The following is a guest post from Chicago, Ill. Civil Rights Firm Dolan Law Offices:

The civil rights lawyers of Dolan Law Offices have been closely following the allegations of sexual harassment and discrimination against the Houston Fire Department for many months. This post is the third in our series of guest posts on the topic. In August 2009, we wrote about our concern over the culture of harassment and discrimination at the Houston Fire Department. In December 2009, we wrote about our concern over the implementation of the recommendations suggested by the review panel.

Today, we write about a lawsuit that has been filed against the Houston Fire Department.

On April 12, 2010, Jane Draycott, the female firefighter who made allegations of sexual harassment and discrimination against the Houston Fire Department last year, filed a lawsuit. The lawsuit alleges that sexual harassment has been occurring, and escalating, within the Houston Fire Department since 2000. The alleged sexual harassment included incidents of unwanted touching, unwanted comments and discrimination based on gender.

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Guest blog courtesy of Dolan Law Offices, Chicago, IL.

On Aug. 12, 2009, Dolan Law Offices published a guest post for Jim S. Adler & Associates about discrimination in the Houston Fire Department. The Dolan firm has closely followed this case and now can provide an update on Houston Fire Department discrimination issues.

Last week, the Houston Chronicle reported the results of an independent investigation into alleged racism and sexism in the Houston Fire Department (HFD). The investigators interviewed 112 firefighters, including 22 female members of the HFD. While some of the female firefighters have not experienced sexism, others have been the victims of disturbing civil rights violations.

The interviews reveal disparate treatment for women in certain important working conditions. Specifically, women report having their time off requests denied, being denied the right to get off of work at the end of a shift, and being denied the right to get the same training, experience and equipment as men.

Both women and men report that there are certain fire stations where women and African American men are not welcome. Other stations became “dumping grounds” for women and minorities.

Women also have experienced continued harassment at work. One woman described her tires being slashed, her locker broken into and her food being contaminated by her male colleagues.

In July, two female firefighters found racist and sexist graffiti on the walls of their dorm. The graffiti followed months of harassment by male officers that had been reported to their superiors and that had gone unresolved.

The independent investigation served two purposes. First, the public now has a report from an independent source indicating that discrimination and harassment are occurring in the Houston Fire Department. The second and perhaps more important purpose is to force the department to stop the pattern of discrimination and harassment.

Specifically, the investigation revealed that complaint resolution procedures were lax within the department and individual firefighters were unaware of how to resolve discrimination and harassment complaints. The Houston Fire Chief has said that he welcomed the review and found the recommendations useful. Only time will tell if the recommendations will be implemented.

The Chicago civil rights lawyers of Dolan Law Offices represent plaintiffs who have been the victims of civil rights violations. We fight for justice and we stand with those who have been fighting for justice within the Houston Fire Department.

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Guest blog courtesy of Dolan Law Offices, Chicago, IL.

As Chicago civil rights attorneys and citizens, we’ve been closely following the allegations of corruption and discrimination that have plagued the Chicago Police and Fire Departments for years. Recently, similar allegations have been made against the Houston Fire Department.

Veteran firefighters are concerned about the culture of sexism and racism that currently exists in the Houston Fire Department. ABC News reports that victims have dealt not only with harassment and discrimination, but also with life threatening tampering. Veteran firefighters describe being made to go into unsafe building fires in violation of department protocol and having other firefighters sabotage their safety equipment so that it was impossible to get oxygen during a fire.

The firefighters also report a culture of harassment and discrimination among the superiors in the Houston Fire Department. They claim that they often had to make their reports to the very people who were the harassers and discriminators
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