Selection of jurors in FD case to begin

Connecticut Post
BRIDGEPORT
Monday, August 02, 2004

Jury selection is slated to start Tuesday in a sexual discrimination lawsuit filed by two female city firefighters against the Fire Department, according to the plaintiffs' lawyer, Susan Wallace.

Senior U.S. District Judge Alfred V. Covello is handling the suit at U.S. District Court in Hartford.

Wallace alleges in the suit, filed in July 2001 on behalf of Firefighters Elizabeth O'Connell and Johanna S. Georgia, that male firefighters openly viewed pornography, intruded in and trashed women's quarters in city firehouses, gave them ill-fitting clothes and ignored their resulting complaints, among other claims.

They seek unspecified damages and a halt to discriminatory acts. They also want a non-discrimination policy regarding women in the Fire Department created and enforced.

AARON LEO