Jury finds age bias in S.F. firefighters’ test

San Francisco jury awarded 15 firefighters a total of $3.7 million Monday after agreeing that the Fire Department had discriminated against them based on their age when they were judged to have failed a promotional exam for lieutenant five years ago. The firefighters - three of whom have retired - accused the city of arbitrarily altering dozens of test scores to the 2008 test and shredding scoring documents before firefighters could file a legal challenge. They challenged the exam process as skewed against firefighters who were over 40. The jury agreed, voting 9-3 in favor of the plaintiffs. A unanimous verdict is not required in a civil case. "The exam unit of the San Francisco Fire Department dropped the ball," said one of the jurors who voted with the majority, but who asked not to be identified. Another juror said the city should not have altered test scores and ignored other problems with how the test was graded. "They said all of it (the problems) would balance out. That didn’t sit well with us - that’s not how to score an exam." Murlene Randle, the firefighters’ attorney, said, "Justice was finally done. Now I would hope that there would be some change in the department, that they actually hear that the jury has spoken and do something about it."