The Status of Employment Discrimination Suits in Police and Fire Departments Across the United States

Published date01 September 2014
DOI10.1177/0734371X12449839
AuthorNorma M. Riccucci,Karina Saldivar
Date01 September 2014
Subject MatterArticles
Review of Public Personnel Administration
2014, Vol. 34(3) 263 –288
© The Author(s) 2012
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DOI: 10.1177/0734371X12449839
rop.sagepub.com
449839ROP34310.1177/0734371X12449839Revi
ew of Public Personnel AdministrationRiccucci and Saldivar
1Rutgers University, Newark, NJ, USA
2Kean University, Union, NJ, USA
Corresponding Author:
Norma M. Riccucci, Rutgers University, School of Public Affairs and Administration, 111 Washington Street,
CPS 337, Newark, NJ 07102, USA.
Email: riccucci@rutgers.edu
The Status of Employment
Discrimination Suits in
Police and Fire
Departments Across the
United States
Norma M. Riccucci1 and Karina Saldivar2
Abstract
Research indicates that women and people of color have made progress in gaining
entry-level jobs in government, particularly at the federal level, but still lag behind
in gaining positions at the upper levels. But, can the same be said for police and fire
departments which have had perhaps the worst history of employment discrimination
against women and people of color? This study seeks to answer this question by
examining the extent to which race, gender or ethnic discrimination suits are being
filed against city fire and police departments across the country, and at what level—
entry or senior. The U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decision in Ricci v. DeStefano has
renewed interest in this issue.
Interestingly enough, while this study expected to nd that lawsuits against police
and re departments are being led by women and people of color in order to
improve their representation in the uniformed services, it found just the opposite—
the preponderance of the lawsuits led against police and re departments are
“reverse discrimination” suits, led by White men.
Keywords
affirmative action and equal employment opportunity, discrimination, diversity, legal/
constitutional issues, race and gender issues
Article
264 Review of Public Personnel Administration 34(3)
There is a long history of race, ethnic and gender discrimination in fire and police
departments across the nation. Recent experiences in Chicago and New York City—
where federal courts ruled against fire departments for their discriminatory hiring prac-
tices against African Americans and Latinos1—suggest that the problem of race
discrimination in fire departments continues to prevail and, indeed, remains entrenched.
And certainly, the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decision in Ricci v. DeStefano (2009)
has sparked debate over how local governments attempt to promote diversity or prevent
discriminatory practices against people of color in fire departments (see Peffer, 2009).
This study seeks to examine the extent to which race, gender or ethnic discrimina-
tion suits are being filed against city fire and police departments across the country,
and at what level—entry or senior, in an effort to improve the representation of
women and people of color. This issue remains a significant one for several reasons.
First, these two departments were the most notorious for setting up barriers to the
employment of women and people of color. Women in particular continue to lag in
fire departments, where they comprise only 4.5% of this nation’s firefighting jobs
(U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics [BLS], 2011). In addition, as the Ricci case makes
clear, women and people of color continue to face barriers as they seek promotion to
upper-level jobs, which are more prestigious, higher paying and carry more power.
These concerns have implications for the realization of social equity goals in public
employment. Moreover, the inability of women and people of color to access upper-
level positions in these uniformed services may serve as a barometer for the chal-
lenges they face in accessing upper-level jobs in general in the public sector. As such,
this topic continues to require further exploration.
The study begins with a brief history of the problem of discrimination in the pro-
tective or uniformed services and a short review of the Ricci decision. It then exam-
ines the lawsuits filed against police and fire departments. The unanticipated findings
here suggest that women and people of color are not filing lawsuits against local
governments in order to improve their representation, possibly because police and
fire departments may be seeking to promote diversity in their departments through
affirmative action or diversity programs. Instead, reverse discrimination lawsuits are
being filed by White males. Policy options for addressing this catch-22 are offered,
followed by concluding observations.
Background
The Equal Employment Act of 1972 extended Title VII coverage of the Civil Rights
Act of 1964 to state and local government employers. Heretofore, public sector
employers, despite Reconstruction era mandates such as the Civil Rights Acts of
1866 and 1871, explicitly and openly discriminated against women and people of
color. Perhaps the most glaring illustration of employment discrimination could be
seen in police and fire departments across the nation. After passage of the 1972 Act,
it was common for police and fire departments to set up more subtle or covert bar-
riers to prevent women and people from gaining access to jobs in these departments

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