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The Scales of Justice outside the District Court in Brisbane, 25 July 2003. AFR

Source: Fairfax Media / Getty

The Department of Justice is suing the Baltimore County and the Baltimore County Police Department over alleged employment discrimination.

According to the lawsuit, since January 2013, BCPD engaged in unintended employment discrimination against African-American applications for entry-level police officer and cadet positions by making hiring decisions based on the results of hiring examinations that were not job-related and that “disproportionately excluded African American applicants.”

The tests focused on reading comprehension, vocabulary, spelling, and grammar. It also had logical ordering and observation skill related questions.

“Employers must be mindful that an employment selection device, like a test, must be shown to be job-related if it disproportionately excludes members of one of Title VII’s protected groups,” stated Assistant Attorney General Eric Dreiband of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division.

The federal government is seeking a court order that would require BCPD to utilize selection procedures that comply with Title VII and provide individual remedies to African American former applicants who are shown to be entitled to them.

Source: CBS Baltimore