Jury rules in favor of Black firefighter's racial discrimination case against City of Portland

Yahoo

2 days ago

PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) – A Black firefighter who claims he faced repeated racial discrimination, harassment, and retaliation within the Portland Fire Bureau has had a Multnomah County jury rule in his favor.
Jason Wilson spent more than 17 years serving his community before filing a complaint that accused the City of Portland of discriminating against him 'based on his race, his opposition to unlawful discrimination, and his reports of unlawful conduct.'
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A jury ruled Monday that Wilson did face discrimination from the bureau, suggesting that a judge grant him $275,000 in non-economic damages.
Wilson and his attorney , alleging he was ignored by supervisors when he brought up concerns of unlawful activity as recently as October 2023.
'For years, Company Fire Inspection Program (CFIP) employees have systematically falsified thousands of inspection reports,' the lawsuit read. 'In some cases, employees have filed inspection reports without having set foot inside the premises they claimed to have inspected.'
According to the lawsuit, fire investigators called Wilson and asked to accompany him 'into a private premises under the guise of performing a fire inspection so they could get the 'lay of the land' and look for stolen cars' in June 2023. Wilson says he reported the request to his supervisors, because he was concerned doing so would be illegal.
The suit outlined years of racial discrimination and derogatory comments made by supervisors and colleagues.
In an instance from 2008, the suit alleged that now-retired Cpt. Lonnie Fuller had spoken about Wilson's daughter in derogatory ways and made other racist comments on a daily basis, such as calling any black person in a baseball cap a 'gang member.'
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On one occasion, Wilson claimed Fuller asked, 'Where's the most dangerous place for a black baby?' and finished with the punchline, 'In its mother's belly.'
But when Wilson brought up the alleged racism to a fire marshal in October 2023, he was removed from the inspection testing maintenance team four days later. Instead, he was told at the time the decision had been made to 'avoid favoritism.'
Wilson had also claimed that the city's hiring process for a 2023 Fire Inspector Specialist position had been a case of racial discrimination. However, the jury ruled that the process had resulted in materially adverse treatment, but did not find that the treatment was due to his race.
The Portland Fire Bureau declined an opportunity for comment. KOIN 6 News has also reached out to the City of Portland. This story will be updated if we hear back.
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