In 2007, the United States Department of Justice, joined by the Vulcan Society, an organization of black firefighters, and three individual applicants, filed a lawsuit against New York City alleging that the city's written firefighter entrance exam excluded a disproportionate number of black and Hispanic applicants. At that time, just three percent of the department's 11,000 firefighters were black and 4.5 percent were Hispanic despite the fact that over half the population of New York City was black or Hispanic. On October 5, 2011, Garaufis ruled that a court-appointed monitor would be installed to oversee the New York City Fire Department's efforts to hire and retain more minorities. While the ruling did not impose racial quotas, it explained that a systemic effort by the Fire Department was required. On September 28, 2012, Garaufis approved a new entrance exam for firefighters after the city submitted data showing that the test produced results more representative of the city's racial and ethnic makeup. The first class of recruits after the ruling included some recruits that were older than had been typical of previous classes. Injuries in that class were higher and the dropout rate, usually 10 percent, was 24 percent for that class.