Firefighters, Policeman Fired In Racist Float Incident Awarded Back Pay

    Nov. 30, 2004
    The city has been ordered in federal court to give about $275,000 in back pay to a police officer and two firefighters who were fired for riding in blackface on a Labor Day parade float in 1998.
    NEW YORK (AP) -- The city has been ordered in federal court to give about $275,000 in back pay to a police officer and two firefighters who were fired for riding in blackface on a Labor Day parade float in 1998.

    Judge John Sprizzo ruled the city must pay Officer Joseph Locurto $80,000, firefighter Robert Steiner $77,121, and firefighter Jonathan Walters $117,804, court records showed.

    Former Mayor Rudolph Giuliani blasted the display as a ``disgusting display of racism'' and publicly declared the three men would be fired.

    But last year, Sprizzo ruled that their First Amendment rights were violated when they were fired.

    Locurto, Steiner and Walters have petitioned to be rehired by the city, but have yet to get their jobs back. Sprizzo only agreed to give them back pay.

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