Benton district’s 1st woman firefighter sues for sex discrimination. Then she was fired

The first woman hired as a firefighter and paramedic for Benton County Fire District 1 claims she suffered harassment, abuse and discrimination.

Samantha Ward’s civil lawsuit lays out a string of claims that her gender kept her from promotions, made her the target of ridicule and at one point prompted a threat from a co-worker.

“(Her) superiors made statements to her to the effect of women cannot be promoted on the same basis as men, that they are perceived as too abrasive and no one would listen to a young female,” according to the lawsuit filed in April in Benton County Superior Court.

She also filed a complaint with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, according to the suit.

Ward returned from maternity leave earlier this month and was placed on administrative leave pending a disciplinary hearing scheduled for Tuesday, Aug. 29.

Following a closed-door disciplinary hearing, two of the District 1 commissioners voted unanimously Tuesday to fire Ward. Commissioner Trevor Phillips recused himself.

District officials provided the Tri-City Herald a short statement about Ward’s lawsuit.

“Benton County Fire District 1 has a long-standing tradition of training and employing a diverse group of volunteer and career firefighters and paramedics,” said the statement.

“We are aware that a former employee has filed a lawsuit claiming gender-based mistreatment. We are reserving comment on this lawsuit for now on the advice of legal counsel.”

Fire district attorneys have denied Ward’s complaints and added that an independent investigation found no discrimination.

Benton County Fire District 1 is a public agency funded by tax dollars and staffed by a combination of volunteers and career firefighters. The board is publicly elected.

The district covers 320 square miles and provides firefighting, ambulance and hazardous materials responses to areas south of Kennewick and Richland through Finley, El Rancho Reata, Triple Vista and Badger Canyon.

In the last year, crews responded to 677 calls for fires and 1,336 calls for ambulance service.

Discrimination claim

Ward was hired by the district in February 2020 as a firefighter and paramedic.

While it’s unclear in the lawsuit when the problems began, she said she was told women couldn’t be promoted on the same basis as men and that women couldn’t be approved to drive firefighting vehicles because she was “too hard on the brakes.”

A male co-worker objected to “women in the workplace” because “the Bible does not support women being in the workplace with men,” said the lawsuit, which also claims the co-worker enlisted other employees to make unfounded complaints against her.

When she tried to file a written discrimination complaint, she claims Fire Chief Lonnie Click wouldn’t accept it and the deputy fire chief said it wouldn’t be kept on file.

The two men allegedly held a meeting “at which everyone was told to get along, but said they were not going to act on plaintiff’s documentation,” according to the suit.

Ward also claims that Click repeatedly invited her to have drinks with him at a cabin in Montana, at a bar and at his home, according to the complaint. He also allegedly told her to hide from other employees that he talked to her with his personal phone.

“Click subjected plaintiff to unwanted hugs,” according to the lawsuit. “Click told plaintiff, women need to navigate promotion differently than men.”

She also allegedly was blocked from being eligible to become a lieutenant after a new requirement was added to the district’s policies. The requirement said she must participate in wildland strike team responses in other counties or states, camping alongside other male firefighters.

Threat report

Ward also claims she was threatened by a volunteer Fire District 1 captain at a training session in March 2022.

As they were discussing a hypothetical firefighting problem, Ward gave her opinion that certain equipment should be used for certain purposes.

In response, the captain allegedly threw a packet of written materials at her, hitting a nearby table. He then angrily stalked out of the room.

Within hours of filing a complaint about the incident, the deputy chief questioned her without her union representative, violating a warning that someone with the union be present.

Ward said she was never told about the outcome of that complaint, and later learned that the district had hired an attorney to represent the captain.

Ward’s attorney argued that the district’s decision to hire a lawyer for the captain condoned his behavior and would stop other women from voicing their opinions at training meetings.

When Ward hired an attorney to send a letter to the district to put a stop to saying that women can’t be promoted and inviting her to private locations for drinks, the district’s attorney allegedly responded that “there was no conduct to cease and desist,” according to the lawsuit.