The Ohio Civil Rights Commission has found the local firefighters’ union discriminated against African-American recruits on Thursday in three separate complaints.
The three letters of determination from OCRC state that Toledo Firefighters Local No. 92 “denied African American Fire-Trainees ... representation in matters of discipline and termination due to their race.”
The OCRC previously found that the Toledo Fire & Rescue Department had also discriminated against two of the complainants from Thursday’s letters -— Sierra Adebisi and Randall Fuller — in 2019.
Ms. Abedisi was fired last year hours before she was scheduled to graduate in August 2019 from the fire academy. Mr. Fuller was fired from the department while he was still in training, after failing two tests despite the fact that he has a documented disability and had requested accommodation.
The third complaint was filed by Earl Murry, a spokesman for Ms. Adebisi, Mr. Fuller, and others, on behalf of all African-American firefighter recruits and trainees, to protect individuals who have also experienced discrimination but have never filed a complaint themselves, he said. He called the lack of representation for African-Americans and women by the union “egregious.”
“We wholeheartedly disagree with the OCRC’s probable cause determination,” Dan Desmond, the president of Toledo Firefighters Local 92, said. “We’ve always represented all members regardless of gender, ethnicity, sex, etc.” He said he believed the OCRC’s investigation was incomplete, as he and the vice president of Local 92 had a meeting scheduled with investigators for Aug. 13 that was canceled.
According to Mr. Desmond, Mr. Fuller was not a member of the union. He also said that the union had previously filed grievances on behalf of Ms. Adebisi.
All three reports detail an instance in which the employment of a white recruit was protected by the union after being investigated and disciplined for using the N-word, which is a terminable offense. The reports found that the union participated in active negotiation which delayed discipline by approximately three months until the white recruit had graduated to probationary status.
Mr. Desmond denies that he participated in a negotiation. “I’ve been a union leader for quite a long time and that would go against everything that I’ve ever stood for as a union leader,” he said.
The union additionally claims they were unaware of the several internal complaints of discrimination from instructors at the firefighter academy made by several African-American recruits and members.
The OCRC letters, however, report that African-American members received less favorable treatment than white counterparts in similar circumstances related to discipline.
“[The union] has a responsibility to protect the rights of its members with regard to discriminatory conduct,” the letters state.
All three letters additionally cite the roster and eligibility lists for Class 292, which was referred to as the “Legacy Class” because almost everyone in the class had a relative in TFD.
Evidence showed “the [union’s] indifference allowed racism to run rampant in terms of an underrepresented class,” the letters state.
At least one African-American candidate from that class who had a high-ranking score was not selected as a recruit. The letters also state the union was aware of those practices.
“We’ve never had any say in who’s hired,” Mr. Desmond said. “Our purview is for members of Local 92.”
The OCRC has ordered that all three cases be scheduled for conciliation.
First Published August 3, 2020, 12:30 p.m.
