http://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/local/scn-sa-nor.fire3feb06,0,2099567.story?coll=stam-news-local-headlines
By John Nickerson
Staff Writer
February 6, 2007
NORWALK - Facing possible termination tonight, a firefighter at the center of a racism investigation is working on a possible settlement with the city.
Details were being hammered out by the city and the attorney representing Scot Wilson, who has a racial discrimination complaint against the city pending with the state Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities.
The city is seeking to have the CHRO complaint dropped in return for a settlement that could include medical and other benefits Wilson could receive as part of a separation agreement.
"We are trying to work out something that will give us a way to put everything behind us," Norwalk Mayor Richard Moccia said. "Hopefully, we can have it resolved (by today). . . . We are trying to be fair to Scot, and we are trying to be fair with the city."
The city Board of Fire Commissioners is scheduled to meet at 5 p.m. today to discuss Wilson's possible termination. Wilson, 47, was suspended after reporting for duty under the influence of alcohol in September.
But he sparked a furor over racism in the department when he played a 2005 videotape to the media in November in which a firefighter inside Broad River firehouse uses two racial slurs.
The fire commissioners also will hear a report from New Haven-based 3-D Seminars, a firm hired to determine whether racism exists in the fire department.
Based on conversations with 3-D Seminars employees last week, city officials said they believe the report will be favorable.
In his complaint to the CHRO, Wilson, who is black, says he was "denied equal terms and conditions of (his) employment . . . because of racial animus, disability discrimination and retaliation."
The racial slurs were taped at the Broad River firehouse during an informal conversation about which department staff were included in an earlier age discrimination complaint Wilson filed with the CHRO in 2003.
The CHRO dismissed the ageism complaint last summer and Wilson filed the latest complaint alleging racism and citing the video as evidence.
If Wilson and the city reach an agreement, Moccia said it would be made public as long as it did not involve Wilson's personal employment history.
Asked yesterday what he was seeking, Wilson said, "I want a discrimination-free place to work, but I don't think that is going to happen."
He said fire commissioners should take his state complaint into consideration before reaching any decision regarding his job at today's hearing.
The incident last September was not the first time Wilson had arrived at work under the influence of alcohol.
On July 11, 2005, the 27-year veteran was sent home after he admitted to superiors that he had been drinking before work that day.
And according to the department discipline log, Wilson tested positive for alcohol during a test by a doctor on April 5, 2005, and was sent home.
On Jan. 21, 2005, he was issued a verbal warning about not drinking beer before work, the log shows.
Wilson said yesterday his drinking on duty is a direct response to the racial atmosphere at work.
"My recent dependency issues are based on the treatment I received by fire officials," Wilson said.
Wilson underwent treatment for alcohol abuse in 2005 and returned to firefighting before being suspended for the September incident.
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