Fired Conn. Firefighter Files Discrimination Complaint

March 20--NEW LONDON -- Fired black firefighter Alfred Mayo filed a complaint against the city last week with the state Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities (CHRO), a CHRO spokesman confirmed.

The CHRO does not release complaints until they are investigated and closed, spokesman Jim O'Neill said, and Mayo nor his attorney, Gary Cicchiello, would release the document. Mayo offered no comment on the filing.

But, since his December firing, just days before he was to graduate from the state fire academy, Mayo has publicly alleged he was unfairly targeted and terminated. Mayo was the first black firefighter the New London Fire Department had hired since 1978.

During a NAACP town hall meeting last month, Mayo handed out a seven-page letter recounting his experiences at the state fire academy, the completion of which was a condition of his employment. He then told the crowd of more than 100 people that his firing "because of my face, who I am, the color of my skin. I was scrutinized from day one."

Mayo has not filed a lawsuit against the city, and previously said he wants only his job back.

The day after the meeting, Mayor Daryl Justin Finizio, who fired Mayo, echoed a call for an investigation into the state fire academy.

"When local municipalities make decisions on the retention of fire department recruits, we must rely on information provided to us by the Fire Academy," Finizio said in his statement. "In the decision reached by the administration not to retain recruit Alfred Mayo, the City of New London relie(d) heavily on data provided by the Fire Academy. At last night's NAACP forum, I was disturbed to hear numerous former Academy recruits explain irregularities at the Academy."

State Rep. Ernest Hewett, who first called for the state fire academy investigation, said last month that the city was still responsible for the firing of Mayo.

"It's not the fire academy that fired him," Hewett said. "My point is, yes, the fire academy should be looked into, but the city of New London, in my opinion, made a mistake in firing this guy. The onus has to come back on the city."

A second NAACP-sponsored town hall meeting is scheduled for 7 p.m. Thursday at the Second Congregational Church in New London.

Copyright 2012 - The Day, New London, Conn.