Race Discrimination in Employment 

The Department of Justice reports it has reached a settlement with the city of Dayton, Ohio to resolve allegations that the hiring practices for the city's police officers and firefighters are discriminatory against African-Americans under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Title VII prohibits discrimination based on color, sex, race, national origin or religion, and also prohibits using employment practices which may result in unintentional disparate impact on applicants. The city of Dayton created an internal written examination to screen entry-level police officers, and began requiring new firefighters to have EMT-basic and Firefighter I and II  certifications.  This practice allegedly led to a drastic reduction in both the number and percentage of African-American applicants accepted into the programs, and the city was unable to prove the screening processes were job-related and necessary for business.

Under the agreement, the city of Dayton will no longer employ the screening practices in question for hiring police officers and firefighters, and will develop new and compliant methods. $450,000 will also be paid into a settlement fund to be used to award back pay, retroactive seniority and possible retroactive pension credit to eligible African-American applicants who were harmed by the practices in question.

Comments (0)