Two members of the Toledo Fire and Rescue Department testified in court Tuesday as part of a lengthy gender discrimination case against the city of Toledo.
Firefighters Judi Imhoff and Geraldine McCalland took the stand Tuesday in Lucas County Common Pleas Court in a civil case that also includes Capt. Carla Stachura.
The female firefighters filed a joint case against the city of Toledo and fire department officials for gender discrimination and creating a hostile work environment.
Named in the lawsuit are former chiefs Michael Bell and Michael Wolever, and former deputy chiefs John Coleman and Robert Metzger.
All three women claim department officials failed to take action after co-workers subjected them to verbal abuse and sexually demeaning language.
The case was originally filed in 2005, but a lengthy court process led to a dismissal. The case was refiled in July, 2015 and a jury heard opening statements and initial testimony from Pvt. Imhoff on Monday.
Private Imhoff testified she was assigned to Toledo Fire Station 7 for approximately six years beginning in January, 1998. About 2002, male firefighters made derogatory and racial comments, she said. Magazines with offensive pictures were also placed directly on Private Imhoff’s bed, according to the complaint.
Once signing up fairly regularly for overtime shifts, Private Imhoff said she stopped seeking such shifts because it was a daily struggle to go to work.
In October, 2003, Private Imhoff reported the incidents constituted what she considered a sexually hostile work environment. Later she and other crew members were sent to Deputy Chief Metzger’s office for a meeting.
Private Imhoff said she was blamed for contributing to the hostile work environment and counseled for eavesdropping on a fellow firefighter. In December, 2003, she and two other firefighters were sent to a mediator.
“I felt like, once again, the whole thing had been turned on me. I felt like I had followed the procedure that I was told to follow if I felt like I was sexually harassed and it was turned on its head,” Private Imhoff said.
She was later accused of “not getting her uniform dirty” at fires, not risking herself physically the way male co-workers supposedly did, and not being a “skilled” limited duty worker, according to the complaint.
She currently serves at Station 24.
Jeffrey Charles, attorney for the city, said during Tuesday’s proceedings that Private Imhoff was never inappropriately touched, never sworn at, and no one with the department made derogatory comments about her work performance.
Ms. McCalland, a retired firefighter who was in the first class that hired women, was assigned to work as a public educator for the Fire Prevention Bureau. In 2004, she retained her position during the daytime hours but she was assigned to a fire station as a line firefighter after hours.
In July, 2004, Private McCalland testified a relief officer determined she needed retraining on how to put on her self-contained breathing apparatus following a training drill.
In October, 2004, Private McCalland was assigned to work at the same station as the relief officer from the July incident.
Private McCalland testified Tuesday that she called a battalion chief to report she had an issue working with the officer and she did not feel safe under his direction and she decided to leave sick. She also complained of the officer’s inability to work with female firefighters, but she testified nothing was ever done about this complaint.
She informed both the battalion chief and the officer of her decision to leave work.
After she left, Private McCalland said she went to an area hospital where she was admitted for 10 hours for excessive hypertension. Upon returning to work, she received a written reprimand for not following the chain of command in seeking the time off, for improperly claiming sickness, and for leaving duty without authorization.
During a meeting with former Chief Bell, he considered the matter completed. But Private McCalland said a battalion chief later gave her oral counseling on the matter.
Captain Stachura has yet to testify, but claims she experienced negative treatment at the hands of her superior officers, especially Deputy Chief Coleman.
The three plaintiffs were fired in February, 2007, after fire officials judged them guilty on administrative charges of secretly recording workplace conversations. The plaintiffs gave the recordings to legal counsel with intention of using them as evidence in the lawsuit.
Private Imhoff said she was informed by Chief Bell that she was being suspended “for my own protection,” she testified Tuesday.
“Emotionally, it was devastating since the job that I loved to do had been taken away from me but no one could tell me why. I asked if there was a policy on taping, I was told there was. I asked for a copy of the policy at that time and I was told they would get it from the law department. They also said it was against the law, but to my understanding, it was not against the law,” Private Imhoff said.
The three were reinstated after they appealed through the firefighter’s union.
First Published April 23, 2019, 10:50 p.m.
