Police must settle with rejected black candidates who failed literacy test

Charlotte Hale:

Payday may be coming for trooper applicants not hired by the Delaware State Police because they scored too low on a literacy test that discriminated against blacks.

Federal prosecutors and attorneys for state government want to require the police agency to hire 12 black troopers and pay up to $1.425 million to applicants who did not get jobs solely because of their test score.

The resolution, however, is not final, even though parties on both sides of the case proposed it in a motion filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court.

First, Judge Kent A. Jordan must hold a hearing so people affected by the proposed settlement can object. Then Jordan would have to approve the proposal, which would end the four-year legal dispute over police hiring practices.

Michael Purnell is among those who could benefit. The 42-year-old Bear resident tried unsuccessfully to get a trooper job in the 1990s. He said he remembers the test made him "think outside his culture," though he could not recall specifics.

Justice Department Settles Lawsuit Regarding Delaware State Police Hiring Practices