By Associated Press
Mobile, AL – Mobile officials and a white firefighter who sued over allegations of reverse discrimination have agreed to settle out of court.
They made the decision Monday moments before a federal jury was to begin hearing arguments in the case.
City Attorney Larry Wettermark says the city will pay $42,500 to William Glisson.
Glisson claimed he lost a promotion to a black firefighter because of race and the city also settled a claim by another white firefighter. Paul Smith will be paid $90,000.
Wettermark it was a business decision. Smith and Glisson's attorney Richard Fuquay wouldn't discuss the settlements in detail.
The men were the sixth and seventh reverse-discrimination plaintiffs to take action against the Fire-Rescue Department in the last four years.
In 1994, less than 10 percent of Mobile firefighters were black.
That number roughly doubled in the next decade and some city leaders have made it clear diversity should be a high priority for a department they say has a legacy of discrimination.
(Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)