Racial slur revives tension within Fire Dept.
Lawyer argues firefighter's suspension is the result of dicrimination.

BY HELEN ECKINGER

Within days of New Haven firefighter Carole LaCroix uttering the word "nigger" during an official presentation on Oct. 14, groups ranging from high-ranking city officials to the local chapter of the NAACP were clamoring for her dismissal. Since then, the question of her possible termination—and the bureaucratic motivation behind it—has been at the center of a heated debate, bringing up concerns about disabilities, prejudice, and the Fire Department's lengthy history of racial tensions.

The incident occurred at one of a series of annual presentations meant to elicit donations to the United Way organization from city employees.

"Ms. LaCroix had been assigned by the fire department to coordinate the United Way campaign," Jennifer Pugh, deputy chief administrator for the city of New Haven, said. As part of her duties, LaCroix was responsible for escorting United Way representatives to each of the city's fire departments.

At the Lombard St. Fire House presentation, LaCroix was supposed to introduce speakers from the United Way, as well as others from Community Works and the United Negro College Fund (UNCF).

"The representative from the UNCF was unable to be there," Pugh said. "So they asked [LaCroix] to make the pitch for UNCF."

It was then that LaCroix referred to the organization as the "United Nigger College Fund." When stunned members of the audience asked her to repeat what she had said, LaCroix uttered the same words.

According to her attorney, John R. Williams, LaCroix attempted to continue the presentation, but soon broke down.

"She began tearfully and profusely apologizing," he said. Eventually, LaCroix was escorted out of the room and sent home, where "she immediately wrote a letter of apology to the fire chief," Williams said.

As news of the event spread, many local organizations responded fiercely to what they considered a clear display of racism. "We think that her actions are deplorable," Scot X. Esdaile, president of the Greater New Haven NAACP,told the New Haven Register on Thurs., Oct. 16. "We want her fired."

On Tues., Nov. 4, the Board of Fire Commissioners suspended LaCroix without pay for six months and demoted her to a probationary firefighter for an additional six months upon her return to work. In addition, she must complete a discrimination-awareness course.

According to Pugh, LaCroix was lucky to emerge from the hearing with her job.

"The fire chief wanted to take strong disciplinary action," she said. "He was advocating her termination."

The fire chief's office did not return repeated requests for comment.

Both LaCroix and the firefighters' union plan to appeal the board's decision to the Connecticut Department of Labor. In addition, Williams says he plans to file complaints with both the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the Connecticut Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities.

Williams claims that his client's actions were caused by learning disabilities and a fear of public speaking.

"She doesn't read well," he said. "She has serious learning disabilities." Williams went on to say that the fire department was aware of LaCroix's problems. "She was documented within the fire department as having a disability," he said.

Williams arranged for LaCroix to undergo testing with Dr. Armin P. Theis, an assistant professor and renowned neurophysiologist at the Yale Medical School.

"After several days of testing, Theis submitted a long written report stating what happened was a consolidation of learning disabilities and anxiety on public speaking," Williams said.

According to Williams, LaCroix's anxiety associated with public speaking was also documented within the fire department. Theis personally testified at LaCroix's hearing on Tues., Nov. 4, and his report was made available to the members of the board.

Pugh acknowledged that Williams presented the board with information regarding LaCroix's disabilities, and said that the evidence may have been the deciding factor in the board's decision to suspend LaCroix rather than to fire her.

While Williams emphasized that his client's actions were due to her disabilities, he also raised the question of whether the board had the right to take any severe punitive actions, regardless of LaCroix's disability status.

"Given that it was not intentional, and her record of pristine service, this is over the top," he said.

Williams said that he intends to present LaCroix's case as an incident of disability discrimination, but he also plans to raise questions regarding the severity of her punishment.

"This is garden-variety labor arbitration," he said. "Most cases like this involve questioning whether the punishment is too excessive for the crime."

Williams believes that the New Haven Fire Department's historically troubled race relations may have influenced the board's decision to punish LaCroix harshly.

"This is a department with a history of racial tension," he said. "In the past, the fire department has been discriminatory against African Americans. They are making a sincere effort to put that behind them."

In fact, the New Haven Fire Department has long been accused of denying promotions to minority firefighters, passing them over for their white counterparts. Over the past several decades, the Firebirds, a fraternal organization of minority firefighters, have filed several anti-discrimination suits against the department.

As a result of one recent suit, which was ruled upon in March 2002, the fire department's practices of making promotions even when a rank was completely full and of financing the additional salaries from empty positions within other ranks were declared illegal.

Then, just two months ago, former firefighter Sheryl Broadnax was awarded $1.5 million in a discrimination suit filed against the department.

While Broadnax's claim was awarded on the basis of gender discrimination, the lawsuit was originally part of an earlier case that accused the fire department of both gender and racial discrimination.

Broadnax, who is African-American, was the highest ranked female firefighter in the New Haven Fire Department's history and also served as the president of the Firebirds from 1989-92.

She sued the fire department after she was fired in Feb. 2002 for allegedly copying a master personnel list from the deputy fire chief's computer.

Many, including Broadnax's lawyers, questioned whether her activist role during her tenure at the fire department played a role in her firing. Although her termination was eventually overturned, Broadnax retired from the department last January.

Pugh denied that an attempt to maintain relative racial harmony within the fire department influenced LaCroix's punishment.

"I've heard nothing about it," she said, "and I don't know if that's true."

Williams also felt that LaCroix's own race played a role in the fire department's response to her action.

"If she had been African-American and said that, it would have undoubtedly been received differently," he said.