Fire department sexist hiring lawsuit nets $11.25 million proposed settlement

Article here. Excerpt:

'A lawsuit alleging the Chicago Fire Department used unnecessary physical tests to continue a “stubborn and purposeful” effort to block women from becoming paramedics could soon end in a $11.25 million settlement.

The city’s Law Department recommended the eight-figure deal, set to face two final votes by aldermen next week. The tests were “ill-matched” to actual paramedic work and failed 21% of the women who took them, but just 0.5% of male paramedic candidates, according to the 2016 lawsuit filed by 12 women blocked from the jobs.

“This testing has no legally defensible justification and eliminates a significant number of women, but virtually no men,” the lawsuit said. “Its discriminatory effect has not been accidental.”'