Chicago set to pay $3.8M in fire department gender bias case

CHICAGO (AP) - The city of Chicago is expected to pay $3.8 million to a group of African-American women who argued in a federal lawsuit that Chicago Fire Department exams were discriminatory.

The City Council Finance Committee is set to approve the payment on Monday.

The money covers three-and-a-half years of back pension contributions for 12 firefighters who were bypassed for hiring in 2012 after they were required to take a controversial physical strength test. At the time, a group of women were challenging the test in court because they said it discriminated against women.

The department later dropped that test in favor of one used by departments across the U.S.

The 12 women passed the new exam and were hired in 2015.