Another workplace discrimination and retaliation lawsuit was recently settled, this time between the city of Tampa and a former firefighter with Tampa Fire Rescue. The former firefighter, Tanja Vidovic, was awarded $245,000 in damages “after she sued the city, claiming she was the victim of repeated discrimination and harassment during her seven and a half years with the fire department.” But what happened? What kind of discrimination and harassment did she endure?For starters, Vidovic joined Tampa Fire Rescue because she “wanted a noble career in which she could work with the community every day.” To her, a job with Tampa Fire Rescue seemed like a great fit. However, according to her lawsuit, her time working as a firefighter was “marred with sexist remarks, come-ons by a superior and retaliation when she complained.” Eventually, she reached her breaking point in 2015 when she became pregnant. When discussing how she was treated while pregnant, Vidovic said:“They didn't want to work with a pregnant firefighter. There was a firefighter who wrote a memo that he didn't want to work a pregnant firefighter and he wanted to be sent out of the station every time I was working there. There was another firefighter who compared breast milk to HAZMAT decontamination materials.”To make matters worse, “in her last performance evaluation, one of her superiors wrote a comment that essentially proved her employers gave her a poor review because she was pregnant.” It said:“Vidovic appears to have no concern for the safety of herself or the safety of her newborn child as she continues to work full duty as a firefighter."

Tampa Fire Rescue Truck; Image Courtesy of tampapix.com

She was later fired in March 2016, and a day later she filed a lawsuit. Fortunately, a settlement was finally reached and Vidovic hopes it will be a positive sign to other women firefighters who might be experiencing the same thing she did. When discussing the court proceedings and settlement announcement, she said:“It was just a big sigh of relief to have those seven strangers [on the jury] that I didn't know, when they were presented with the facts of what happened and people's sides of the stories they were able to come to the conclusion that, yes, it happened. There was pregnancy discrimination and I was retaliated for it...I think that it was a big moment for women in the fire department too because so often women in the fire department, they don't complain because they don't want to be retaliated against and there needs to be better support for women who are getting harassed.”Her attorney, Wendy Busch, also added:“Sometimes you get in a situation where there is just rampant harassment and discrimination and I think that's what happened here. I think there are a lot of women out there who don't feel like they can come forward or they assess the risk and say it's just not worth it.”The city has yet to comment on the settlement.

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Woman wins discrimination suit against Tampa Fire RescueFired Tampa firefighter's sex discrimination case unfolds in federal court