The view from the Idea Center

Cleveland’s fire department is in the hot seat, again, for alleged discrimination in its hiring practices.

A recent review by the U.S Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) determined that the Cleveland Fire Department discriminates against black, Hispanic and female applicants through its written and physical entry exams. It said black firefighters were being bypassed for promotions. It found few firehouses had restrooms or showers for women.

Mayor Frank Jackson’s administration disputes the allegations of discrimination.

You’d think the Cleveland Fire Department would be beyond such claims by now. The department’s hiring practices have been the subject of lawsuits for decades, mostly from black and Hispanic firefighters and would-be firefighters. In 1973, a group of blacks and Hispanics filed a class-action suit, claiming the department's hiring policies were discriminatory. A district court agreed and in 1977, the city entered a consent decree in which it was required to hire a certain percentage of minorities who had passed the most recent entrance exam.

In 1980, the Vanguards of Cleveland, a black and Hispanic firefighters’ group, sued, alleging the fire department’s promotions policy discriminated against minorities. The firefighter’s union intervened, arguing against any solution that would include race-based quotas. The Washington Post had a great story in 1986 about the bitter emotions raised during the ensuing legal battle. The case went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. The consent decree, which had been revised in 1983, was upheld.

More recently, in 2013, an amended version of the 1970s consent decree was closed out after a 13-year legal battle ended with a federal district court finding the agreement had achieved its goals of addressing past racial discrimination, deeming it unnecessary and, therefore, unconstitutional.

It seems that the court may have acted too soon.
 

See you bright and early tomorrow morning on the radio,
Amy Eddings

Need to KnOH

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Yesterday, we asked if this week's round of impeachment hearings has you making popcorn, popping a Prozac or avoiding it all in your protective cocoon? And we can smell the butter all the way at the Idea Center. From Lynne Inks Kopechek in our Public Square Facebook group: "Popcorn! I heard it from a friend who...heard it from a friend who..."

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