Durham Fire to pay thousands to applicants after DOJ says test used was discriminatory

DURHAM, N.C. (WTVD) -- Tuesday, the Durham Fire Department announced it entered into a settlement agreement with the United States Department of Justice over the use of a written test in its hiring practices since 2015.

DOJ investigators allege the written test, created by Fire & Police Selection, Inc. (FPSI), was considered to be disproportionately discriminatory against African Americans due to pass/fail rates. According to data, African-American candidates failed the test at a 37% rate compared to just 11% of white candidates.

"Had we known this 9 years ago when we started this, we wouldn't have used this test in the first place," said Durham FD chief Robert Zoldos. "I want people to understand that we did our due diligence in finding this testing company."

FPSI's website describes itself as a consulting firm, "With nearly 30 years of experience in the public safety industry, specializing in the development and validation of pre-employment and promotional tests that are used by human resources, fire, police, and sheriff's departments across the United States and Canada. Our assessments have been used to successfully screen hundreds of thousands of candidates."

"We were a little shocked that our test was considered invalid by DOJ," said Zoldos.

According to the consent decree, which was filed Monday, DFD has agreed to create a $980,000 fund to be paid out to African-American candidates who previously failed the test, who otherwise would have been hired if they were successful with the test.

Additionally, investigators allege that since 2015 at least 16 African-American applicants should have been hired if not for the test. The consent decree also contains an agreement that DFD is to prioritize the hiring of 16 African-American firefighting applicants and to use a different test altogether. While there were no findings of fact included in the agreement, the DOJ considered questions in the written test to not be related to the job.

"The DOJ would really like us to focus on job-required testing materials like that," added Zoldos. "So I think we're really going to have to work hard to make sure we have a test that is understandable to everyone. Because we don't expect an entry-level person to know anything about the fire service. And that's one of the challenges with having that type of test."

Zoldos said the department has already begun the process of selecting a new administer for the test and it should be ready to go by Spring 2025.

"We were happy the DOJ came forward and showed us some of their concerns. And now that they released their concerns, we can start working towards creating a better test and hopefully...continue to be great candidates for our department," Zoldos said.

Representatives with FPSI could not be reached for comment.

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