Florida Firefighter Claims Harassment on Job

Sept. 6, 2011
MIAMI -- An investigation is under way into a Miami-Dade firefighter's allegations that he was harassed and threatened on the job. In the latest incident, according to memos firefighter Miguel Rodriguez sent to his superiors, he found a note stuffed into his locker at the fire station filled with racial slurs and a warning stay off the C shift. Rodriguez was temporarily transferred from the C shift to the A shift at the Miami International Airport fire station, at his request.

MIAMI --

An investigation is under way into a Miami-Dade firefighter's allegations that he was harassed and threatened on the job.

In the latest incident, according to memos firefighter Miguel Rodriguez sent to his superiors, he found a note stuffed into his locker at the fire station filled with racial slurs and a warning stay off the C shift.

Rodriguez was temporarily transferred from the C shift to the A shift at the Miami International Airport fire station, at his request.

In a series of memos beginning in June 2010 through the end of the year, Rodriguez alleged several co-workers wrote threatening notes, spit in his protein powder and left bloody underwear among his clean wash at the station laundry.

In October, he reported that when he confronted one of his harassers to stop the bullying, childish behavior, that co-worker struck him with a metal object. He said a cut near his right eye needed 10 stitches.

Rodriguez included photographs with the memos in support of his allegations.

He filed a complaint for an Internal Affairs investigation in July 2010 but claims he got no relief.

No one answered the door at Rodriguez's home Friday.

A fire department spokesman declined comment on behalf of her superiors, issuing a written statement: "The allegations are under investigation and we can't disclose further information at this time."

Copyright 2011 by Post-Newsweek Stations. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed

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