Female FDNY Firefighter Loses Discrimination Suit

The female firefighter had sued the department for $10 million, claiming she was denied a job driving a chief to blazes because he didn't want a woman in the role.

May 3, 2007

The Fire Department did not discriminate against a pioneering female firefighter who quit over an alleged "hostile work environment," a Brooklyn federal jury ruled yesterday.

Judith Beyar, 51, who broke the gender barrier in the FDNY 20 years ago, had sued the department for $10 million, claiming she was denied a job driving a fire chief to blazes because he didn't want a woman in that role.

But a five-woman, three-man jury decided the department was within its rights to refuse her the job.

"I wish I never got on the Fire Department," said a tearful Beyar after the verdict. "It will be a long road before women are accepted . . . It's like a brotherhood."

Retired chief Robert Mosier testified this week that he wouldn't allow Beyar to drive him because he thought Beyar's "instincts" were rusty and he "tried to choose someone who I thought would give me an extra edge at a fire."

Republished with permission of The New York Post.