ASHEVILLE, N.C. (AP) - A female ex-firefighter has filed a lawsuit against a North Carolina fire department, saying the agency’s chief deprived her of her duty and inflicted severe mental and emotional distress.
Joy Ponder, the first woman to reach the rank of division chief in the Asheville Fire Department, filed the lawsuit earlier this month in U.S. District Court, the Asheville Citizen-Times reported. Ponder filed a state harassment lawsuit last year. In August, she was allowed to proceed with federal action by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the newspaper reported.
Fire Chief Scott Burnette regularly yelled at Ponder and forced her into meetings either alone or with only a deputy chief present where either he or both men would berate her and attempt to intimidate her, attorney John Hunter said in the lawsuit, which added that male employees weren’t treated in the same manner or the same frequency.
Burnette has said a reassignment in 2019 from frontline fire suppression to a desk job was due to Ponder’s job performance issues. In the lawsuit, Ponder says she consistently received “outstanding” or “exemplary” job performance evaluations.
City Attorney Brad Branham declined to talk about the case, but said the city will likely respond to the lawsuit in December.
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