By FireRescue1 Staff
NEW YORK — A black FDNY firefighter filed a lawsuit against the department, claiming he has been discriminated against “because of his race.”
Roben Duge said in a lawsuit that he has been sidelined by fire officials ever since transferring to a busier fire station, according to the NY Post.
“You should go to the neighborhood you live in,” Capt. Daniel Florenco allegedly told Duge upon his transfer to Ladder 103.
Duge also claimed that Florenco grilled officers of Duge’s former company about why “they allowed the transfer,” lied about staffing protocols so that Duge could not take time off and denied him and another black colleague a “front piece,” or a metal plate on the helmet that identifies their firehouse.
Duge said he was “reassigned to administrative duties driving a messenger van because he complained of how he was treated,” according to court documents.
According to the lawsuit, when Florenco tried to force Duge to transfer, a firefighter told Duge, “If this were back in the day, you would have been punched in the face for refusing to transfer out.”
The lawsuit also said that Duge was portrayed as a “safety hazard” by Florenco when he was assigned to a roof position while battling a blaze but was “forced to carry out the job meant for two” when a colleague who was assigned to join him never showed up.
Duge’s lawyer, Aymen Aboushi, said Duge has been on administrative duties for a year.