Fire Law Blog Fire Service and Public Safety Legal Issues Blog by Curt Varone
A Brookline firefighter has prevailed in his appeal of a Massachusetts Civil Service Commission decision that upheld his 2016 termination. Gerald Alston was fired in 2016 after years of efforts to address his workplace behavior failed.
According to city officials, Alston threatened violence to colleagues and used illegal drugs at work. He then rebuffed city efforts to get counseling and submit to random toxicology screening, resulting in his termination.
Alston, who is African American, claims he has been the victim of overt race discrimination in the department for many years. In his appeal he argued that the Civil Service Commission refused to take that racism into account instead focusing on the narrower grounds presented by the city.
Suffolk County Superior Court Judge Douglas H. Wilkins agreed with Alston, ordering the case returned to the Commission to consider whether Alston was in fact the victim of racial bias. He noted that because Alston has been complaining about race discrimination in the department for years the possibility exists that he was fired for refusing to “endure an unlawful, racially hostile environment.”
Alston also has a discrimination suit against the city pending in US District Court.
