After suffering a medical emergency that ended a previous trial attempt in April, Carla Stachura again took the stand Friday to complete her testimony in a new trial over alleged gender discrimination at the Toledo fire department.
Ms. Stachura, a retired captain, and Pvts. Judi Imhoff and Geraldine McCalland are suing the Toledo Fire and Rescue Department and the city of Toledo on accusations officials failed to take action after co-workers subjected them to verbal abuse and sexually demeaning language. The women also accused the defendants of creating a hostile work environment.
Specifically named in the lawsuit are former chiefs Michael Bell and Michael Wolever, along with former deputy chiefs John Coleman and Robert Metzger.
Ms. Stachura’s testimony closely follows allegations laid out in the lawsuit, including descriptions of offensive comments command staff made that “a woman is like a computer, sometimes helpful, but mostly just makes you mad,” and judging women staff members based on how long male officials thought they could be married to them.
She also described several encounters with Deputy Chief Coleman which she felt were retaliatory, such as moving her work station to the Toledo Fire Museum and threatening to cite her for conduct unbecoming of an officer because she worked past 4 p.m. to schedule overtime during the Fourth of July weekend in 2005. He had assigned her the task, which she wasn’t able to complete during work hours, she said.
“I was in a state of shock,” Ms. Stachura said of the threatened disciplinary action. “I felt that my career was over. I was scared.”
She also explained her decision to record 21 conversations with command staff — primarily with Deputy Chief Coleman, from 2004 through 2006, which she planned to use as evidence during the trial.
She recorded them “to protect myself, because I wanted to protect my job and they were changing the policies and procedures…” Ms. Stachura began saying, before an objection by the city’s attorney cut off the remainder of her statement.
Ms. Stachura retired as a captain in 2008.
The city has denied all claims of discrimination.
Ms. Stachura previously began speaking to the allegations in April when she became disoriented on the stand, slumped over in a chair and then was sobbing on the floor. Lucas County Common Pleas Judge Linda Jennings, who is again presiding over the case, suspended that trial for fear the incident may taint the jury.
Ms. Imhoff and Ms. McCalland, who completed their testimony at the first trial, will again recount their own allegations of discrimination as the trial continues next week.
Ms. McCalland, a retired firefighter whose recruit class was the first to hire women, has said she was forced to work with an officer who made her feel unsafe, and that she was penalized for taking sick leave.
Private Imhoff, a 25-year firefighter who remains on active duty, alleges that male firefighters made repeated derogatory and racial comments and left magazines with offensive pictures on her bed and in other areas throughout the station where she would see them. She also was retaliated against for objecting to an officer using the term “men” to address the room of staff, including herself, the lawsuit said.
The lawsuit was originally filed in November, 2005, dismissed, and then refiled in July, 2015.
First Published October 4, 2019, 8:40 p.m.
