A captain with more than 20 years of experience as a lifeguard sued the city of San Diego on Friday, alleging gender discrimination after she said she was denied the opportunity to apply for the city’s lifeguard chief position and the job was handed to a deputy city attorney.

Plaintiff Maureen Hodges, marine safety captain for San Diego’s Lifeguard Service, was the second-highest-ranking official in the department after former Chief James Gartland.

She became the Lifeguard Service’s first and only female captain in 2020 and became the department’s first female sergeant in 2017.

City leaders removed Gartland last month without explaining why. Records later obtained by the Union-Tribune revealed he was removed after a city investigation found that he and two lifeguard sergeants had mishandled a sexual harassment complaint filed by a lifeguard.

After Gartland’s removal, Hodges said she expressed interest in the chief job and asked the then-interim chief, Fire-Rescue Deputy Chief Dan Eddy, if she would be considered for the position. He told her, “I don’t see why not,” Hodges’ lawsuit said.

Hodges was not given the chance to submit an application or be interviewed for the job, according to her lawsuit, which was filed in San Diego Superior Court.

City officials said they do not comment on pending litigation.

Four days after Gartland’s removal, city leaders appointed Daniel Orloff, a deputy city attorney, as lifeguard chief.

Officials did not answer questions about whether the city posted the chief job, invited applications for the position or conducted candidate interviews during that four-day period. Shortly after he was appointed, Orloff told the Union-Tribune, “I put my name in the hat knowing I could do the job.”

“Orloff brings a unique combination of operational, legal, policy, labor and leadership experience that will serve the division well,” Fire-Rescue Chief Robert Logan said at the time of Orloff’s appointment. “His career has provided him with a broad understanding of our organization and of the importance of collaboration, accountability and strong relationships both within the division and across the city.”

Orloff has 15 years of experience as a lifeguard, working summers as a seasonal lifeguard starting in 2010. He got a law degree from the University of San Diego in 2015, according to the La Jolla Light. He became a permanent lifeguard in 2019, then a lifeguard sergeant two years later and led the city’s lifeguard union.

In 2023, he left lifeguarding to become a deputy city attorney.

Hodges’ lawsuit said she is “substantially more” qualified than Orloff, after noting his few years as a full-time lifeguard.

The lawsuit seeks damages, legal costs such as attorney fees and a court injunction “requiring the City to better protect its employees from discrimination.”

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