Maryland State Police settles lawsuit over discrimination during hiring process

The U.S. Attorney's Office announced they've reached a settlement with the Maryland State Police over claims of gender and racial discrimination during the state trooper hiring process.

Specifically, the lawsuit alleged Maryland State Police used a written test that discriminates against Black candidates and a physical fitness test that discriminates against female candidates.

This was opened by the U.S. Attorney's Office on July 15, 2022.

"The Complaint alleges that the MDSP’s use of a written test has an adverse impact on African-American applicants for the entry-level Trooper job, who were disproportionately disqualified from the hiring process based on the written test."

The lawsuit also claims the physical fitness test and written test have not shown to be job related to the the entry-level Trooper position.

This was all settled under a consent decree.

Under the terms of this decree, Maryland State Police will:

• Adopt written and physical fitness tests that do not discriminate in violation of Title VII
• Provide data to the United States on the administration of the new tests to ensure compliance
• Pay $2.75 million in back pay to applicants who were disqualified by Maryland State Police use of the challenged tests
• Hire up to 25 applicants who were unfairly disqualified by those tests and who successfully complete Maryland State Police new trooper screening and selection process

Back in October 2022, three Maryland State Police troopers pitched a class action lawsuit alleging similar instances of discrimination.
RELATED: Maryland State Police troopers file lawsuit claiming racial discrimination

The lawsuit goes into detail about specific racist incidents the troopers experienced. This includes an incident where officers of color were forced to shoot at a paper training dummy with Black face and an "afro wig."

One of the troopers said a Caucasian Corporal placed a banana on the windshield of his patrol car. The trooper took this as a racist reference to him being a monkey since he is Black.