Denver taxpayers will pay out a firefighter $100,000 following a former hearth division lieutenant positioned a mystery digicam in her bed room at a fireplace station and recorded her transforming clothing.
The Denver City Council approved the settlement Monday night time following the woman firefighter filed a demand of discrimination versus the Denver Hearth Department with the Equal Employment Opportunity Fee. The Denver Post is not naming the woman firefighter mainly because she is a victim of sexual harassment.
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A jury in October convicted the former lieutenant, Daniel Flesner, of criminal invasion of privateness and trying to tamper with physical evidence. He was sentenced in January to two many years of probation, treatment and a mental wellness screening, court information clearly show. He retired from the department two times soon after the hidden digital camera was identified.
“DFD leadership has agreed to get a quantity of techniques to assure female firefighters feel risk-free and respected and that folks like Lt. Flesner are held accountable for any damage they may well bring about,” Kelli Christensen, spokeswoman for the Denver Division of Public Security, stated in a assertion.
The modifications involve:
- Requiring further yearly in-person sexual harassment teaching for all workers, commencing in 2021
- Performing with an outside entity to evaluation fireplace office insurance policies connected to discrimination and harassment
- Web hosting quarterly conferences between woman firefighters and best department leaders to explore ways to improve equity
Gals who operate for the Denver Hearth Department repeatedly have claimed they confront sexism and harassment on the position.
A team of Black women sued the office in Oct alleging they faced sexism and racism while doing work for the department. In 2019, the metropolis compensated $975,000 to settle statements by a former firefighter who explained she was fired for filing intercourse discrimination issues. The previous hearth main, Eric Tade, resigned in 2020 immediately after an yearly firefighters’ ball highlighted sexual innuendo and jokes about sexual intercourse toys — for the second 12 months in a row.
The feminine firefighter located the digicam — which appeared like a cellular phone charger — in her room in Fire Station 9 on March 30, 2019, just after listening to a delayed echo of her voice.
She claimed the digicam to her supervisors and gave them the machine. The supervisors then handed the digicam to Flesner, who grabbed a thrust pin from a close by corkboard and began jamming the pin into the camera.
Flesner later on explained to fire division officials that he placed the digital camera in the place as a joke, his arrest affidavit states.
Investigators discovered a person online video of the female switching on the device’s memory card, along with nevertheless photos, the affidavit states.
The female was the only woman firefighter who worked at the station, in accordance to a lawsuit the lady filed towards Flesner on March 29. One of the firefighters who utilized the identical bed room while on change informed the girl he discovered the system 3 or four months prior, but assumed it belonged to just one of the three firefighters who applied the bedroom.
“Because Defendant Flesner was ready to ruin proof it is not acknowledged for how extended he experienced spied on Plaintiff, nor whether or not he shared the movies with any individual else,” the woman’s lawsuit against Flesner states.
Due to the fact of the criminal offense, the lady “suffered extreme psychological distress like submit-traumatic tension problem and rest disturbance, and other damages and losses, including, but not limited to, psychological distress and nervousness, inconvenience and impairment of top quality of daily life, and financial losses, including decline of income, and earlier, present and upcoming clinical and therapeutic cost,” according to her lawsuit.
Lawyers for the woman firefighter did not return requests for remark Monday or Tuesday.
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