Black firefighter files lawsuit against Portland Fire over racial discrimination, harassment

PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) – A Black firefighter who spent the last 17 years serving his community claims he faced repeated racial discrimination, harassment, and retaliation within the Portland Fire Bureau.

The complaint filed in Multnomah County Circuit Court on Wednesday seeks $1.2 million in damages – accusing the City of Portland of discriminating against Jason Wilson “based on his race, his opposition to unlawful discrimination, and his reports of unlawful conduct.”

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Wilson and his attorney allege the fire bureau denied him and other black employees the same training and promotional opportunities afforded to white colleagues.

He also claimed he and another black candidate were passed over for an inspector specialist position in July 2023. Instead, Wilson said both white candidates were chosen despite one still being on probation, which the suit claims is against the city’s transfer policy and eligibility requirements for all specialist positions since 2017.

The lawsuit also claims employees of Portland Fire & Rescue in charge of interviewing for some promotions had helped white employees increase their scores.

“…employees of Portland Fire & Rescue in charge of interviewing employees for some promotions give white employees answers to interview questions in advance of interviews so that they score highly,” according to the lawsuit. “Plaintiff has never received answers in advance. Nor have several other Black employees of the FMO.”

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When KOIN 6 reached out to PF&R, the agency’s spokesperson Rick Graves initially said, “This is a personnel issue along with pending litigation and we do not comment on either of these matters.” The City Attorney’s Office also declined to comment on pending litigation.

However, Graves later followed up to share the following demographic information of Wilson’s department: Of 62 total members, PF&R’s Prevention Division is 71% male and 29% female as well as 76% white and 24% “other.” The bureau also specified that Wilson’s three-person interview panel consisted of two fire inspector specialists, one Black and another Hispanic, and a white female building official analyst.

In response, Wilson’s attorney Tim Volpert shared the following statement:

The percentages provided by PF&R are misleading. The statistics refer to all minorities as “Other” and do not provide data on their Black employees. Most Black employees remain permanently in the lower positions of all PF&R Divisions. Black employees are rarely appointed to “specialty” positions, which are in most cases essential to reaching the higher levels of the Division. With specialty positions, unlike virtually all other jobs in the City, hiring decisions are, by rule, “made at the sole discretion of a bureau director, are outside the civil service process and do not require a competitive recruitment.” The interviews are just for show, leaving the door open for discrimination.

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Wilson also claims he was ignored by supervisors when he brought up concerns of unlawful activity as recently as October 2023.

“For years, Company Fire Inspection Program (CFIP) employees have systematically falsified thousands of inspection reports,” the suit reads. “In some cases, employees have filed inspection reports without having set foot inside the premises they claimed to have inspected.”

The lawsuit also claims fire investigators called Wilson and asked to accompany him “into a private premises under the guise of performing a fire inspection so they could get the ‘lay of the land’ and look for stolen cars” in June 2023. Wilson says he reported the request to his supervisors, because he was concerned doing so would be illegal.

However, both Wilson and Volpert say nothing was done about these concerns.

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Additionally, the suit outlines years of racial discrimination and derogatory comments made by supervisors and colleagues, claiming Lt. Gerard Pahissa repeatedly said “Black firefighters have ‘Black anger’” in 2017.

In another instance from 2008, the suit alleges now-retired Cpt. Lonnie Fuller had spoken about Wilson’s daughter in derogatory ways and made other racist comments on a daily basis, such as calling any black person in a baseball cap a “gang member.”

On one occasion, Wilson claims Fuller asked, “Where’s the most dangerous place for a black baby?” and finished with the punchline, “In its mother’s belly.”

Yet, the suit claims when Wilson brought up the alleged racism to a fire marshal in October 2023, he was removed from the inspection testing maintenance team four days later. Instead, he was told at the time the decision had been made to “avoid favoritism.”

Stay with KOIN 6 as this story develops.

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