LA County Assistant Chief Claims Reverse Discrimination

An assistant chief with the Los Angeles County Fire Department has filed suit claiming he was passed over for promotion due to reverse discrimination. Assistant Chief Frank Forman filed suit today in Los Angeles County Superior Court.

Chief Forman claims that Fire Chief Anthony Marrone stated at a staff meeting that the county would be promoting those in protected classes, and while looking directly at him said: “”Some will be happy and others who are more qualified will not be happy.” Thereafter, Chief Forman was passed over for promotion as predicted.

Quoting from the complaint:

• Forman is a well-respected and career LACOFD Assistant Chief and an employee who has been with the Department since October 16, 1992. Forman proudly maintained the Assistant Chief position from 2021 through the present date.
• During the entirety of his career at LACOFD, Forman always maintained excellent performance evaluations in his almost 32-year career. His service to the LACOFD has been exemplary, and his reputation as upper-level manager within the LACOFD is and has been outstanding.
• On or about March 1, 2023, Marrone attended the Operations Staff Meeting hosted at Camp 2. During this meeting, Marrone advised all present, including Chief Forman, on the issues that included his explanation to comments that he was not qualified to be Chief and the Department would be transparent moving forward. He then addressed future testing for the Deputy Fire Chief (DC) and Chief Deputy (CD) positions.
• Specifically, he stated he cannot promote DC and CD and the process would be conducted through Executive Recruitment. Immediately after making this statement, Marrone said (1) the Department would promote Women (looking at Deputy Fire Chief Eleni Pappas, a Caucasian female) and (2) People of Color (looking directly at Acting Deputy Chief Robert Harris (an African American male). “Some will be happy and others who are more qualified (looking right at AC Forman) will not be happy.”
• Marrone made it very clear that those qualified will be upset because those not qualified will be promoted to ensure People of Color and Women will be promoted “for the look” at the Department.
• Immediately after Marrone concluded, Acting Chief Deputy Jon O’Brien called for a break. Both Chief Pappas and Chief Ron Durbin approached AC Forman and stated they could not believe Marrone just made that statement, and that if AC Forman needed someone to confirm what had taken place, they would come forward.
• On or around March 9, 2023, Julia Kim emailed a link for the posting of Deputy Fire Chief, and Kathy Michicoff emailed an “All Sites” announcement for applicants for Deputy Fire Chief for (1) Emergency Ops, and (2) Business Ops.
• On or around March 23, 2023, AC Forman submitted an application for the Deputy Fire Chief, Emergency Operations position, with acknowledgement of receipt received.
• On or around May 12, 2023, AC Forman responded to a Microsoft Teams meeting request from LaTanya Hill, Executive Recruiter Talent Acquisitions Division for the Deputy Fire Chief, Emergency Operations Interview scheduled for June 8, 2023. Forman was thereafter interviewed on June 8, 2023.
• On or around June 21 2023, Hill informed AC Forman that he would not be moving forward to the next interview. However, since the Department would be using this recruitment to fill future vacancies, AC Forman may still be contacted for a second interview as vacancies occur.
• As a result, Forman believed he was still being considered for a Deputy Fire Chief position.
• AC Forman later learned that Robert Harris (African American), Albert Yanagisawa (Japanese American) and William Mayfield (African American) received letters for a second interview.
• The following week, Jesse Vela (Hispanic American) and Michael Inman (over 60 years old) were added to the second interview process. Brian Martin (Caucasian) did not receive an invitation for a 2nd round interview).
• No official release of a promulgated list for the position was released. On or around November 7, 2023, Harris and Yanagisawa were appointed to Deputy Fire Chief. On or around March 4, 2024, Inman and Mayfield were appointed to Deputy Fire Chief.
• AC Forman discovers that, although he was the most qualified, he was not promoted as he was not a Woman, Person of Color, or due to his Age. This disparate treatment constitutes discrimination under the Fair Employment Housing Act, Government Code Section 12900, et seq.

The suit alleges violations of the Fair Employment Housing Act, Government Code Section 12900, and seeks damages for economic and non-economic harm. Here is a copy of the complaint: