By Jake Sheridan
Chicago Tribune
CHICAGO 鈥� A lawsuit alleging the Chicago Fire Department used unnecessary physical tests to continue a 鈥渟tubborn and purposeful鈥� effort to block women from becoming paramedics could soon end in a $11.25 million settlement.
The city鈥檚 Law Department recommended the eight-figure deal, set to face two final votes by aldermen next week. The tests were 鈥渋ll-matched鈥� to actual paramedic work and failed 21% of the women who took them, but just 0.5% of male paramedic candidates, according to the 2016 lawsuit filed by 12 women blocked from the jobs.
鈥淭his testing has no legally defensible justification and eliminates a significant number of women, but virtually no men,鈥� the lawsuit said. 鈥淚ts discriminatory effect has not been accidental.鈥�
The two tests were designed after the city dropped another such physical test that was found in court to be not job-related. In 2013, the city paid $2 million in damages to women denied CFD jobs because of a physical test for would-be firefighters.
In one of the new exams, in place between 2014 and 2015, candidates were required to carry a 250-pound mannequin up and down six flights of stairs without letting the 鈥渟tair chair鈥� touch the ground, according to the more recent lawsuit.
In the other 鈥渟tep test,鈥� candidates were tasked with stepping up and down on an 18-inch box for two minutes in tune with a 112-beats-per-minute metronome while holding two 25-pound weights, the lawsuit said.
The exams had nothing to do with the work of a paramedic, the lawsuit argued. But they had an intention nonetheless: 鈥渄riving women out of the Training Academy.鈥�
The lawsuit also alleges broad failures to give basic accommodations to women in the Fire Department鈥檚 ranks. Firehouses citywide lacked 鈥渟eparate or adequate鈥� sleeping quarters, showers and bathrooms for women, it argued.
Breast-feeding employees were also not given needed accommodations, the lawsuit said. One paramedic returning to work after giving birth was denied access to her breast bump, 鈥渞esulting in excruciating physical pain and the humiliation of leaking breast milk through her uniform,鈥� it said.
The Law Department is also recommending the City Council approve another $10.5 million in settlements next week.
City attorneys are asking aldermen to approve a $7.6 million deal for John Velez, who alleged in a 2018 federal lawsuit that he was wrongfully imprisoned for 16 years after Chicago police officers coerced his pregnant girlfriend into signing a fabricated statement accusing him of a murder.
Velez was convicted of the March 2021 murder of 26-year-old Anthony Hueneca, despite no physical evidence linking him to the Pilsen scene. Detectives concocted a false story accusing Velez of committing an 鈥渁nniversary killing鈥� to honor a slain uncle, the lawsuit said.
鈥淥fficers had no suspect and no witness who could describe the perpetrator, so they decided to pin the murder on someone,鈥� Velez鈥檚 lawsuit alleged.
But his 80-year sentence was vacated in 2017 when a key witness recanted.
City attorneys also recommended the approval of a $2.5 million settlement for the family of Dana Hubbard. Hubbard was killed in an April 2019 car crash that ended a police chase.
Police had tried to stop the Dodge Charger of Clarence Hebron after running the car鈥檚 plates, according to the family鈥檚 lawsuit. When Hebron fled, officers pursued him east on South 59th Street. Hebron sped through an Englewood intersection at a red light and crashed into Hubbard鈥檚 car, killing her. Hubbard鈥檚 family alleges officers violated police car chase policy. They have also sued Hebron.
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