BOSTON — A former Rockland firefighter has filed a federal lawsuit accusing the town of violating his civil rights and firing him in 2017 in part because he is black.
In the complaint, Craig Erickson says he faced decades of discrimination at the department and was punished for filing a complaint about another firefighter's eligibility for a promotion. The lawsuit comes more than two years after Erickson successfully convinced the Civil Service Commission to overturn a related suspension from the department, which the commission called a "stark and troubling example of disparate treatment."
John Clifford, the town's attorney, said Tuesday that the town has not been served with the lawsuit, which was filed earlier this month in U.S. District Court in Boston. Rockland Town Administrator Douglas Lapp, who began the job in July, said he had no comment.
Erickson, a former fire lieutenant who is representing himself in the lawsuit, said the discrimination he faced at the department dated back to 1996, when former Rockland selectman Edmund DelPrete attacked him and called him a racial slur during a call at a nursing home. After the attack, he said he was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder.
Erickson said the problems that led to his firing started in 2012, when he complained to the Civil Service Commission that a firefighter being considered for a promotion did not meet a residency requirement. After making the complaint, Erickson said Rockland fire Chief Scott Duffey began to "publicly berate and humiliate" him and look the other way when firefighters who Erickson supervised were insubordinate toward him. That verbal harassment triggered his post-traumatic stress disorder from the 1996 attack, Erickson said
Duffey did not respond to a request for comment.
Problems between Erickson and others in the department came to a head in 2016, when a dispute between Erickson and a subordinate caused a five-minute delay in a fire company leaving for an emergency. Duffey issued a 30-day suspension, which was later overturned by the Civil Service Commission. By the time the Commission issued that opinion, however, Erickson had already been fired for allegedly collecting sick pay while also doing work for a federal agency.
The town appealed the commission's decision on the 30-day suspension but it was upheld by a Plymouth Superior Court judge on Tuesday. Erickson said he also appealed his firing to the commission but it has not yet rendered a decision two years later.
Clifford, the town lawyer, said Erickson's lawsuit was only rehashing claims Erickson already made against the town.
Erickson said in the lawsuit he is seeking back pay and benefits as well as lost retirement benefits. He did not say how much he is seeking.
"I was told I was never going to finish my career when I first started," Erickson said. "I proved them wrong. I was the senior firefighter."
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