Black Firefighters Win Big Settlement with City

By KIRAN SURY

Members of the Vulcan Society of Black Firefighters and their attorneys announced on Tuesday a $98 million settlement with the city in a lawsuit over discrimination in the hiring and treatment of minorities at the fire department.

The money will be used to provide backpay for about 1500 applicants who might have been hired had the process been unbiased.

“There was no need for this legal battle,” said fire department Cap. Paul Washington. He said that the case was brought in 1999, and could have been settled much earlier had the Bloomberg administration not wasted time “trying to defend the indefensible.”

Attorney Richard Levy said the difference between working with the current and former administration was a “day and night experience,” and jokingly suggested that the former billionaire mayor pay for the settlement.

Vulcan Society President John Coombs urged that current fire commissioner Salvatore Cassano be replaced, and said that someone “recycled” from the administration’s past would not suffice.

“Spoiled milk is spoiled milk,” he said. “You don’t put it in the freezer, take it out and it’s going to be fresh.”

The settlement establishes a Chief Diversity Officer and Diversity Advocate to ensure proportional representation as part of the fire department’s enhanced recruitment effort. The fire department is now  about four percent black compared to 25 percent in the general population, said Levy. The department vowed also to increase the transparency of its medical exams and assign more new recruits to their home neighborhoods.

Center for Constitutional Rights attorney Darius Charney emphasized the need for a culture change as essential to a diverse fire department.

“Until we see a change in the fire house a lot of these things won’t take hold,” he said.