Firefighter Alleges She Was `Blackballed' for Discrimination Complaints

LOS ANGELES (CNS) - A Black female firefighter has sued the city of Los Angeles, alleging her complaints about gender and race discrimination left her "blackballed" and shattered her hopes of being promoted to captain.

Afara Lalaind's Los Angeles Superior Court lawsuit alleges discrimination, retaliation and failure to prevent discrimination. She seeks unspecified damages.

"Plaintiff 's reputation has been ruined since being subjected to discrimination and retaliation," according to the suit, which further alleges that the LAFD command staff attempted to silence Lalaind regarding her complaints and grievances, leaving her "blackballed" and unlikely to ever become a captain.

A representative for the City Attorney's Office did not immediately reply to a request for comment on the suit brought Thursday.

Lalaind, 39, is a trained firefighter and paramedic whose commendations and recognitions had her on the way to possible promotions to arson investigator and eventually captain, the suit states.

Lalaind was granted a transfer to station 57 in South Los Angeles in 2022 and she hoped to make a difference in the areas it served as well as be respected as the only woman assigned there, the suit states.

Instead, Lalaind was subjected to ongoing discrimination by the station captain, who gave preferential treatment to male colleagues despite the fact she was a senior firefighter, the suit states.

"Within days, it became clear that (the captain) was suffering from some form of gender bias as he did not treat plaintiff as other male members of the crew (and) he would not look her way, speak to her, make eye contact or acknowledge what she had to say," according to the suit, which further alleges Lalaind was subjected to "discriminatory microaggressions."

After Lalaind complained to upper management that she was wrongfully denied a promotion that would have given her less interaction with the captain, the captain began a series of retaliatory steps that were capped when he initiated a complaint against the plaintiff for allegedly being discourteous to a member of the public at a grocery store and allegedly purchasing alcohol while on duty for cooking, according to the suit.

Instead of helping Lalaind, upper management scolded her and did nothing about the captain's alleged harassment and discrimination, the suit states.

Meanwhile, the captain filed additional accusations against the plaintiff concerning timekeeping issues and her alleged failure to follow an order, according to her complaint.

Lalaind traded shifts with firefighters outside station 57 in order to get away from the captain, the suit states.

Lalaind was temporarily transferred to station 46 and was put on a performance improvement plan when members of the Black firefighters association, the Stentorians, complained on her behalf, the suit states.

Lalaind was later moved to station 17, where the battalion chief told others the plaintiff should "calm down" and "take it easy," and where a captain alleged that Lalaind had discriminated against him, according to the suit, which further states that the alleged mistreatment has caused her to lose income and suffer emotional distress.