A federal judge ruled Thursday there is discrimination within the New York City Fire Department, saying the predominately white male force used biased recruitment exams while testing blacks and Hispanics.

The ruling came after the U.S. Department of Justice joined the Vulcan Society, a fraternal order of black firefighters, in a lawsuit.

The firefighters? union says it had nothing to do with the lawsuit. A spokeswoman from the city?s law department says they disagree with the decision. She adds the FDNY has increased the number of minorities who took and passed the exam.

The FDNY says the city has since developed a new test that has been administered since January 2007.