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Rebecca Reynolds claimed in two lawsuits that she has endured decades of abuse from her male coworkers who often targeted her for being a lesbian and for her age.
A Kansas City firefighter was the victim of harassment from her coworkers for over two decades. Now, she's finally getting her deserved compensation.
The City Council’s finance committee recommended without comment Tuesday that Rebecca Reynolds receive a $1.3 million settlement in response to over 21 years of mistreatment and abuse from her male coworkers and superiors. The council approved the settlement Thursday, making it the largest discrimination payout in city fire department history.
Reynolds claimed in two lawsuits that she endured decades of abuse from her male coworkers, who often targeted her for being a lesbian and for her age. Reynolds, who graduated from the fire academy at age 40, claimed that the demeaning comments even sometimes occurred in front of patients, including examples in which she was told she was "not normal" because of her sexual orientation and that she was a lesbian was because she had not had sex with the right man.
“There’s no way she would have been yelled at and treated the way she was if she were a man,” said Reynolds' attorney, Bert Braud of the Popham Law Firm.
Reynolds has agreed to drop the two pending lawsuits, and has also agreed not to file a third case against the department over an incident in which another firefighter reportedly urinated in her office while she was on extended medical leave.
Pleaze Robinson III was charged with first degree harassment and first degree property damage earlier this year after Reynolds came back to her office in Sept., 2023 and was met with a foul odor. She noticed some of her items were wet and attempted to clean them, only to discover a yellow substance covering her CD player, boogie board, and medic training books, all valued at around $3,000, according to the Kansas City Star.
DNA tests revealed that the liquid was urine, and that it came from Robinson. The firefighter had previously been charged with third degree assault for a road rage incident in 2019 in which he allegedly slammed a woman to the ground and punched her over 30 times.
“None of this had to happen,” Braud said. “Ms. Reynolds was let down by the KCFD chain of command, the city’s internal EEO office, and the HR department. Our community deserves better. It is our hope that the department will start doing the right thing.”
Reynolds also will resign as part of the settlement, though that was not her decision. She said: “I have a valuable skill set that benefits my community and I leave proud of the job I did.”
