EMS Workers Claim ‘Reverse Discrimination’
(WXYZ) – Four Detroit EMS employees are accusing the Detroit Fire Department of “reverse discrimination.”
Thomas McCracken, Richard Cadoura, Michael Kearns, and Michael Christy have filed a lawsuit against the city – accusing Fire Department leaders of denying them advancement because of their race.
According to the lawsuit, all four men “are long standing white employees of the Emergency Medical Services (EMS) division” of the Fire Department.
Kearns and Christy are EMS supervisors. They say when they applied for the position of Assistant Superintendent of EMS, the position was “awarded to an African-American with less seniority, experience and qualifications.”
Cadoura applied for a promotion to become a Paramedic. He alleges “African-American employees with less seniority, experience and qualifications than Cadoura were promoted” instead.
The lawsuit alleges that McCracken was promoted to Lieutenant, but was then demoted without explanation. His “former position of Lieutenant has since been filed by an African-American employee with less seniority, experience and qualifications than McCracken.”
Attorneys also claim the fire department created a hostile environment on account of race for all 4 employees.
The lawsuit was filed by attorney Robert Zawideh of Norman Yatooma and Associates.
The Investigators have contacted the Detroit Mayor’s office to see if they have any response to allegations in this lawsuit. But so far, the Mayor’s office has no comment on the lawsuit, saying they are not familiar with the suit.
