Fire Law Blog Fire Service and Public Safety Legal Issues Blog by Curt Varone
The North County Fire Protection District is facing an age and gender discrimination lawsuit brought by the district’s finance manager. Cherie A. Juul filed suit in San Diego County Superior Court alleging state law gender discrimination, age discrimination, failure to prevent discrimination/harassment, hostile work environment, and retaliation.
As explained in the complaint:
- Cherie A. Juul is a fifty-five-year-old woman and is one of the oldest employees and the oldest female employee at North County Fire Protection District.
- Plaintiff was the only fifty-five-year-old out of the NCFPD’s one-hundred and fifteen employees, most of the employees ranged from 28-45 years old.
- Only ten of the one-hundred and fifteen employees were female and only two of those women were in management.
- She started at NCFPD in 2011 as an Administrative Assistant and worked her way up through the ranks to Finance Manager in 2020. Her career spans over thirteen years with the District.
- Plaintiff’s responsibilities include among other things ensuring NCFPD operates within the fiscal year allocated budget.
Juul claims that the fire chief and deputy chief treated her with distain and disrespect culminating with two disciplinary write-ups, and her being placed on paid administrative leave. The write-ups alleged Juul was “unable to act as a team member but provided no explanation or examples for his Claim;” and that she failed to change the name of a certain financial category on the department’s proposed budget that was submitted to the district board.
Juul claims that the disciplinary write ups occurred shortly after she told the fire chief that if he “continued to spend at his current rate, NCFPD would be bankrupt and in the red by 2027,” and were retaliation. The larger context involved financial concerns related to the building of new stations and the hiring of additional personnel.
Here is a copy of the complaint:
