The U.S Department of Justice has ended its oversight of Austin Fire Department’s hiring processes after allowing a legal settlement regarding racial discrimination to expire.
Federal officials could have continued their oversight of the Fire Department’s hiring of new firefighters for four years, according to a memo sent from interim Fire Chief Tom Dodds to the Austin City Council on Tuesday, but the Justice Department did not find “good cause” to extend the settlement, also known as a consent decree.
In 2013, Department of Justice officials announced that they had found evidence that Hispanics and African-Americans were discriminated against during the hiring process, and that they were less likely to be hired than white applicants because of how the Austin Fire Department ranked eligible applicants.