Black Calif. Firefighter's Discrimination Suit Reinstated

May 02--A federal appeals court has reinstated an Oakland firefighter's lawsuit claiming co-workers harassed and ostracized him and other African Americans because of their race, tampered with his food, left a dead bird under his bed and disciplined him when he complained.

Ronald Curtis' claim of a hostile work environment was dismissed by U.S. District Judge Susan Illston, who said his allegations, if proven, failed to show severe or pervasive mistreatment that was racially motivated. The Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals disagreed Wednesday and said a jury could conclude that Curtis was racially harassed.

After several years in the Fire Department, Curtis transferred in 2007 to the downtown fire station at 1605 Martin Luther King Jr. Way, said his lawyer, Pamela Price. She said it was considered a desirable assignment and had seldom been given to African Americans before Curtis arrived, followed soon by three others he had encouraged to apply.

The black firefighters were assigned to the same shift and were quickly made to feel unwelcome, Price said. A contaminant was found in their syrup, a co-worker brought them children's-size buns with their hot dogs, they were denied the right to swap shifts, and they were generally shunned by their colleagues, she said.

After the four firefighters filed a discrimination complaint in 2008, Price said, Curtis found a dead bird under his bed, and later found honey smeared around the bed. Someone stole his gate opener and his keys, both of which he found several months later hanging from the ceiling, she said.

Price said Curtis also started getting disciplinary write-ups based on false accusations, and was reprimanded by a fire captain for supposedly speaking disrespectfully. When he tried to get information from another firefighter about a change of shifts, she said, the firefighter accused Curtis of harassing him, and the Fire Department suspended Curtis for a day in 2010.

In Wednesday's ruling, a three-judge panel said a reasonable jury could conclude that other firefighters "were targeting Curtis' shift because it was predominantly African American." The court said jurors could also find that the events Curtis described were "threatening and humiliating actions that could unreasonably interfere with an employee's work performance."

A lawyer for the city declined to comment.

Bob Egelko is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. E-mail: [email protected] Twitter: @egelko

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