FBI Plans Bias-Free Recruiting Exam
The FBI will scrap the test it uses to screen prospective agents for a new examination intended to be free of cultural bias against blacks, Latinos and members of other minorities, officials said Tuesday.
The decision to devise a new test comes during a period of intense review of hiring and promotion practices that have been criticized as discriminatory by black, Latino and white agents, officials acknowledged.
Steven Pomerantz, the FBI’s personnel chief, stressed that a variety of factors went into the decision to devise a new test to replace the one that has been used for 12 years.
“The world has changed, society has changed” since the test was first used in the late 1970s, he said.
The FBI is negotiating with black agents in an attempt to head off a threatened lawsuit over promotion practices that the employees say are discriminatory.
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