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Flames of discontent: Irish Americans suing to join fire deptartment

February 16, 2011

By Staff Reporter

By Jim Smith

BOSTON — A federal civil suit by four Irish-American men who want to be Boston firefighters is being heard in U.S. District Court in Boston.

Joseph Quinn, Sean O’Brien, Robert Dillon Jr. and Joseph Sullivan allege that the City of Boston has repeatedly denied them positions on the fire department because they were white.

At issue is a court decree established more than 25 years ago that was designed to help blacks and Hispanics gain entry into the Department.

City officials claim in court documents that its race-based hiring practices are consistent with the requirements of the 1974 Beecher decree, which ordered Boston to implement an affirmative-action plan to remedy low minority representation in the Department.

The four plaintiffs are arguing that the quota system set up in 1974 is no longer constitutionally permissible because its goal of racial parity was met years ago.

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Blacks and Hispanics presently constitute about 33 percent of the labor pool in Boston but about 40 percent of Boston firefighters, the plaintiffs claim in court documents.

In 1974, Boston had a minority population of approximately 23 percent, but minorities made up less than one percent of the fire department. The Beecher decree, to which all parties consented, required that one minority would be hired for every non-minority hired.

The practice was to end when the city achieved a complement of minorities in the department commensurate with the percentage of minorities in the community.

“We’re working-class guys who were brought up to play by the rules, but it’s obvious that we’ve put our faith in an unfair system,” said O’Brien, a 34-year-old emergency medical technician who has been trying to follow in his late father’s footsteps for years.

O’Brien was 8 years old when his father, who had been a Boston fireman for 30 years, passed away. O’Brien knew back then what he wanted to be when he grew up.

At a fund-raiser in Dorchester earlier this month, during which thousands of dollars were raised to help defray the four men’s legal fees, Allyson Quinn said that her husband, Joseph, has had a lifelong dream of being a firefighter in Boston. “I can see how quotas were necessary years ago, but those goals have been surpassed,” she said. “They should be hiring now on merit, not color and race.”

Bob Dillon Jr. of South Boston comes from a family of firefighters. He has been taking the Civil Service exam for 15 years, scoring about 99 and 100. “They’re dipping way down the list and hiring people who aren’t nearly as qualified because they’re minorities,” he said. “That’s not only unfair — it’s illegal.”

Last fall, Boston hired 50 firefighters. Despite average scores of 99, none of the plaintiffs was hired. At least 23 minority applicants whose scores were lower than those of the plaintiffs were hired, prompting the suit.

“We’re not looking for favors or preferential treatment,” Dillon said. “We’re just looking for fairness, and maybe we’ll get that in court.”

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