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The payment is a result of a settled federal civil rights lawsuit that alleged the town of Harrison and the Harrison Fire Department discriminated against a former female firefighter, Angela Bommarito, based on her sex and failed to take disciplinary action against a male firefighter who eventually pleaded guilty to harassing her, the US Department of Justice announced on Thursday, June 22.
According to a Consent Decree approved on Wednesday, June 21 by US District Judge Cathy Seibel, the events leading to the lawsuit began in June 2015 when Bommarito joined the Harrison Fire Department along with another female volunteer firefighter.
After Bommarito ended a relationship with Henry Mohr, a senior firefighter at the department, he began repeatedly calling her, following her in fire department vehicles, and driving by her house, which both the town and department eventually became aware of.
Bommarito also complained to some members of the department's leadership about Mohr's harassment, federal officials said.
As a result of Mohr's actions, in January 2016, Bommarito filed a report against Mohr with the Harrison Police Department. Following this, the then-police chief met with Mohr and told him that he wanted to "make sure this whole thing dies” and that he wanted to get him "out of this whole situation."
The police chief also told Mohr that Bommarito's position with the department posed a "temptation" that was "hard to resist sometimes."
After this, the then-police chief met with Bommarito and suggested he could arrest her for presenting "incomplete and false information" to police regarding her relationship with Mohr, and prepared a resignation letter for her that stated she would resign from the fire department, officials said.
Bommarito then signed the letter, ending her time with the department.
Following her resignation, the town of Harrison and the fire department never pursued any disciplinary action against Mohr. In May 2016, Mohr was arrested for harassing Bommarito and pleaded guilty to second-degree harassment later in the year.
Under the terms of the settlement, the town and fire department must now implement the following measures:
- They must maintain an anti-discrimination policy including prohibitions on discrimination, sexual harassment, and retaliation;
- In this policy, they must maintain provisions that require objective investigations into policy violations;
- They must provide training to employees on prohibited employment practices and investigation procedures;
- They must provide information to federal officials regarding any complaints and discrimination investigations while the Consent Decree remains in effect;
- The fire department must maintain improvements to the firehouse which have provided facilities and features for female firefighters;
- The fire department must maintain policies on the use of department vehicles;
- The Harrison Police Department must maintain policies on the disclosure of non-public sensitive information obtained by employees during criminal investigations.
Both the town and fire department were also ordered to pay Bommarito $425,000 which will consist of both an up-front cash payment and a sum to fund the purchase of an annuity contract to make future payments to her and payments to her attorneys, officials said.
The ordered payment is one of the largest ever by a local government in an employment discrimination case brought by the federal government on behalf of one person.
US Attorney Damian Williams called the town and fire department's lack of response to Mohr's harassment "abhorrent."
"I want to commend the bravery of Angela Bommarito, who fought back against discrimination and made this Consent Decree possible," Williams said, adding, "This office will always stand with victims of violations of our nation’s civil rights laws.”
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