Lawsuit filed against FDNY hazing and discrimination
It appears there have been more incidents of hazing and bullying behavior by some members of the NYC Fire Department. The latest incident to come to our awareness, as revealed by the NYT Post, details, the plight of Michael Troina – a former FDNY from Queens.
The lawsuit claims Troina “was singled out time and time again on account of his race and national origin as a Hispanic American male as well as perceived homosexuality . . . [and] was further threatened with physical violence if he dared to report any incident of battery, harassment or discrimination to the FDNY’s Equal Employment Opportunity Office, according to reporting in the New York Post.
There are a number of allegations made by Troina, including being left out of a volleyball outing where he was called a series of homophobic slurs. He also alleges he was called a “closet homo”, and that fellow firefighters told him that he was not good at his job because of his ethnicity (Hispanic).
The lawsuit also claims that members of the FDNY “tried to coerce” him go to a strip club and “regularly harassed him by encouraging him to have sex with a stripper.” When he refused, he was called “faggot” and “loser.”
The suit alleges Troina informed a lieutenant about the “degrading and discriminatory incident” but the supervisor responded by saying that it was “in good fun and to not take it too hard.”
Troina suffered “mental and emotional stress” due to the “constant discrimination and ridicule,” the complaint alleges. “At first I sloughed it off as ‘I’m the new guy.’ As it kept going on, it got worse,” Troina revealed to The Post last year.
Troina (24) was terminated on Dec. 21, 2016, just seven days before he was to complete his probation. The FDNY insists he was canned after a “failed evaluation.”
Per the NY Post:
“The lawsuit, filed by lawyer Paul Liggieri, seeks unspecified damages. It names the city, the FDNY, nine firefighters, three lieutenants, two chiefs and Fire Commissioner Daniel Nigro as defendants.”
h/t: Towleroad
Photo credit: NY Post
