CLEVELAND, Ohio — A Cleveland firefighter and a woman who turned down the job sued the city Wednesday, claiming an outdated physical fitness test for job offers discriminated against women and caused them to lose work time and money.
Firefighter Yolanda McKay said she failed her exam in 2017 because of an outdated test. She was then hired in 2022, two years after the city changed the exam. Kristin Scott of North Royalton also took the test that same year, but he was not selected for the position.
The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Cleveland, asks a judge to order the city to hire Scott. It also wants Scott and McKay to receive back pay and seniority from the 2017 exam.
Cleveland spokesman Tyler Sinclair said in a statement that the city is considering the lawsuit to “determine the appropriate course of action.”
“The city is committed to complying with federal and state anti-discrimination laws,” Sinclair said.
The city passed physical agility tests in 2020 after the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission found that the fire department had long discriminated against women in various ways, including agility tests required in the hiring process. changed.
The EEOC found that this discrimination was a significant factor in the department's failure to hire women for the position for nearly 30 years.
When McKay and Scott took the test in 2017, they were almost at the finish line when the test taker told them their time was up.
Three years later, the city adopted a different test. McKay passed her new exam in 2022 and the city hired her, according to her complaint.
According to the lawsuit, as of the end of last year, only 14 of the city's 778 firefighters were women.
Adam Ferris covers federal court. cleveland.com And the Plain Dealer.you can find his work here.
