Racial discrimination lawsuit filed against Sacramento Fire Department — this time by a manager
The city of Sacramento is facing another racial discrimination lawsuit from a Black firefighter — this time a battalion chief.
In a lawsuit filed last week in Sacramento Superior Court, Jonathan Burgess alleged department officials have refused to promote him partially because he is Black, while fostering a culture that protects its white employees despite wrongdoing.
Burgess is the third Black firefighter to publicly accuse the Sacramento Fire Department of racial discrimination since 2021 and is the first supervisor to do so.
“This is not about me so much as it is every minority that is in this organization and every non-minority who lacks the courage to speak against the few that affect so many,” Burgess said in a statement to The Sacramento Bee. “There are many good people in SFD, however unless the good ones are placed in leadership and culture is changed — to speak up and out — it will forever suffer from systemic issues that plague our nation.”
Only about 20 of the Fire Department’s roughly 650 employees are Black, according to a 2020 city audit.
Notably, Burgess’ allegations extend to new Fire Chief Chris Costamagna, whom City Manager Howard Chan appointed in September after former chief Gary Loesch was fired. Burgess’ inclusion of Costamagna in the lawsuit signals his belief that the leadership shakeup is not alleviating the alleged racial discrimination.
City officials declined to comment on the lawsuit because they have yet to be served with court papers, city spokesman Tim Swanson said.
‘A cancer in the department’
Burgess has worked for the department for nearly 30 years, and has been a battalion chief since 2013, the lawsuit states. The lawsuit alleges various incidents of discrimination toward Burgess and other Black firefighters between 2018 and 2022.
Among the outlined incidents, the lawsuit states that in 2018 Deputy Chief Michael Taylor called Burgess a “cancer in the department.” The complaint goes on to to say that about a year later, department leaders removed Burgess from the Battalion Chief Exam Committee, where he was only African American battalion chief. He believes his removal was “racially motivated.”
The following year, in May 2020, Burgess received a complaint from a female firefighter that Capt. Shawn Wolf, who is white, had “kicked her safety gear in a sexist manner,” the lawsuit alleges.
Burgess investigated the incident, got corroboration from a witness, and attempted to discipline Wolf, according to the lawsuit. But department leaders did not discipline Wolf, and instead promoted him to battalion chief and gave him a raise. Against Burgess’ recommendations, the lawsuit states, officials transferred the female firefighter out of the station.
In February 2021, shortly after Burgess applied for a deputy chief position, department officials issued six complaints of misconduct against him and served him with a letter of intent to suspend him, the lawsuit alleges. Burgess then filed a complaint with the U.S. Equal Employment and Opportunity Commission.
The lawsuit alleges that Chief Chris Castamagna “harbors a discriminatory animus” against Burgess.
In April 2022, Burgess returned to work after being out for eight months with severe COVID-19 and Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome, the lawsuit alleges. Officials made him pass an agility test in order to return, which the lawsuit states was irregular for a battalion chief.
He again applied for one of two open deputy chief positions. Department leaders selected two white men for the jobs, while Burgess and another Black candidate were rejected, the lawsuit alleges. It was “alarming” to Burgess when one of the men on the interview panel was Deputy Chief Taylor, who had allegedly called Burgess a “cancer” and was the subject of a Burgess EEOC complaint, the lawsuit alleges.
The California Department of Fair Housing and Employment granted Burgess a “right to sue” letter.
Burgess is still a battalion chief, city spokesman Swanson confirmed. Taylor is still a deputy chief, and Wolf is still a battalion chief.
Other complaints
Black firefighters have been sounding the alarm about racial discrimination in the Sacramento Fire Department since at least 2021, when Desmond Lewis publicly resigned citing racial harassment and hazing as his reasons for quitting.
Lewis, a Black firefighter, in 2021 left the department and in a Bee exclusive described “a culture of hazing, sexism and racism.” He alleged that during a 2020 protest against police brutality, a fire captain said, “can’t these people stop protesting and go back to shooting each other?”
Lewis later rejoined the department, in part, he said, to help change the organization from within, but other similar complaints followed.
In December, Waris Gildersleeve, another Black firefighter, filed a federal lawsuit alleging white fire officials attempted to set him up to fail a test by giving him old training materials, and damaged equipment causing him a physical injury. The lawsuit also alleged white firefighters used profanity to disparage the Black Lives Matter movement and uttered a racial slur, but they were not disciplined. Gildersleeve’s lawsuit also alleged white firefighters responded more compassionately to white 911 callers than Black ones.
Black officers in the police department have also been raising similar concerns. A former police acting sergeant in December filed a lawsuit alleging the department has a pervasive “anti-Black culture.” He alleged police officials mentored white officers to help them on their tests for promotions but failed to do the same for Black officers, leading to only three Black officers making sergeant in the past 20 years.
This story was originally published February 16, 2023 at 6:00 AM.
