Annmarie Fertoli, Associate Producer, WNYC News
Annmarie Fertoli is an Associate Producer at WNYC, working with the afternoon news team to produce All Things Considered.
Federal Judge Blocks City from Hiring Firefighters
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
A Brooklyn judge has ruled the city cannot hire new firefighters, unless it does so under one of his five hiring proposals. Judge Nicholas Garaufis issued proposals last month to allow the FDNY to hire recruits from an entrance exam he ruled discriminatory. The city has already rejected all of the hiring proposals.
Anjana Samant, an attorney with the Center for Constitutional Rights, represents the Vulcan Society, the group that first filed the discrimination suit against the city. She said she's happy with the judge's decision, but disappointed with the city's response so far.
"The judge gave the city the chance, he didn't hold a hammer over the city's head and say you have to use this method," Samant said. "He gave us five options, and the city said no, we're not going to do anything."
Lawyers for the city say they plan to appeal Tuesday's decision because they believe all five of the judge's proposed solutions rely on "race-based quotas." The city is working with several groups to create a new FDNY entrance exam.
Comments [1]
Get the story straight. FDNY whined that they needed to hire new firefighters and said then judges ruling that the test was unfair was jeopardizing safety. Since then: 1) an FDNY official testified the safety of the city was not actually in jeopardy; 2) the judge provided five hiring options for FDNY that would allow them to hire without breaking the law; 3) the city claimed all of the options were "illegal" and "quotas" without ever citing a valid legal case supporting their headline-grabbing claims 4) the city did an about face and said it wasnt going to hire after all, not because of the judge but because it has no money. The city lawyers are full of it.
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