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Fact Sheet - Combating Hiring Discrimination by Police & Fire Departments

  • Title VII of the Civil Rights Act prohibits disparate treatment, which is when an employer intentionally treats workers worse because of their race, color, religion, sex, or national origin.
  • Title VII also prohibits disparate impact, which is when employers discriminate unintentionally in hiring or promoting workers.

Sometimes an employer might use a test or other hiring criteria that:
  1. excludes people of one race, color, religion, sex, or national origin from a job opportunity significantly more than others; and
  2. is not job-related—for example, it doesn't actually predict who will be good at the job or may screen out qualified candidates.

  • Written tests
  • Physical fitness tests
  • Credit checks

  • DOJ sues police and fire departments in federal court to require them to stop using discriminatory hiring criteria, change how they use those criteria, or develop new criteria.
  • DOJ also may seek monetary & other relief for those harmed.

  • Email DOJ’s Employment Litigation Section at ELS.Outreach@usdoj.gov if you think an employer is engaging in disparate impact discrimination.
  • Visit eeoc.gov to file a charge of discrimination with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). Strict time limits apply.
  • Contacting DOJ does not stop the strict time limits for filing an EEOC charge.

Visit justice.gov/crt to learn more about how DOJ enforces anti-discrimination laws in police & fire departments and other state & local government workplaces.

Updated October 2, 2024