By Bob Egelko
The San Francisco Chronicle
Copyright 2007 San Francisco Chronicle
All Rights Reserved
SAN FRANCISCO — A federal appeals court reinstated a workplace harassment suit Monday by a Contra Costa County firefighter who said she was subjected to insults and abuse at fire stations for 12 years because of her race and sex.
Donna Rayon Terrell was the first black woman on the Fire Department when she was hired in 1989, said her lawyer, Pamela Price. There are now two others, including Terrell’s daughter, Mandisa Banjoko, Price said. She said Terrell sued the department in 2002 after being denied a promotion, but has since been promoted to captain and works at the department’s training station in Concord.
Among the mistreatment alleged by Terrell, Price said, were numerous remarks by firefighters about her appearance and sexuality; racist comments about African American children in Richmond, where Terrell was born; ostracism; incidents in which she was left alone at a station while the rest of the crew went to a fire; and one occasion in which she had to fight a fire by herself.
U.S. District Judge Maxine Chesney dismissed the suit in 2004, ruling that Terrell had not been harassed. But the three-judge appeals court panel said Monday that Terrell’s allegations, if proven, could show that “she was subject to a pattern of ongoing and persistent harassment severe enough to alter the conditions of her employment.’'
The county’s lawyer was unavailable for comment.