Good news! On Tuesday, November 26, the judge in our case, Judge Analisa Torres, preliminarily approved the settlement of your pay discrimination lawsuit.
As you probably know, five FPIs – Darryl Chalmers, Darren Connors, Glenn Mendez, James Nova, and Fatima Rosemond – and Local 2507 filed this lawsuit on May 1, 2020. We claim that the job duties of building inspectors in the Department of Buildings are substantially similar to FPIs’ duties but the building inspectors have been paid higher salaries for many years because they are primarily white and FPIs are primarily people of color. We won important victories in court. After Judge Torres ruled in 2022 that we could represent all FPIs in a class action, the City entered into settlement negotiations with us.
We reached a proposed settlement with the City in 2023, which provided for two classes: the “Damages Class” (FPIs employed at any time between May 1, 2017, and August 31, 2023) and the “Pay Adjustment Class” (FPIs employed after August 31, 2023). Judge Torres rejected that motion for preliminary approval because she believed that to ensure fairness each class should have its own separate class representatives and lawyers.
Two new FPIs – Branden Bowman and Sebastian Stack — came forward to represent the Pay Adjustment Class and engaged a different law firm for the Pay Adjustment Class. After a new round of negotiations, a revised proposed settlement was reached several months ago. The seven FPI plaintiffs and Local 2507 presented the new proposed settlement to Judge Torres, and this time she preliminarily approved it.
Later this month you should receive by mail and/or email a longer notice approved by Judge Torres describing the settlement and your rights in great detail. When you receive it, please review it carefully. Also, the full version of the settlement documents and other information about the settlement are available at http://www.fpisettlement.com/.
In short, however, the City will pay a total of about $29,900,000 into a settlement fund. Unless you choose to “opt out” of the settlement, you will receive awards from that fund.
On average, members of the Damages Class will receive a gross award of about $35,000 before withholdings for taxes and NYCHA contributions. The amounts will vary depending on factors such as years as an FPI and job title (new hire, incumbent FPI, associate I, associate II, or associate III). Some of you may receive as little as $500, others may receive $50,000 or more.
On average, members of the Pay Adjustment Class will receive a gross award of about $5,000 before withholdings for taxes and NYCHA contributions. Again, the amounts will vary depending on factors such as number of months after August 31, 2023, and job title.
If you have been an FPI both before and after August 31, 2023, you will be a member of both classes and will receive both awards.
The first page of the notice you will receive later this month will contain estimates of your awards. These are estimates: you may receive more or less than the estimated amounts.
The settlement anticipates that awards will be paid in September or October 2025.
The settlement also provides non-monetary benefits, principally the creation of a labor-management committee. The committee’s purpose is to discuss the many ways that the FDNY has treated FPIs with a lack of respect over the years with the hope of reducing or eliminating that type of treatment in the future.
We believe that this is an extraordinary settlement. Very few pay discrimination class actions have resulted in such large awards per class member.
But the settlement is not yet final. One of the reasons that you will not be paid your awards until the fall of 2025 is that approval of class actions is a two-step process. Judge Torres must decide whether to finally approve the settlement. She has scheduled a final fairness hearing for March 17, 2025.
One factor that Judge Torres will consider in deciding whether to grant final approval is the class’s reaction to the settlement. You will have 60 days after the formal notice is mailed, until roughly mid-February, to submit a written comment on or objection to the settlement. You don’t have to submit anything.
We hope that some of you will take the time to submit written comments supporting the settlement. The more supportive statements, the more likely she will grant final approval. The statements don’t have to be long – a few sentences will do – but one or two reasons for supporting the settlement might be helpful. We recommend that none of you object.
We know it has been a long slog since the first settlement agreement was signed in 2023. But the end is in sight and we are very happy with the result. We hope you are also.