A San Francisco Fire Department assistant chief became the third — and highest ranking — member of the LGBTQ community to publicly accuse the department of discrimination this year.
Assistant Chief Nicol Juratovac, a lesbian, filed a claim of whistleblower retaliation and discrimination against the San Francisco Fire Department and the city's Department of Human Resources March 5.
"AC Juratovac has become the target of a relentless campaign of harassment and discrimination by department leadership for taking on the good old boys mentality at the SFFD," the claim states. A claim is a precursor to a lawsuit.
Juratovac is asserting that she was retaliated against after exposing cheating on promotion exams, safety violations, and racism in the department — as well as for blowing the whistle on what her attorney, Mark P. Fickes, of Cannata O'Toole Fickes and Olson, described as a "drunken" party at a fire station in Noe Valley in 2017.