California Deputy Fire Chief Files Disability Harassment Lawsuit

A deputy fire chief with the Sacramento Metropolitan Fire District (SMFD) has filed suit alleging disability-based harassment, failure to investigate, and failure to prevent discrimination, all in violation of the California Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA). The suit was filed in Sacramento County Superior Court by former deputy chief (now battalion chief) Ty Bailey, a longtime SMFD employee, against the district and unnamed defendants. 

According to the complaint, Bailey began his career with SMFD in 2003 as a firefighter/paramedic and was promoted multiple times over the years, including to engineer, captain, battalion chief, assistant chief, and ultimately deputy chief of administration. The complaint alleges that in late 2023 or early 2024, Bailey was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and severe alcohol use disorder.

Quoting from the complaint:

• In or around or before 2023 Mr. Bailey began experiencing distress, anxiety, and depression.
• As a result of his emotional distress, he began to heavily self-medicate himself with alcohol.
• Eventually in or about late 2023, early 2024 Mr. Bailey was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress syndrome (“PTSD”), and severe substance alcohol disorder.
• It was determined that his PTSD diagnosis was related to and surrounding events that occurred or where related to events on the job.
• As a result, Mr. Bailey filed a worker’s compensation claim for PTSD and severe substance alcohol disorder and was and still is receiving medical treatment for these disabilities.

Chief Bailey alleges that after his diagnoses became known, the conduct of the fire chief toward him changed significantly, creating what he describes as a hostile work environment. The complaint alleges that the fire chief made disparaging comments about Chief Bailey’s disabilities, including a remark allegedly made during a general staff meeting: “Another alcoholic. Let me guess, they are going to file for a PTSD claims.” Chief Bailey alleges he believed the comment was directed at him, as he was the only person present with those diagnoses. 

The complaint further alleges that the fire chief engaged in a pattern of conduct that included excluding Chief Bailey from communications, discouraging him from remaining in his deputy chief position, threatening termination based on his at-will status, scrutinizing his work more harshly than peers, and seeking to replace his position with a civilian employee. Chief Bailey claims he raised concerns about this treatment on multiple occasions with SMFD’s chief human resources officer, who allegedly acknowledged the treatment but failed to conduct a fair or impartial investigation. 

Quoting from the complaint:

• Ultimately, because the hostility was increasing and Mr. Bailey had knowledge that [the fire chief] was actively seeking to have Mr. Bailey position as Deputy Chief of Administration replaced by a civilian within the unit and terminate Mr. Bailey’s employment, he elected in February of 2025 to self-demote to a represented position.
• This was done to ensure his lifelong career was not prematurely terminated by [the fire chief].
• In February 2025 [the fire chief] demoted Mr. Bailey from a Deputy Chief position to a Battalion Chief.
• Subsequent to the demotion, Mr. Bailey has actively sought to be reinstated to his position as the Deputy Chief of Administration.
• His requests for reinstatement to this position have been denied and continue to be denied by [the fire chief] and SMFD.

The lawsuit asserts three causes of action against SMFD: disability-based harassment, failure to prevent harassment and discrimination, and failure to investigate harassment and discrimination, all under FEHA. Chief Bailey seeks damages exceeding the court’s jurisdictional minimum, along with attorneys’ fees, costs, and other relief.  Here is a copy of the complaint.