Civil Rights ruling on the hiring of black firefighters

Civil Rights ruling on the hiring of black firefighters

Introduction

The aim of this paper is the identify the existing discrimination in hiring, by discussing the recent civil rights case in Chicago, which was ordered to hire 111 black firefighters based on findings that proved they had been discriminating while hiring. This issue is a crucial one and needs to be eradicated and people should be given equal opportunities based on merit not any discriminating attribute like, race, gender or sexual orientation.

Background

According to NBC Chicago the federal courts of appeal has placed a court order on the Chicago fire department and has forced them to hire 111 African American firefighters who has already passed the entrance test 16 years ago but were not hired based on their race. The court has also asked the department to pay a million dollars to many thousands of more who have been victims of discrimination. According to an attorney for black firefighters, 111 candidates that had cleared the test in 1995 will have their pension adjusted like they were firefighters since 1995. The city finds itself in a very critical financial position having to pay million to those that it has wronged. The criterion for test selection has been changed in Chicago and candidates are selected on the basis on fail and pass in the past the firefighters were passed according to their aptitude and the deciding factor was how high the candidates score on their tests. This by no means can prove who has the potential to be a good firefighter.

Discrimination based on any factor is still a dominating element of the American society According to the insider magazine (2012) many companies are hiring people who are either currently employed or who have been unemployed for less ...