New York Fire Department Chiefs File Lawsuit Against Alleged ‘Retaliatory’ Demotion by Commissioner

Firefighters train at the Fire Department of New York (FDNY) training academy in New York City. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

Staff Chiefs of the Fire Department of New York (FDNY) have filed a lawsuit to block the fire commissioner’s decision to demote them, a decision they characterize as “retaliatory.”

Commissioner Laura Kavanagh, the first woman to serve as commissioner of the FDNY, is alleged to have ignored the advice of staff chiefs on “critical safety issues” and attempted to “smear the victims,” including characterizing the plaintiffs as racists and misogynists. The FDNY and Kavanagh, who is known to be a supporter of diversity in the department, are respondents in the case.

The lawsuit demands the “immediate reinstatement” of eleven staff chiefs who serve as incident commanders for multi-alarm fires in the city of New York, according to a Feb. 27 press release by Walden Macht & Haran LLP, the law firm of the four Staff Chiefs.

The multi-alarm classification is used to denote the seriousness of fires. The complaint was filed in the Kings County Supreme Court of New York in Brooklyn on Feb. 27.

“Respondent Kavanagh’s brief tenure as FDNY Commissioner has shown what happens when a political operative is put in charge of a public-safety agency as vital as the FDNY,” the lawsuit states.

“Through the demotions and reassignments, as well as through other decisions antithetical to public safety, Respondent Kavanagh has abused the office of Fire Commissioner, violated the oath of office, put the public and members of the FDNY at risk, and retaliated against senior staff for raising safety concerns about leadership decisions.”

When Kavanagh’s “ill-conceived demotions” go into effect on March 4 and 6, there will be no staff chiefs with experience as incident commanders at FDNY to respond to 5-alarm fires. For 4-alarm fires, only a few staff chiefs with experience will remain, according to the complaint.

The petitioners of the lawsuit include FDNY Assistant Chief of Fire Prevention Joe Jardin, Assistant Chief of Operations Michael Gala, Assistant Chief of Operations Fred Schaaf, and Chief of Uniformed Personnel Michael Massucci.

The Lawsuit

Kavanagh became the acting Fire Commissioner in February 2022. According to the lawsuit, for almost a year between February 2022 and 3023, Kavanagh held “no meetings” with the full group of staff chiefs. “This is entirely inconsistent with the practices of past Fire Commissioners who typically met with and consulted their chiefs on at least a monthly basis,” the complaint notes.

The staff chiefs raised their concerns with Kavanagh and her staff, insisting that such decisions “harmed public safety.” But instead of taking the advice of the staff chiefs, Kavanagh is alleged to have “took their concerns as unjustifiable dissent.”

“To put the Staff Chiefs who dared to question her decisions in their place, Respondent Kavanagh began a pattern of abuse of power and retaliation. The first set of Retaliation Decisions were to reassign Assistant Chiefs and Deputy Assistant Chiefs to meaningless positions within the FDNY, and to strip them of their duties,” the lawsuit states.

Due to Kavanagh’s actions, the FDNY was in “severe disarray” at the start of 2023. On Feb. 3, when Kavanagh ordered her first-ever staff chiefs meeting, Gala, Jardin, and Schaaf were asked not to attend. During the meeting, Kavanagh is said to have “disparaged” the chiefs, accusing them of “pestering her for promotions and personal cars.”

“The Staff Chiefs sat in the meeting and tried to appease Respondent Kavanagh. It soon became apparent, however, that the meeting was not an attempt by Respondent Kavanagh to seek out the advice and counsel of the Staff Chiefs or find an amenable path forward,” according to the lawsuit.

“Instead, this meeting was a pretext for Respondent Kavanagh’s next move—the demotions of Gala, Jardin, and Schaaf— which the rest of the Staff Chiefs did not yet know was coming, because Respondent Kavanagh did not tell them.” The lawsuit also accuses Kavanagh of “secretly” recording the meeting and leaking it to the media.

During a Feb. 3 meeting with Kavanagh’s chief of staff Luis Martinez, Gala, Jardin, and Schaaf were informed that they were being demoted to two ranks below their current rank. The three chiefs are the oldest Staff Chiefs at FDNY but were not provided with “any information or insight into the reasons for their demotions,” the suit claims.

As several staff members voiced disagreement with Kavanagh’s decision, she continued to act as a “political operative, not a safety professional.” The lawsuit alleges Kavanagh of initiating a smear campaign against the victims.

The lawsuit also cited reports from multiple media outlets to make the case that Kavanagh smeared the plaintiffs through such channels.

It cited a Feb. 6 article from New York Daily News which insisted that Schaff “resisted transferring and disciplining some firefighters” when “allegations of racism” were made in a Queens firehouse. Due to Jardin’s “tough-guy management style,” he was subject to “a series of complaints with the city’s Office of Equal Employment Opportunity” while Gala was seen as a “divisive element” in the department.

Another Feb. 6 article from The Chief Leader quoted a longtime FDNY member who alleged Jardin to be a “racist who would pass up non-white and female employees for promotions.”

“On information and belief, Respondent either made or authorized each of these acts of slander against Petitioners,” the lawsuit noted. “Each of these smears is probably false.”

“Beginning March 6, 2023, when the constructive demotions go into effect, there will be no remaining Staff Chiefs with experience as Incident Commanders for 5-alarm fires; there will be only three Chiefs with some possible experience as Incident Commanders for 4-alarm fires; and there will be only seven Chiefs with experience as the Incident Commander for 3-alarm fires,” the lawsuit noted.

Staff Chiefs provide leadership and operational control during 3-alarm to 5-alarm fires. Without the court stopping the demotions, there is “an abundantly clear risk” to public safety, with the likelihood that people will die and get injured, the complaint warned.

Demoting Officers, Pushing Diversity

While some staff chiefs were demoted by Kavanagh, a few others stepped down from their posts in protest. During an FDNY promotions ceremony in Brooklyn earlier this month, Kavanagh was subjected to loud boos from the audience.

When asked about the demotions, Kavanagh said that “I’m picking a staff that’s going to lead us forward into the future and accomplish the goals of myself and the mayor and, most importantly, a staff that’s going to serve what the members need every day,” according to CBS2.

Speaking to the outlet, Uniformed Fire Officers Association President Lt. James McCarthy said that Kavanagh’s decision has gone against the norm of FDNY. In the fire department, no one is usually demoted unless a person faces “criminal charges or department charges.”

“It creates about 150 years of firefighting experience and a skill set that you can’t replace in a short manner of time. So it impacts the safety of the people of the city, as well as the people of the Fire Department.”

Kavanagh was appointed as the FDNY Fire Commissioner in October last year. During her brief reign, Kavanagh named the first Hispanic chief, the first black female executive officer, and the first black Emergency Medical Services chief at the department.

In November, when New York City’s Democrat mayor Eric Adams signed a five-bill package aimed at boosting diversity within the FDNY, Kavanagh had extended support to the decision.

“Diversity is at the heart of our city’s strength, and our commitment as an agency is first and foremost to the people we serve,” Kavanagh said at the time.

In reply to a request for comment by The Epoch Times, the FDNY said they had “no comment on pending litigation.”