Leduc Settles Class Action Involving Sexual Harassment in Fire Department

The City of Leduc, in Alberta, Canada, has reached a final settlement of $9,527,500 with 155 women who worked for the city in various departments, including the fire department. The settlement stems from a class action lawsuit filed in 2022 by two former female firefighters, Christa Steele and Mindy Smith, who alleged a pattern of sexual harassment, discrimination, and assaults spanning from 2002 to 2023.

The class of plaintiffs was ultimately defined to include any woman who worked for the City of Leduc during that 21-year period (2002–2023) and experienced workplace misconduct. The class was not limited to fire department employees, nor was it limited to harassment alleged to have been perpetrated by fire department personnel.

In July 2023, a settlement was approved by the Alberta Court of King’s Bench. It provided for payments ranging from $10,000 to $285,000 per claimant, depending on the severity of the allegations. All claims were to be submitted to a confidential, non-adversarial claims process for approval. Here is our original coverage of that settlement.

A total of 155 women had their claims approved, resulting in the total settlement reaching $9,527,500. The city initially sought to have the total payout withheld from public disclosure. However, earlier this year, the Court of King’s Bench ruled that the information could be released publicly. More on the story.