By James F. McCarty
Plain Dealer (Cleveland)
Copyright 2006 Plain Dealer Publishing Co.
Kelly Gallagher paid a high price in harassment during the four years she worked as Brooklyn’s only woman firefighter.
Now the Fire Department will have to pay Gallagher back.
A Cuyahoga County jury on Monday awarded Gallagher $275,000 in damages for the years of abuse she has been forced to endure at the hands of her colleagues.
Gallagher, 28, said she filed the sexual discrimination lawsuit against the city for all of the women who follow her into the Fire Department.
“It was never about the money,” Gallagher said after the verdict was returned. “It was about change.”
Gallagher testified that some of the other firefighters vandalized her gear. She said they posted sexually inappropriate pictures and derogatory fliers in the locker room. And she accused the department of rigging its physical tests against her.
“She wasn’t welcomed into the department or treated like the rest of the rank-and-file firefighters,” said Gallagher’s lawyer, Richard Haber. “She’s continued working all along, and the abuse never eased up.”
Gallagher is the daughter of former Brooklyn Safety Director Michael Gallagher and City Councilwoman Colleen Coyne Gallagher. She earns $58,230 a year.
Brooklyn’s lawyer and its fire chief declined to comment on the verdict.
Even after her court victory, Gallagher found it difficult to smile. Maybe it was because she knew the verdict couldn’t guarantee her working conditions would improve.
“It’s not going to be easy going in to work [today], I can tell you that,” she said.