BWI Deputy Chief Ordered Reinstated

Posted by: Curt Varone November 7, 2014 0

An African American deputy chief who was fired from the BWI Airport last March, has been ordered reinstated and granted back pay by an administrative law judge.

Gregory Lawrence, who was serving as the interim fire chief at Baltimore Washington International Airport when he was fired last spring, claimed his was the victim of racial discrimination.

Administrative law judge Nancy E. Paige agreed and in a 54-page decision concluded it “was more likely than not that the only reason for termination of the Employee was his race.”

Paige ordered Chief Lawrence reinstated and awarded him full back pay. Incidentally, BWI is now named the Thurgood Marshall Airport, after the first African-American Supreme Court justice.

More on the story.

About Curt Varone

Curt Varone has over 45 years of fire service experience and 35 as a practicing attorney licensed in both Rhode Island and Maine. His background includes 29 years as a career firefighter in Providence (retiring as a Deputy Assistant Chief), as well as volunteer and paid on call experience. He is the author of two books: Legal Considerations for Fire and Emergency Services, (2006, 2nd ed. 2011, 3rd ed. 2014, 4th ed. 2022) and Fire Officer's Legal Handbook (2007), and is a contributing editor for Firehouse Magazine writing the Fire Law column.
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