Race case vs. FDNY can go ahead – judge

A BLACK WOMAN who said she was fired from her high-ranking Fire Department job for her race can keep pressing her case, a judge ruled.

Lyndelle Phillips, the former head of the FDNY’s Equal Employment Opportunity Office, argued she was demoted and later fired because of her skin color.

“It was clear that a jury could find her a credible witness with a legitimate claim of discrimination,” Brooklyn Federal Judge Jack Weinstein said Wednesday.

The judge scheduled a February trial, but tossed certain claims that were past statutes of limitation.

In 2006, Phillips was tapped as the assistant commissioner for Equal Employment Opportunity at the Fire Department.

A year later, the Justice Department hit the city with a lawsuit alleging discriminatory hiring practices against black and Latino firefighter candidates.

In August 2011, Phillips testified in the case that lawyers in her office were getting cut. She was told she was getting the ax in March 2012 after meeting with a court ordered consultant about the case.