New details:
Feds prepared to sue if Austin rejects decree on hiring of firefighters.
The Austin City Council could decide Thursday whether to approve a settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice over allegations that minority firefighter applicants were discriminated against.
After months of negotiations, the Austin City Council could vote Thursday on a proposed settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice over allegations that Hispanic and African-American firefighter applicants were discriminated against, paving the way for the city to resume hiring cadets.
The city spent approximately $312,000 on the hiring process it planned to use last year to hire about 75 new fire cadets who would have graduated this spring and summer. Only the Fire Department suspended that hiring process amid a federal investigation into whether the city’s hiring process that year and in 2012 discriminated against some minorities.
Under that so-called consent decree, the Fire Department could resume and complete its current cadet hir- ing process with some modifications. But the firefighters union is urging council members to vote against the decree, arguing that such a settlement isn’t necessary.
The Justice Department started investigating how the Fire Department hired cadets in April 2013, after an unsuccessful applicant filed a federal employment discrimination charge.
In September, the federal agency announced that it had found evidence that the city’s 2012 and 2013 hiring processes had discriminated against African-American and Hispanic candidates.
The Justice Department did not allege, however, that the city engaged in intentional discrimination. Rather, it
concluded that its hiring process effectively and illegally deprived African-Americans and Hispanics of employment opportunities.
The Fire Department has declined to comment on the proposed decree until after the council considers it, but the document states that the city does not think it violated federal law and that officials want to settle the matter to avoid a lawsuit.
If the council doesn’t vote for the decree, the Justice Department has indicated it will sue the city.
Under the settlement, up to $780,000 would be awarded to unsuccessful Hispanic and African-American candidates eligible for back pay, and the decree carves out 18 positions in future fire cadet academies for Hispanic candidates and 12 for African-American candidates.
Future hiring processes also would be subject to oversight by the Justice Department for the life of the consent decree, a minimum of four years and up to eight years, as necessary.
The Justice Department has approved the terms of the proposed decree, according to city documents. If the council votes in favor of it, the document will next be filed in federal court in Austin and become binding with a judge’s approval.
But Bob Nicks, president of the Austin Firefighters Association, said he thinks the city has failed to properly defend the Fire Department’s 2013 hiring process, which he called the best in the department’s history.
Instead of settling with the Justice Department, Nicks has proposed hiring 18 Hispanic and 12 African-American candidates who were unsuccessful in the 2012 hiring process. The union maintains that any discrimination in that process happened because the city didn’t give applicants enough time to finish a test.
Firefighters are expected to attend Thursday’s council meeting to oppose the decree, Nicks said. But he expects the council will vote in favor of it anyway.
“Our council, and the city in general, are not very good about having a courageous, honest discussion on race-based issues,” he said. “Everyone appears to be fearful.”