FDNY’s Discrimination Against Veterans

Scroll to case documents Date Filed: 09/19/2017 Status:

On September 19, 2017, DRA filed a class Charge of Discrimination against the City of New York and the Fire Department of the City of New York (FDNY) for discriminating against veterans applying for FDNY positions. On December 12, 2017, DRA filed a second Charge in the same case. The Charges are filed on behalf of two honorably discharged Marine Corps veterans who served in Iraq. They allege that the FDNY illegally disqualified the veterans from being Fire Fighters. The Charges describe statements that demonstrate FDNY rejection based on stereotypes of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and an illegal requirement of “100% improvement.”

The Charges note that veterans’ groups report that the FDNY is disqualifying veterans from FDNY Fire Fighter jobs without individual evaluation of whether they are qualified for the job. They ask the EEOC to investigate the discrimination on a class basis.

In June 2019, the EEOC determined that the FDNY had engaged in discrimination against “many candidates,” who were “rejected under the same deficient procedure relying on a record of disability and a perception of disability.”  The agency will now attempt conciliation, or settlement, of the claims.

Veterans who have been disqualified from an FDNY position because of PTSD can contact Managing Attorney Christina Brandt-Young at (212) 644-8644 or cbrandt-young@dralegal.org.

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