Durham Will Pay $1M to Firefighter Applicants Rejected by Unintentionally Racist Test

Durham will pay nearly $1 million to 16 African Americans rejected from becoming firefighters after a test used to weed out job candidates was found to be unintentionally discriminatory.

The city announced on Tuesday that it had settled a lawsuit filed by the U.S. Department of Justice that accused the Durham Fire Department of violating the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

At issue was a written test administered since 2015 to screen applicants for entry-level firefighter jobs in Durham.

The DOJ found that African Americans disproportionately failed the test when compared to white applicants, and were therefore prevented from getting interviews, despite the test not actually being related to the job.

According to the lawsuit, 37% of Black applicants failed and 11% of white applicants failed, a statistically significant difference.

“Discriminatory employment tests do more than cost applicants a fair chance to compete for public service jobs like firefighting; they also prevent communities from being served in these crucial positions by the most qualified candidates for the job,” Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke, of the justice department’s Civil Rights Division, said in a news release Tuesday.

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