Fla. Firefighter Files Racial Discrimination Lawsuit

June 7, 2013
A firefighter with Monroe County says his superiors would call him 'MoJo' and 'Oye,' which are slang terms for Hispanic people and was ultimately fired because of race.

June 06--A firefighter is suing Monroe County because he said racial discrimination by Monroe Fire Rescue leadership led to his 2012 firing.

Mario Romera, 34, said in a May 16 complaint filed in U.S. District Court that for the more than three years he worked for the department, superiors would call him a "MoJo" and an "Oye," "slang terms used by Caucasians to refer to persons of the Hispanic race, and other names of a discriminatory nature."

Romera was born in Venezuela.

Chief James Callahan said this week that Romera was fired because he was driving emergency vehicles for more than six months even though he did not have a valid driver's license.

"This exposed Monroe County under tremendous liability and was a gross violation of county policy," Callahan said. The chief said Romera was suspended once before for driving at work without a license.

His driver's license was suspended from unpaid Florida's Turnpike tolls, according to the court filing. But the complaint went on to say that he should have been able to continue working "Fire Rescue duties not associated with driving the Fire Rescue vehicle."

Romera said last year that he had moved and did not know the Turnpike Sunpass fines were still going to his old address.

A complaint Romera filed against a white shift lieutenant whom Romera said screamed at him and pounded the wall above his bunk at the firehouse in April 2012 triggered a series of events that led to his firing two months later, according to the court document.

These incidents, according to the court filing, included demands for drug tests and false claims of insubordination. Romera passed the drug test and denied the insubordination charge.

Nevertheless, he was relieved from firehouse duty and eventually fired after a June 13 hearing. His termination was approved by County Administrator Roman Gastesi.

"All of the Monroe County, Florida, Fire Rescue Department personnel who participated in the foregoing actions involving the plaintiff were of the Caucasian race and intentionally orchestrated plaintiff's termination because he had complained against an officer of the Caucasian race," his attorney Craig Brand wrote in the complaint.

Brand could not be reached for comment.

Romera is seeking reinstatement to the department, along with back pay and benefits, as well as payment for his attorney's fees.

He also seeks monetary damages "for mental anguish, including but not limited to embarrassment, humiliation, personal inconvenience, emotional distress, injury to reputation, loss of capacity for the enjoyment of life, lost earning and loss of earning capacity."

Copyright 2013 - The Reporter (Tavernier, Fla.)

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