HUDSON COUNTY — After being barred from hiring new firefighter candidates due to a 2007 NAACP lawsuit against North Hudson Regional Fire and Rescue, the department has had the injunction lifted and will be able to hire off of their own list of candidates.
The NHRFR serves five towns in Hudson County, N.J.: North Bergen, Guttenberg, Union City, West New York, and Weehawken.
A federal judge in 2009 placed an injunction over the Regional, prohibiting them from hiring new firefighters unless they used a court-mandated list that broadened eligible candidates to residents of Hudson, Essex and Union counties. The NAACP has alleged that the department discriminated again African-American candidates.
Before that, the NHRFR only hired candidates who resided in their own five towns. The NHRFR officials stated that hiring off of the newly broadened list would unfairly compromise the chances of Hispanic candidates, who make up a large segment of the local population.
At the NHRFR meeting Monday, Chairperson and Weehawken Mayor Richard Turner announced that this injunction was lifted last week, while the court case will continue. He said that the department would make hiring decisions within 30 to 60 days.
It was also announced at the meeting that hiring application deadlines have been extended to May 29. 2010. Interested candidates may visit www.nhrfr.net or may pick up an application at NHRFR headquarters, located at 11 Port Imperial Boulevard, West New York, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
For more information, read this week’s North Bergen Reporter in print or at www.hudsonreporter.com. – Tricia Tirella