The city’s Fire Department commissioner has been hit with a bombshell age discrimination lawsuit that alleges she demoted, ousted, forced into retirement, or retaliated against 15 top older department employees, including chiefs.
Fire Commissioner Age Discriminate FDNY Faces Lawsuit Claiming She Sought To ‘Destroy’ Careers (PHOTO: Fox News)
Fire Chiefs Accuse FDNY Boss Laura Kavanagh
New York City Fire Department Commissioner Laura Kavanagh was struck with an age discrimination lawsuit that alleges she targeted senior top workers with demotions, retaliation, and forced retirements. The 53-page lawsuit filed in Brooklyn state Supreme Court even declared that Fire Department Commissioner boss Laura Kavanagh arranged some of the purges when she was a deputy commissioner, including targeting former Chief of Department James Leonard. Moreover, The lawsuit claimed staff members were pushed to function in a hostile and retaliatory work environment.
According to the lawsuit Kavanagh, “sought not just to end, but literally to eliminate, their long and distinguished careers” and attempted to “replace Plaintiffs and other senior employees with younger personnel.” The lawsuit states that the victims were chosen because they were close to 60 or older.
The Lawsuit Was Filed By The Ex-FDNY Assistant Chief Of Fire Prevention
Ex-Fire Department Commissioner New York Assistant Chief of Fire Prevention Joe Jardin aged 61-year-old filed the lawsuit together with Assistant Chief of Operations Michael Gala 62-year-old and 59-year-old Chief of Uniformed Personnel Michael Massucci. The 36-page lawsuit, which was filed in February, accused Kavanagh of behaving like a “political operative” by demoting and reassigning staff leaders at the expense of public safety and the complaint follows that case.
The filing cited an article in the New York Daily News stating anonymous sources claiming that Schaaf opposed transferring and disciplining some firefighters when allegations of discrimination were made in a Queens firehouse, Jardin was the target of numerous complaints with the city’s office of Equal Employment Opportunity for his tough-guy management style, and Gala was considered a divisive factor in the department.
The lawsuit states that before entering the Fire Department Commissioner New York in 2014, Kavanagh worked as a political operative on campaigns and never spent a “day as a firefighter.
READ ALSO:
