Lawsuit blames NYC for failure to hire women as bridge painters
March 12, 2007

NEW YORK (AP) _ No women have been allowed to join a squad of 100 city bridge painters, the federal government said in a civil rights lawsuit filed Monday.

The city's Department of Transportation has never hired or offered to hire a woman to paint its 770 elevated bridge structures, although several have applied, the government said in a lawsuit brought in U.S. District Court in Manhattan.

A city lawyer, Georgia Pestana, responded: "We are confident the court will determine that DOT's hiring practices for bridge painters comply with civil service requirements and are gender neutral."

But the government said the civil service requirements have not been met, in part because the city has not administered a civil service examination for bridge painters since 1992.