Filed under: News, Race and Civil Rights
Seven black firefighters may receive a $300,000-plus settlement for a discrimination case they filed in Houston.
The firefighters allege that they were overlooked when promotions were handed down, while city officials claim that the men did not score high enough on their 2006 written exams. Refusing to be daunted, the men fought fire with fire and sued the city two years later for using a racially biased exam.
The Houston City Council approved their case on Wednesday.
Dwight Bazile, Johnny Garrett, Thomas Ward, Mundo Olford, George Runnels, Trevin Hines and Dwight Allen all took the captain and senior captain level position tests and passed. White firefighters also took the exam but received higher scores. Cash awards and promotions were awarded to the highest scorers, so the 7 black men were cut out of both money and career advancement.
According to the firefighters' lawsuit, the promotional exams "have an adverse impact upon African Americans," and white candidates who aced the exam were promoted at more than twice the rate of blacks who passed.
City Attorney David Feldman told the Houston Chronicle that the settlement is in no way an acknowledgment of any wrongdoing:
"There clearly were concerns with respect to the exam and the impact of the exam," he said. "As we looked at it, and as the court looked at it, we recognized that changes needed to be made to the exam so that it could properly be validated for (equal opportunity) purposes."
According to Feldman, the revised exam will now be given the stamp of approval by a testing firm to assure that it does not produce results related to the race or ethnicity of the test takers.
On the flip side, there are those who are grumbling about the new and improved test:
"Changes to the promotional system should be negotiated with the representatives of the entire firefighting corps, not just seven of them," said Jeff Caynon, president of the Houston Professional Fire Fighters Association. "Our issue is that the seven plaintiffs have dictated to the city changes to the promotional system irrespective of our collective-bargaining agreement," Caynon said.
Lawyers for the city have negotiated a settlement that offers $301,165.12 in attorneys' fees and back pay to the seven men. Since their battle began, Garrett, Ward and Runnell have retired.
Houston has been sued quite a number of times for employment discrimination in hiring and promotion policies.
It was only two years ago that the city's fire department was yet again checked for its alleged unfair promotion policies against women. Let's hope that this most recent manifestation of discriminatory behavior will prompt the city to take a good look at more of its governing policies.