A group of female paramedics have filed a lawsuit alleging pervasive sexual harassment in the Chicago Fire Department.
The women, identified only as Jane Does one through five, filed the complaint May 1 in federal court in Chicago alleging sex discrimination in violation of Title VII protections of the 1964 Civil Rights Act and the Illinois Human Rights Act. Four of the women alleged sexual harassment and intimidation by superiors, while Doe 2 alleged the same treatment from a colleague. They have worked for the city as far back as Aug. 1, 2002; the most recent hire started in May 2015.
The complaint follows a Jan. 29 filing with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. The Department of Justice issued right to sue letters on March 30. The women seek a jury trial and want a court to force the city to implement “proper sexual harassment training and the enforcement of a zero-tolerance policy against workplace violence and sexual harassment.”
Hannah Garst
Though the plaintiffs are anonymous, several CFD employees are named in the complaint, including a male field chief, who allegedly proposed a “no strings” sexual relationship with Doe 1 on Oct. 16, 2017. The complaint references conversations and what Doe 1 said are “sexually inappropriate text messages” leading to a firehouse encounter where the field chief allegedly unlocked a private room where Doe 1 was resting. She said she resisted his advances and was later subject to retaliation, including being berated on a department radio during a drill involving 100 colleagues and confronting her while she was responding to a four-car interstate crash.
Doe 3 accused a male ambulance commander of forcibly kissing her in a supply room at St. Joseph’s Hospital on April 22, 2017. She detailed other times the commander allegedly attempted or initiated unwelcome contact throughout the year, leading to a Nov. 8 report she filed with her field chief. She said the city failed to fully investigate her claim and promoted the commander despite knowing of her allegations.
Doe 4 also named the same commander, citing inappropriate comments he allegedly made from August to November 2017, and also alleging he forced himself on her in a paramedic room, in an incident occurring Nov. 6 at Norwegian Hospital. She also alleged the city failed to fully investigate her complaints, and said she received disciplinary notices in December and January. She denied the conduct the notices alleged and said they constitute retaliation for her refusal of the commander’s advances.
Doe 5 accused the same commander of making inappropriate comments about her physical appearance and putting a hand on her breast while she was driving an ambulance. She said she feared reporting the incidents because she was a probationary employee with the commander as her evaluating supervisor. She also accused the commander of physically assaulting her on Nov. 6 during a medical assistance call for Hurricane Maria evacuees being housed in Humboldt Park.
Doe 2’s allegations involved her former boyfriend, also a firefighter and emergency medical technician. She noted both that his “conduct was motivated by her gender and not their former relationship” but also alleged the department’s Internal Affairs Division and the department’s licensed clinical social worker mishandled her complaints. She alleged, at one point, the social worker suggested she forgo her plan to seek an order of protection against her ex-boyfriend because “he was in a ‘better place’” and that it might negatively affect his career. She also accused the social worker of breaching her confidentiality by discussing her situation with other department employees.
In addition to seeking new harassment training and protection procedures, the women also want the city to provide compensation for damages for pain, humiliation and suffering, as well as any appropriate punitive damages.
Representing the women in their complaint are Cramer Law Chicago, P.C.; Law Offices of Hannah Garst, Arlington Heights; and Lynn T. Palac, also of Arlington Heights.