Five Black firefighters filed a lawsuit alleging that the city of Winston-Salem and fire chief William "Trey" Mayo racially discriminated against them and other Black firefighters. Attorneys for Mayo and
Five Black Winston-Salem firefighters have filed a federal lawsuit against the city of Winston-Salem and fire Chief William Trey Mayo alleging racial discrimination in hiring, promotion, discipline, harassment and retaliation.
The firefighters are all members of the Omnibus group, which has called for the firing of Mayo and some other white fire employees since last summer.
Three of the firefighters filing suit currently work in the department and two are former employees. The lawsuit was filed on Thursday, Feb. 11, in U.S. District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina.
Citing what it calls decades-long history of discrimination, harassment, intimidation and retaliation against Black employees, the lawsuit claims that Blacks are discouraged from applying for positions, more rigorously, tested, belittled and demeaned at fire stations and targeted, ostracized or transferred if they complain.
A leader of the Omnibus firefighters group said Tuesday that a consultant s report on the racial climate in the Winston-Salem Fire Department confirms the group s claim that racism and discrimination are happening in the department.
The report, delivered to the city s Public Safety Committee on Monday, said that the fire department as an organization is not racist. One of the study s authors said the Winston-Salem Fire Department was a progressive leader on race.
But the consultants also said the allegations of individual acts of racism were serious enough to warrant diversity training for fire employees. It actually substantiates the things we have been saying for the last seven months, said Thomas Penn, the lead spokesman for the Omnibus group, which formed last summer to protest what the group of current and former firefighters called ongoing racism in the department. These acts have occurred, there are racists in the department, and it creates a hostile work environment.