By Lisa Redmond
The Lowell Sun
WOBURN, Mass. — A retired veteran Dracut firefighter has reached a settlement agreement in his employment discrimination-lawsuit against the town and fire officials.
According to court documents, lawyers representing Bernard Saja and the town of Dracut, Dracut Fire Chief Leo Gaudette and the Dracut Board of Selectmen settled Saja’s 2005 lawsuit with undisclosed terms.
Attorneys representing the town and Saja could not be reached for comment.When reached at his Dracut home, Saja declined to comment except to say, “It was not a happy ending. I just want to leave it behind.’'
Saja, 40, sued in Middlesex Superior Court claiming age and handicapped discrimination claiming he was passed up for promotion to lieutenant several times in favor of sometimes younger, but less experienced in-house candidates.
Saja’s attorney, Jeffrey R. Mazer, argued in court documents that his client, who had been a full-time firefighter since 1998 and retired since June, had a series medical issues including brain surgery, gallbladder surgery and hypertension that he claims were held against him when he applied for promotions.
He argued that Dracut fire officials unfairly listed him as the firefighter with the second-highest number of missed days -- 31 missed shifts -- in a 2006 article in The Sun that outlined how possible sick-time abuse among police and firefighters led to a jump in overtime costs.
The town, through its attorney Adam Simms, argued in court documents that Saja wasn’t necessarily more qualified or older than some of the people promoted. Since Dracut uses a collective-bargaining agreement and not civil service, sick leave and overtime were used as a “tiebreaker.”
As for any handicapped discrimination, Simms argued that Saja never disclosed to fire officials that he had any long-term chronic disability and never requested any special accommodations.
At an earlier hearing, Middlesex Superior Court Judge Kenneth Fishman allowed a request for summary judgment by Dracut selectmen, ruling that the board had no hand in promoting firefighters.
Saja did file a complaint with the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination which sided with Dracut.
The MCAD ruled that it was “unable to conclude that the information obtained establishes a violation of the statute. There is no probable cause.”
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