entrance exams were, in fact, discriminating.

The feds noted that on the illegal exams, only 9% of the applicants were black and 12% Hispanic.