City to Pay Fire Captain $350,000 to Settle Discrimination Lawsuit

Chrissie Cole

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The city has agreed to pay a female fire captain $350,000 to settle a discrimination lawsuit that claimed she was ridiculed, unfairly disciplined and wrongly passed over for promotion in a male-dominated fire department.

The lawsuit was set to go to trial in U.S. District Court, Wednesday, in Indianapolis, prior to the deal being reached.

"What happened to the Captain was bad and unfortunate and an unacceptable situation, and she should not have been subjected to the behavior she was subjected to," said, the city and county's lead attorney. "That behavior was not consistent with the city's policy of equal opportunity employment or the values it requires of its employees."

Along with the settlement, disciplinary action will be brought against Indianapolis Fire Department employees that were involved in the discrimination. It is unknown who will be disciplined at this time.

While gender sensitivity training is in place, the settlement requires the city to increase awareness and training. The Captain is one of 59 women out of 989 firefighters.

For more information on this subject matter, please refer to the section on Workers Compensation & Workplace Discrimination.