Justice has been served in Los Angles. Former LAFD fire fighter Brenda Lee was awarded 6.2 million dollars in damages by a jury last month. She had been the victim of ruthless behavior that had been going on within the LAFD. She was harassed for being female, African- American, and a lesbian. Lee was subjected to many awful things in her twelve year stint with the LAFD and finally she had enough and took her case to court.
The article states that Lee faced “behaviors from supervisors and co-workers such as derogatory comments, her locker being ransacked, being singled out to do exhausting drills no other firefighters were required to do, finding her mouthwash had been mixed with urine, and being retaliated against when she complained of the treatment.” (www.i-women.org) Also two male coworkers had testified on behalf of Lee’s defense, and they too were retaliated against and eventually had law suits of their own; which both of them won their own settlements.
Hopefully, this is a sign of what is to come of the fire department. Finally, making people watch what they say and be held accountable for their actions. It amazes me that it has taken this long for this kind of action to take place, but better late then never. Lee was awarded what she deserved and this big hit to the budget will at least make this department be more aware of how employees may be treating one another. Hopefully this idea will spread to other departments around the country as the LAFD is not the only department facing these issues.
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