NAACP Charges Bias in Pomona Fire Dept.

Charges that the Pomona Fire Department is guilty of racial and sex discrimination in its hiring and promotion practices have been filed with federal officials by the Pomona Valley chapter of the National Assn. for the Advancement of Colored People.

The filing of the charges last week with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is the first step toward bringing a lawsuit against the city in federal court, said attorney Christopher Brancart, who is representing the NAACP and four complainants who are black.

The complaint cites a 1986 report by the city to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission that of the department’s 105 firefighters, none were women, three were black and 10 were Latino. Pomona’s population is 30% Latino and 18% black, according to the 1980 Census.

Statistics were unavailable on the current ethnic composition of all firefighters in the department, but of 76 firefighters below the rank of captain on June 30, three were black and eight were Latino, said Faye Brown of the city’s personnel department.

“We are demanding that there be more black, women and (Latino) firefighters,” said the Rev. Walter Cooks, president of the Pomona Valley NAACP. “All other ways have completely failed as far as getting parity on the Fire Department.”

The complaint attributes the disparity between the department’s ethnic composition and that of the general population to racial and sex discrimination in its hiring, the testing applicants must undergo and promotion decisions.

“They’re intentionally discriminating,” Brancart said. “They don’t want blacks and women in their department, and once they hire them, they don’t intend to promote them.”

Unaware of Complaint

Fire Chief Tom Fee said he was not aware a complaint had been filed but said he had spoken to Brancart over the last two months and had provided the attorney with information on the department’s ethnic composition.

Fee said the department follows the city’s anti-discrimination policy, which encourages the hiring of ethnic and racial minorities, women and older people.

“We actively recruit in all areas, and that includes minorities and women,” Fee said. “We just recently went through a testing procedure, the filing period was open for two weeks, during which time I and other members of the department encouraged involvement by the minority community.”

Brancart said it is not necessary to prove that the department intentionally discriminates in its hiring. He noted that in June, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously that the intent to discriminate need not be proven if statistical evidence indicates an under-representation of groups protected by anti-discrimination laws.

Of 726 applicants for five firefighting positions now available, 138 qualified for oral interviews after taking the written examination and passing the physical agility test, Fee said. Of these, 40 had scores that put them in the “A ban,” the top group from which the department fills the positions, he said.

No Blacks, Women

Fee said he did not know the exact composition of this group because applicants may not be required to list their race or sex. However, he said the group contained no blacks or women, but some Latinos, whom the department will seek to hire if they pass background checks on their character.

Brancart countered that the testing process is not a valid explanation for the low number of minority and women firefighters; rather, it is the reason for it.

The tests are discriminatory because they do not accurately measure the skills needed to perform the job, Brancart said. He cited the physical agility test, which he said unfairly disqualifies women who could otherwise be capable firefighters.

Fee said the main reason for the absence of women in firefighting positions is that few women apply for them.

“A firefighter’s job is not the type of job that appeals to a lot of female applicants . . . probably because of the physical involvement required to do the job,” Fee said.

Brancart said he does not expect the percentage of women in the department to match that of the general population, but he says they are under-represented.

“Although you may not attain the goal of 50% women, the fact that we haven’t had one (female firefighter) is evidence of discrimination,” he said.

A major obstacle to increasing the proportion of minorities in the department is the small number of positions available, Fee said. The five available positions opened up over the last 18 months, he said.

“That’s a large amount for us,” Fee said. “Part of the problem in reaching our in-house goal in the area of minorities is that we have an extremely low turnover. People who select firefighting as a career will usually select a department and stay with that department until they retire.”

Takes Time

“To take a work force of 100 people and change the mixture of that takes a period of time to do,” Fee added.

However, Cooks questioned that explanation, noting that it has been almost 25 years since Congress passed the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which outlawed discrimination in hiring.

“Certainly by now it seems the Fire Department would have a better ethnic breakdown than they do,” Cooks said. “I suppose they will continue the same practices they have in the past until something is done to correct the situation.”

Fee also attributed the under-representation of blacks and Latinos on the force to a shortage of qualified minority applicants. Although the only prerequisite for a firefighting job is a high school diploma, competition is intense and usually favors applicants who have attended fire academies and have experience as reserve firefighters, he said.

“I personally teach at the Rio Hondo (fire) academy, and it appears to me to be ethnically balanced in the candidates that are coming out of there,” Fee said. “I think one of the problems is that the minority candidates who are going through the academies are hired very quickly by other departments.”

Cooks disagreed, saying the department has not consulted local minority business owners and such groups as the NAACP and the League of United Latin American Citizens to help it find qualified minority applicants.

Hiring Requirement

Brancart suggested that the Fire Department would be able to find more qualified minority applicants if it were required to meet hiring quotas. “Once a city is required to meet a certain goal, it’s amazing how much they can beef up their recruitment efforts.”

Pomona must adopt an aggressive affirmative action program, including hiring quotas, throughout city departments to increase the number of minority personnel, Brancart said.

“We want (minority hiring) goals and timetables,” he said. “It’s just too easy to pay lip service to these goals and values and we do not have to accept this.”

Such an affirmative action program may be in place in Pomona later this year, said Dayle Keller, assistant to City Administrator A. J. Wilson. Upon taking the job in April, Wilson created a committee to examine the city’s minority hiring practices and recommend specific goals for each department, she said.

The committee is due to present its report in September to the City Council. Regardless of what the city does, Brancart said he will proceed with the legal action, which seeks to prohibit the hiring of any new firefighters until an improved affirmative action program is implemented.