A sexual harassment lawsuit against the Fairfax County Fire and Rescue Department resulting in a $250,000 award to a female firefighter has opened up questions about the breadth of the problem within the county’s fire department.
Detailed complaints of aggressive sexual harassment at the hands of Lt. Daniel Timothy Young led to the award to Mary Getts Bland, who no longer works for the county. Young is still employed by the county fire department after receiving a written reprimand in 2008, saying he “should have used better judgment as an officer when engaging and allowing others under his leadership to joke sexually in the workplace.”
Another lawsuit brought by current firefighter Stacey Bailey alleges even more extreme sexual harassment over the course of six years at the hands of Young and other male firefighters. That case is scheduled to go to trial next month.
Ellen Renaud, attorney for both Bland and Bailey, said that Bland’s major victory before a federal jury revealed the jurors’ conviction that the county did not fulfill its responsibility to recognize, respond to and end persistent harassment, despite complaints.
“The [fire] chiefs made clear at the trial that they do not view protecting women from sexual harassment and threats of sexual assault as something that needs to be done for the good of the department,” Renaud said.
Renaud pointed to a memo dated Aug. 1, 2008, detailing the results of an Equal Employment Opportunity investigation conducted after Bland filed her initial complaints. The first draft of the memo suggested the department research whether any other women were harassed. But that suggestion was cut from the final report, so the fire department did not follow up on it, Renaud said.
Fairfax Fire and Rescue referred questions about the cases to the county. A spokesman for the county declined to comment.
Joel Kobersteen, a Fairfax firefighter and union spokesman, said news of the cases came to him personally “as kind of a surprise.”
“Like any organization, there are things said between individuals, but I had no idea it was anything to that degree,” he said. “Sometimes there’s joking, and someone else says, ‘You’ve come to the line,’ and then it’s over.”
