On July 19, 2011, a female firefighter applicant of the Chicago Fire Department filed a class action lawsuit against Chicago in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. Represented by private counsel, the plaintiff was later joined by eight other female firefighter applicants. Together, they sued Chicago on behalf of themselves and a class of women who were denied employment with the city's Fire Department based on their failure to pass the required physical ability test.

Specifically, the plaintiffs alleged that the test was neither job related nor consistent with business necessity and that the city administered the test notwithstanding its disparate impact on women and the availability of less discriminatory alternatives. As a result, the plaintiffs claimed that the city's administration of the physical ability test constituted unlawful sex discrimination (in the form of both disparate impact and disparate treatment) under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. §2000e et seq. The plaintiffs sought declaratory and injunctive relief and back pay.

On September 5, 2013, the parties filed a proposed settlement agreement, and on December 20, 2013, the Court (Magistrate Judge Maria Valdez) issued a Final Judgment and Order approving it. Per the parties' agreement, the Court granted certification of a class that consisted of female applicants to the Chicago Fire Department who had passed the written qualifying exam but who had failed the physical ability test between December 2007 and April 10, 2010 and were therefore denied employment. As part of the settlement, Chicago agreed to discontinue use of the physical ability test and administer instead an interim test. Additionally, the city agreed to pay $1,590,023, which was divided among the class of non-hired settlement class members. The city also agreed to provide each named plaintiff with a back pay award ranging from $10,000 to $73,000. The case is now closed.

Jordan Rossen - 01/16/2014


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