Dec. 7 – A former Decatur Fire & Rescue firefighter trainee claims she was injured during training – less than a week before the Alabama Fire College began investigating the recruit school – and then fired because she sought compensation benefits for employees, according to a civil suit filed Thursday against the city of Decatur.
Plaintiff Hannah Stephens was employed by the city as a firefighter trainee when “in the course of her job…plywood was placed on the back of (her) neck while a co-worker walked on such a piece of wood, causing her to hold a injury to her neck and right shoulder” on Sept. 24, according to the lawsuit filed in Morgan County Circuit Court.
Twenty-one firefighter recruits began training at Decatur Fire & Rescue on September 3, and the class was abruptly sent home on September 27. On September 30, representatives from the Alabama Fire College – responsible for facilitating the training and certification of firefighters – began interviewing recruits and staff. The Fire College investigation found there were “no major violations,” according to Decatur Fire & Rescue Chief Tracy Thornton, and training resumed Oct. 3.
“We are not yet aware of any lawsuits,” city attorney Herman Marks said in an email on Friday. “We have no further comment at this time.”
Stephens and her attorney, Channing Brashaw, did not respond to requests for comment.
“As a result of Plaintiff exercising her rights under the Workers’ Compensation Act of Alabama, Plaintiff was terminated from her employment in violation of Section 25-5-11.1 of the Code of Alabama before she achieved maximum medical improvement,” the lawsuit alleges. court case. .
The law prohibits employers from firing an employee for applying for workers’ compensation benefits or submitting a written notice of safety violations.
Stephens received medical treatment for a “temporary total disability of the body,” according to the lawsuit, which claims she received “some, but not all” of the benefits she was entitled to.
The lawsuit alleges that the city “forced her to resign and/or be fired” and that, as a result of “wrongful termination,” Stephens suffered “severe emotional distress, including but not limited to extreme financial hardship, anxiety and depression.” “
The lawsuit also alleges that Stephens’ employment history has been tainted, impacting future employment opportunities. Stephens is seeking compensatory and punitive damages in an amount to be determined by a jury.
“The said conduct was intentional and malicious and was conducted for the sole purpose of causing Plaintiff to suffer humiliation, mental anguish, and emotional and physical distress,” the complaint said.
The lawsuit asks the city of Decatur to provide documentation related to Stephens’ termination, including the city’s employee handbook and policy and procedure manuals, within 45 days.
It also requests “all correspondence between Chief Chris Phillips and Claimant on Facebook Messenger, specifically from the date Claimant was hired on July 1, 2024 through the present.”
Phillips was the chief of training for Decatur Fire & Rescue while Stephens was an intern. At the time of publication, the city did not respond to a request for any training-related disciplinary action against Phillips.
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The right-wing website 1819 News quoted state Rep. Ernie Yarbrough, R-Trinity, criticizing Decatur Fire & Rescue’s Oct. 2 training. The website said Yarbrough met by phone with Stephens, Decatur Fire & Rescue personnel and the president of the Alabama Fire College to discuss the training.
Yarbrough did not respond to requests for comment about Stephens’ recruitment school or Decatur Fire & Rescue.
On Friday, Thornton elaborated on the changes the recruit school has implemented in response to the Fire College investigation, which focused primarily on “SCBA (self-contained breathing apparatus) week” in which recruits begin each day getting used to the breathing apparatus while they perform various familiar tasks. collectively as the ‘consumption course’.
“It’s a lot of different obstacles that they have to overcome on the course, wearing their full gear,” Thornton said. “It’s pulling weighted straps to the top of a building, coiling and uncoiling hoses, carrying SCBA bottles, moving ladders – things like that.”
The Fire College instructed the recruit school to discontinue a consumption course activity that required trainees to pull a hose to the top of a building because it was not part of their required certification, according to Thornton.
“The other thing they told us to do was increase the number of laps we did on the consumption course,” Thornton said. “We had to follow the guidelines exactly as they laid out in the book. We did that, but ours was a little different than what they laid out.”
The last correction the Fire College made, according to Thornton, was banning the recruitment school from encouraging trainees to quit.
“They said we can’t talk to anyone about quitting,” Thornton said. “If they want to quit, that’s their choice. We can’t encourage anyone to quit. We can’t tell them, ‘If you want to quit, you can quit.’ We can’t do something like that.”
– david.gambino@decaturdaily.com or 256-340-2438.
