Having spent the past four months attempting to appeal a decision by Austin Fire Department brass to bar him from joining departmental ranks as part of a merger with Emergency Services District 4, firefighter Andrew Garcia last week filed a lawsuit to force the department’s hand. The suit accuses the city and Chief Rhoda Mae Kerr of keeping Garcia from joining the department because of his prior work as president of Local 4848, and asks the court to let him start the merger training academy and award him back pay and other damages.
ESD 4 is one of several emergency service districts that the city has worked to merge with as the city grows around them. As part of his work for Local 4848, Garcia played an integral role in merger negotiations. According to Garcia’s lawsuit, he feels his role in those negotiations – including his Feb. 16 testimony to City Council opposing an AFD standard that would require ESD 4 firefighters to run 1.5 miles in 12 minutes or less – was the real reason why he was later barred from joining the department.
Garcia was told of AFD’s decision in July, when the department sent a letter explaining that he had failed a background investigation. The city claims Garcia failed to disclose a 2008 cadet class scuffle that led to his suspension. He was later allowed to retake the cadet course, graduating as class valedictorian. The two sides have told very different versions of what happened after Garcia was alerted to the omission: He insists he came clean once he came to understand the form was asking about any incidents, and not just those since he had become a full-fledged employee; AFD Assistant Chief Aaron Woolverton has said Garcia was given multiple chances to come clean, but consistently refused.
A city spokesperson declined to comment on Garcia’s suit, citing standard practice when dealing with pending litigation. Attorney Diane Nobile, among those representing Garcia, called her client “an outspoken, vocal advocate during this merger process” who “consistently brought up issues related to the best interest of the community and the best interest of his members.
“And his reward for doing that – for being that outspoken advocate – is that, despite being fully eligible and fully qualified, he was left without an offer.”
This article appears in November 17 • 2017.