By Kenneth Heard
The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
POCAHONTAS, Ark. — A former Pocahontas firefighter who sued the city for reinstatement, claiming she was fired in 2006 because of her sex, will not receive her job back.
Instead she will receive a negotiated settlement, a U.S. District Court magistrate ruled at a mediation hearing.
Laveida Jones will receive $131,500 from Pocahontas for lost back pay, attorneys fees and compensatory damages, said her attorney, Denise Reid Hoggard.
Jones can reapply for a job with the Fire Department whenever Pocahontas Mayor Gary Crocker and Fire Chief Scott Baltz are no longer working for the city, Hoggard said.
City officials also agreed to take diversity training as part of the settlement, the attorney said. Jones also will drop civil lawsuits against Crocker and Baltz individually under the settlement.
“We did nothing wrong,” Baltz said Friday. “We felt that if we went to trial, the attorney fees would be higher [than the settlement] even if we won. We felt like we had an excellent case, but we were going to be out of a lot of money either way.” Crocker was unavailable for comment and did not return messages Friday.
Jones, who was hired by former Pocahontas Mayor John Patrick on May 3, 2001, conducted fire inspections and fought fires. She was terminated Sept. 28, 2006. Baltz said he recommended Jones’ firing after she shut water to hoses while firefighters were inside a burning structure in Pocahontas.
“She endangered firefighters’ lives,” Baltz said.
Jones contended in her civil lawsuit that she was terminated because she is a woman.
“We felt she was fired because there was resentment to her being on the department,” Hoggard said. “There was resistance toward a woman on the force.” Baltz said Jones received the same amount of pay as the male firefighters and was promoted from lieutenant to captain 21 days after Baltz took over as the chief.
“I do not have a problem with women in the fire service,” Baltz said.
The six Pocahontas City Council members attended the mediation hearing Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Little Rock. The aldermen decided on a settlement after deliberating for more than eight hours on giving Jones $131,500 in a 5-1 vote.
Alderman Keith Futrell cast the only vote opposing the settlement.
“I believe she was terminated for good reason,” Futrell said. “She wasn’t terminated because she was a woman. She was terminated because she couldn’t do the job.
“I stood against this from the very first vote,” he said. “My vote was to give her zero. She didn’t deserve a penny. I’d rather see it go to trial. I believe we had a better than 50-50 chance of winning.” Arkansas has 14 female firefighters in six departments, according to the International Association of Women in Fire and Emergency Services’ Web site. The association in Fairfax, Va., monitors sex issues in fire departments across the country.
“Laveida wanted to get her job back,” Hoggard said. “Firefighting is in her heart.”
Copyright 2009 Little Rock Newspapers, Inc.