Baltimore County settlement agreement reached after nude photos shared of female firefighters
BALTIMORE -- The Department of Justice has reached a settlement agreement with Baltimore County following a 2017 incident when the Baltimore County Fire Department allegedly subjected several females to a hostile work environment, according to state authorities.
That year, a male firefighter distributed to other male colleagues the nude and sexually suggestive pictures of several female firefighters, according to court documents.
This created a hostile work environment for the female firefighters, per court documents.
The Baltimore County Fire Department allegedly knew about the hostile work environment, had received complaints about it, but "failed to take prompt and remedial corrective action," according to court documents.
The settlement resolves the department's complaint alleging that the county, through the fire department, violated Title VII by subjecting several female employees to a hostile work environment on the basis of their sex, according to state authorities.
Title VII is a federal statute that prohibits employment discrimination based on race, color, national origin, sex and religion and prohibits retaliation against employees for opposing discriminatory employment practices.
Under the terms of the consent decree, if approved by the court, the Baltimore County Fire Department will have to overhaul its process for investigating complaints of sexual harassment, state authorities said.
Additionally, the consent decree would mandate that the fire department provide periodic sexual harassment training to its employees and conduct a workplace climate survey to gather the information necessary to keep the workplace free of harassment, according to state authorities.
The consent decree would have the county pay $275,000 to compensate female employees who were harmed by the harassment, state authorities said.
This case stems from a charge of discrimination by a commissioner for the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. It was investigated by the commission's Baltimore office, according to state authorities.
During the investigation, the commission found reasonable cause to believe that BCFD violated Title VII. After unsuccessful conciliation efforts, the commission referred the charge to the Department or Justice, state authorities said.
