A special team of attorneys appointed to assess damages stemming from discriminatory hiring practices at the FDNY say at least 745 minority firefighter applicants should receive monetary damages from the city and be given priority status in hiring.
The recommendation is the first finding regarding damages by the court-appointed team — with the numbers expected to grow.
“The special masters have determined that to date, 745 of the 3,636 claimants that sought priority hiring relief are eligible for priority hiring and monetary relief,” the team wrote to Brooklyn federal Judge Nicholas Garaufis in a filing made public yesterday.
Yesterday’s initial recommendation follows months of work by the special-master team, which is interviewing thousands of people who wanted to work for FDNY, but say they weren’t hired because of discrimination.
Last year, Garaufis, who is overseeing the FDNY case, estimated that the city may have to pay $128 million in damages to minority applicants who were turned away because of the FDNY’s discriminatory hiring practices.