SAN BRUNO — A San Bruno firefighter is suing the city and several members of its fire department on grounds he was sexually harassed and retaliated against when he complained.
Filed in San Mateo County Superior Court on June 18, the lawsuit says the firefighter, identified as 17-year veteran Jon Priolo, was subjected to numerous comments and jokes suggesting he was gay between 2010 and September 2015. Priolo asked the colleague who made the remarks to stop, but the alleged abuse continued and at one point the colleague exposed his genitals to Priolo, according to the suit.
City Attorney Marc Zafferano said the city was served with the lawsuit Wednesday morning.
“Because the city values and must respect the confidentiality of employee personnel matters, we can’t provide any additional information at this time,” Zafferano said in an email.
The suit says nothing was done to address the behavior of the colleague, who was eventually promoted.
Matters apparently reached a tipping point on Sept. 13, 2015, when the colleague “made a derogatory comment referring to male to male oral copulation, and assertively stated, ‘But you like that kind of thing, Priolo, right,’ ” according to the lawsuit. Priolo, in response, filed a formal complaint with the city about the colleague’s behavior.
On Dec. 17 of that year, Priolo’s union president told him he had been assigned to work with the colleague. The suit says Priolo did not report for duty the following day or the next, citing “ongoing depression, anxiety, excessive appetite, decreased energy, feelings of guilt, difficulty sleeping.” He was eventually diagnosed with “hypertension and psychiatric issues that required therapy before he was able to return to active duty.”
According to the lawsuit, an external investigator for the city confirmed Priolo had been sexually harassed. A report issued by the city also sustained the allegations, the suit says.
Priolo went on to file a charge of sexual harassment with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission on March 3, 2016.
The following February, a battalion chief fostered a hostile work environment by making inflammatory and derogatory comments, the suit says. Other members of the fire department also allegedly harassed and intimidated Priolo in August of that year.
On Sept. 10, 2017, Priolo filed a second charge of discrimination with the commission. “Since filing that charge,” the lawsuit says, “Priolo has been isolated, harassed, and exposed to a hostile work environment by fellow firefighters and supervising staff.”
Earlier this year, the commission issued a right to sue notice for the sexual harassment and retaliation charges.
Priolo is now seeking a jury trial as well as unspecified compensatory and punitive damages, according to the suit.
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