army judge
Super Moderator
A retired Kansas City Fire Department battalion chief is set to receive an $850,000 settlement for dropping a lawsuit that claims he was denied a promotion due to his race and gender.
Daniel McGrath, who is white, retired in January. Former Fire Chief Donna Lake gave the deputy chief's job that McGrath was seeking in 2022 to a Black fire captain who McGrath alleges was less qualified.
The lawsuit claims that Lake signaled her intentions to pass over McGrath and others for promotion when she allegedly told a top subordinate that "the days of the Fire Department being ran by older white men are over."
As context, Lake, who is white, was the department's first and so far only woman fire chief. During her tenure, The Kansas City Star published an investigative series of articles documenting how women and Black firefighters had for decades been victims of discrimination within the fire department.
Based on The Star's reporting, the U.S. Department of Justice launched an investigation of the department's employment practices. The status of the probe is unknown, as the government typically does not comment on investigations. But this one was ongoing as of this summer, according to a former firefighter who was interviewed several months ago.
A year before the deputy chief's position opened up, Lake and the city's elected leaders pledged to make reforms in hiring, promotions and work conditions that were discriminatory toward women and non-white men within the department.
The city settled two related lawsuits in August that were filed by white battalion chiefs who claimed that they, too, were passed over for the same deputy chief position.
Mark Little and Christopher McDaniel were paid $350,000 each, so the combined total of payouts to settle litigation on this single hiring dispute will total $1.5 million, if the City Council approves McGrath's settlement as expected next week. The city's law department and risk management committee recommended approval.
McGrath's lawyers argued in favor of a higher settlement for their client, claiming that his compensation should reflect the amount of money he would have received in pension payments had he retired at the higher rank.
Little and McDaniel still work at the fire department and could potentially get promoted before they retire.
McGrath's is the latest in a costly string of settlements related to discrimination within the Fire Department that the city has paid out in less than two years.
This fall, the council approved a $1.3 million settlement to compensate a 61-year-old Kansas City firefighter and paramedic who endured years of mistreatment and abuse from male co-workers and her superiors because she was a woman, a lesbian and older than most of her peers when she graduated from the fire academy at age 40.
A male co-worker was charged with a felony for urinating on items within her office while she was away.
A year ago, Kansas City spent $800,000 to settle a lawsuit filed by an assistant division chief who alleged she was subjected to ongoing harassment in the three years before her resignation in 2023.
Combined, fire department discrimination settlements reached over the past year total $3.65 million, far exceeding the $2.5 million that The Star's 2020 investigation found that the city had paid out in judgments, attorney fees and court costs for discrimination cases during the preceding 20 years.
Recently, the city and the firefighters union agreed to a new five-year labor contract that would put limits on the rights of future members of the department to file discrimination lawsuits.
Those in the Local 42 bargaining unit hired after next May must have most discrimination claims adjudicated through arbitration, a process that experts claim favors employers over employees.
That would not apply to battalion chiefs, who have their own union. Those in higher ranks do not have union representation.
Daniel McGrath, who is white, retired in January. Former Fire Chief Donna Lake gave the deputy chief's job that McGrath was seeking in 2022 to a Black fire captain who McGrath alleges was less qualified.
The lawsuit claims that Lake signaled her intentions to pass over McGrath and others for promotion when she allegedly told a top subordinate that "the days of the Fire Department being ran by older white men are over."
As context, Lake, who is white, was the department's first and so far only woman fire chief. During her tenure, The Kansas City Star published an investigative series of articles documenting how women and Black firefighters had for decades been victims of discrimination within the fire department.
Based on The Star's reporting, the U.S. Department of Justice launched an investigation of the department's employment practices. The status of the probe is unknown, as the government typically does not comment on investigations. But this one was ongoing as of this summer, according to a former firefighter who was interviewed several months ago.
A year before the deputy chief's position opened up, Lake and the city's elected leaders pledged to make reforms in hiring, promotions and work conditions that were discriminatory toward women and non-white men within the department.
The city settled two related lawsuits in August that were filed by white battalion chiefs who claimed that they, too, were passed over for the same deputy chief position.
Mark Little and Christopher McDaniel were paid $350,000 each, so the combined total of payouts to settle litigation on this single hiring dispute will total $1.5 million, if the City Council approves McGrath's settlement as expected next week. The city's law department and risk management committee recommended approval.
McGrath's lawyers argued in favor of a higher settlement for their client, claiming that his compensation should reflect the amount of money he would have received in pension payments had he retired at the higher rank.
Little and McDaniel still work at the fire department and could potentially get promoted before they retire.
McGrath's is the latest in a costly string of settlements related to discrimination within the Fire Department that the city has paid out in less than two years.
This fall, the council approved a $1.3 million settlement to compensate a 61-year-old Kansas City firefighter and paramedic who endured years of mistreatment and abuse from male co-workers and her superiors because she was a woman, a lesbian and older than most of her peers when she graduated from the fire academy at age 40.
A male co-worker was charged with a felony for urinating on items within her office while she was away.
A year ago, Kansas City spent $800,000 to settle a lawsuit filed by an assistant division chief who alleged she was subjected to ongoing harassment in the three years before her resignation in 2023.
Combined, fire department discrimination settlements reached over the past year total $3.65 million, far exceeding the $2.5 million that The Star's 2020 investigation found that the city had paid out in judgments, attorney fees and court costs for discrimination cases during the preceding 20 years.
Recently, the city and the firefighters union agreed to a new five-year labor contract that would put limits on the rights of future members of the department to file discrimination lawsuits.
Those in the Local 42 bargaining unit hired after next May must have most discrimination claims adjudicated through arbitration, a process that experts claim favors employers over employees.
That would not apply to battalion chiefs, who have their own union. Those in higher ranks do not have union representation.
