City Accused of Discrimination, Agrees to Hire Whites

(Gary, Indiana) Six white medics sued the city of Gary for discrimination stemming from an episode where black people with lower test scores were hired instead of the whites. The white medics won the case -- uh, well, they sorta, kinda won.

In a consent decree issued Tuesday, the U.S. Department of Justice and Gary officials agreed to divide more than $25,000 between Nathan Bogner, Christopher Ferrand and Tina Bruks.

Those three and Richard Hurst and Timothy Sierazy must also be offered jobs within a year in positions that would provide the seniority and other benefits they would have earned if hired in October 2006. A sixth complainant is not included in the settlement. [...]

In the 10-page decree, the city denies it discriminated against the medics when it hired six blacks who, except for one, ranked lower on the eligibility list prepared by former Emergency Medical Services director Angelo Bruno.

Bruno, who followed the fire department's testing standards and criteria to develop a hiring list, was demoted after Clay named a new chief, then retired. He died last year.

When the controversy surfaced, Fire Chief Jeff Ward said he was not obligated to honor the list prepared by a prior administration. He denied the six were rejected because of race, claiming the issue was residency, although all six had indicated on their applications they would move to the city if hired.

Despite the denial and the circuitous explanation, the city of Gary clearly discriminated based on race, in my opinion.