The city's first female Fire Department Commissioner Laura Kavanagh has been slapped with a bombshell age discrimination suit that alleges she demoted, ousted, forced into retirement or retaliated against 15 top older department staffers, including chiefs.
Assistant Fire Chiefs Michael Gala, Joe Jardin and Michael Massucci claim they were targeted by Kavanagh “because they were at or near the age of 60″ according to the lawsuit filed in Brooklyn Supreme Court late Thursday.
“We have no idea what’s going to happen next, but something is going to happen,” one FDNY union official told the Daily News. “We’re just ordering more popcorn.”
The turmoil in the highest levels of the FDNY began when Kavanagh demoted Deputy Chiefs Fred Schaaf and Michael Gala and Assistant Chief Joseph Jardin, multiple source told The News.