The United States Justice Department, in a letter on Monday, said that the Lubbock Police Department violated the civil rights of Hispanics and women who had applied to become probationary police officers.
The report states that physical fitness tests and written exams given to applicants by the department did not properly identify whether or not candidates were qualified or unqualified.
The report cites “discrimination against Hispanics on the basis of their national origin and against women on the basis of their sex with respect to probationary police officer hiring.”
According to the report, 88 percent of white applicants passed written exams since 2009, and 68 percent of Hispanics passed the same test. Additionally, 81 percent of males passed physical fitness tests, while 37 percent of females passed.
These procedures practiced by Lubbock Police are a violation of “Title VII” of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the report said.
Employers are “not prohibited from using selection procedures that cause adverse impact if it can demonstrate that the procedures validly predict an applicant’s ability to perform on the job,” the Justice Department clarified. However, the “city’s pass/fail uses of the written examination and physical fitness test meet the necessary standards.”
Lubbock and the Justice Department have until August 3, 2015 to come to an agreement, or a lawsuit may be filed.
