Vallejo fire captain sues department alleging gender discrimination, harassment

VALLEJO – A Vallejo fire captain sued the city last week alleging she and other women in the fire department have been subjected to gender discrimination, harassment and retaliation during the 23 years she has worked there.

The lawsuit arose out of a disciplinary action against fire Capt. Melisse Leitzke over an incident at a large fire on Broadway a year ago. But Leitzke alleges that the disciplinary action was the culmination of a retaliatory campaign by fire department officials to punish her for complaints she’s made against the department for unequal treatment of women firefighters.  

According to the lawsuit, fire Chief Kyle Long sought to demote Leitzke for spraying a reporter with a firehose during the Broadway fire on June 30, 2022. In the lawsuit, Leitzke recounts signaling to the reporter to move away from the fire. She stated that she was not aware the reporter had been sprayed until rumors of the incident began to circulate after the fire was out.

An initial investigation found that the reporter was too close to the fire and any water that landed on him was likely accidental rather than intentional. But, according to the suit, Long demoted Leitzke for public endangerment, even though a review of the proposed discipline found that it did not conform with department policy and was not appropriate in light of Leitzke’s employment history.

The lawsuit lists other alleged incidents of unequal treatment of the few women firefighters in the department going back to the beginning of Leitzke’s employment with the department in early 2000. The suit alleges that women firefighters faced different levels of enforcement of certain safety policies and that male employees were allowed to use women’s showers and changing facilities.

Leitzke alleges that she was sexually harassed twice by two different supervisors. She alleges she faced retaliatory actions that limited her career with the fire department and caused her emotional distress.

Leitzke made formal complaints about a number of issues, according to the lawsuit. In one incident, Leitzke recounts that she was required to perform clerical work while her male colleagues fought a fire.

The suit also alleges that women employees faced steeper hurdles for promotion, such as that Leitzke and another female firefighter were the only firefighters required to complete the California firefighters joint apprenticeship program to drive the department's apparatus trucks and other emergency vehicles.

According to the lawsuit, Leitzke’s male supervisors overlooked her, created barriers for her to take on new roles and excessively scrutinized her work while her junior male colleagues received advancement opportunities. In spite of this, she did receive regular promotions.

However, when she was promoted to engineer, she did not receive the traditional badge presentation and ceremonial speech by the chief, instead the chief tossed the badge to her across the table during a meeting.

In 2012, Leitzke’s colleague Todd Milan was fired after he attempted to rescue a disabled person from a burning mobile home. Milan was unable to rescue the victim, who died in the fire, and he had violated protocols by entering the structure alone. When Leitzke heard about Milan’s termination she encouraged him to fight it.

A battalion chief found out about the conversation and allegedly punished Leitzke by requiring her to take a special physical fitness exam that was not required of other firefighters.

Milan went on to fight the termination and won $2.3 million in lost wages and other compensation.

The lawsuit details a number of other slights and condescension that allegedly created a hostile work environment for Leitzke. At one point while Leitzke was fighting a structure fire, her supervisor was unable to hear her over the radio. He found her, physically grabbed her, and removed her from the structure rather than simply communicating with her once he reached her position. The lawsuit alleges that such physical force would not have been used with male subordinates and the physical disrespect made Leitzke feel small and undervalued.

In Leitzke’s lawsuit, her lawyers David Ratner and Shelley Molineaux juxtapose the disciplinary action against Leitzke with numerous violations of department policy committed by her male colleagues. The suit recounts an incident in which a male colleague was reported passed out drunk in a city vehicle in a McDonald's parking lot but he was never investigated or disciplined.

Another male colleague passed a video around in the department which showed him and another colleague engaged in a sex act. A sexual harassment complaint was filed over the incident but the firefighter who shared the video was not investigated or disciplined and was promoted instead, according to the lawsuit.

The suit also described incidents in which male firefighters did not show up to work and did not call in sick and then later falsified timecard records to cover up the absence.

Leitzke’s attorneys argue that the department exhibits a pattern of overlooking or covering up policy violations committed by male firefighters while women firefighters are held to a higher standard. They argue that the accidental spraying of a journalist who was in the firefighters’ work zone would have been tolerated and minimized if a male firefighter was involved.

But when it came to Leitzke, her lawyers argue, the department highlighted the incident and proposed excessive discipline as a means to retaliate against her for her history of complaints regarding the department’s unequal treatment of women firefighters.

Leitzke is currently on extended administrative leave during arbitration over the proposed disciplinary action related to the Broadway fire. The department is currently facing significant staffing shortages.