Ex-Flanders Fire Chief Sues East Lyme, CT, for Harassment

East Lyme — Former volunteer Flanders Fire Department Chief Chris Taylor has sued the town, accusing officials of harassment and retaliation both during and after an investigation into his conduct.

He charged that this created an intolerable work environment, which forced him to quit.

The harassment investigation into Taylor, performed two years ago after other fire personnel accused Taylor of unleashing a profane tirade when he saw them allegedly searching his office, called for Taylor, both a paid part-time firefighter and volunteer chief, to undergo anger management and bullying courses.

Reached Monday, First Selectman Dan Cunningham declined to comment on the pending litigation. He also declined to say when Taylor's employment ended. The suit names as defendants the town, Cunningham and former Deputy Fire Chief Erik Quinn.

The case was moved to federal court in late January after being filed in December.

Taylor's attorney did not return a request for comment. Taylor is seeking back pay and punitive damages and demands the town give him his job back.

Who harassed whom?

Central to the lawsuit is Taylor's claim the town retaliated against him with a sham" investigation into his conduct. The probe began when paid firefighter David Swinburne complained that Taylor berated him with profane language in January 2024.

In the lawsuit, Taylor says Swinburne and another firefighter entered his locked office without permission, amounting to burglary and an illegal search, and accuses the town of lying to tarnish his reputation and force him out of the firehouse.

Taylor's expressing his "desire to be free from unlawful searches constituted an exercise of free expression," protected by the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, the suit states. Taylor's suit charges the town took no action against the firefighters who went into his office .

Taylor was "retaliated against, subjected to harassment, intimidated, threatened, disciplined and ultimately constructively terminated from his employment due to his protected free speech...," subjecting him to mental anguish and financial losses, damaging his professional and personal reputation with a smear campaign, the lawsuit states.

Constructive termination, also known as constructive discharge, occurs when an employee quits a job that any reasonable person would find hostile or intolerable, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. Legally, this is treated as an involuntary termination, opening the door for wrongful firing claims against the employer.

During the harassment investigation, paid and volunteer firefighters said Taylor was an untrustworthy leader, territorial over his beat and lazy about purchasing and maintaining equipment. Quinn told investigators that Taylor would borrow equipment, then return it damaged. Purchases for the department, such as vehicle fluid and pocket knives, went missing.

Investigation findings say Taylor created "a hostile work environment" and volunteers and paid employees avoided him. Taylor was placed on administrative leave about a week after the incident in his office. Taylor got hostile, Swinburne said, when the former chief learned Swinburne complained to another volunteer chief about unpaid bills and delayed equipment maintenance.

Taylor argues he did his job well, "honestly and with diligence. He said the investigator never spoke to him, and in the lawsuit, accuses Quinn of lying about the missing and damaged property. The equipment issues were not part of the harassment investigation into Taylor.

Quinn was fired last year after state police opened an arson investigation into him.

A letter Taylor signed in April 2024 required him to complete training for bullying, stress management and violence, and said his performance would be watched closely for six months.

The lawsuit also says the investigation into Taylor, its findings and the eventual end of his employment, were all secretly meant to advance Cunningham's goal of creating a town-run fire department, consolidating the formerly independent Niantic and Flanders fire departments and bringing them under town supervision, staffing them with full-time, paid firefighters instead of volunteers. Voters approved the change in 2024.

In 2019, state police accused Taylor of stealing $13,000 from the New London County Fire Marshal's Association. Taylor previously said the money has been paid back. Court records of that case have since been erased.

Taylor was elected the Flanders chief in 2021.

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