A judge has ruled that a man who alleges he was wrongfully terminated at the end of his probationary firefighter training in 2022 after enduring harassment and a culture of hostility, including being subjected to excessive workouts, will have to shore up much of his overall complaint for it to proceed.
In his Los Angeles Superior Court lawsuit, plaintiff Jeffrey Forrest Ponton says a captain unfairly evaluated him as a "danger to himself and the members of the fire department." During a hearing Tuesday on the city's motion to dismiss the case, Judge Wendy Chang ruled that Ponton can move forward for now with his causes of action for disability discrimination and harassment as well as intentional infliction of emotional distress.
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The judge noted that the suit alleges that Ponton was forced to undergo a series of "significant physical tests and evaluations coupled with criticisms, disparagement, pressure and negative comments related to plaintiff's perceived physical shortcomings that are alleged to be connected to the actual or perceived disability."
However, Chang dismissed Ponton's allegation of equal protection and said he will have to provide more details to support many of his other claims, including those for whistleblower retaliation, wrongful termination and negligence. The judge gave the plaintiff 20 days to file an amended complaint.
In his suit brought in August 2023, Ponton alleges the BHFD has a history of subjecting probationary firefighters it dislikes to extraordinarily physically intense training.
During training, Ponton was pushed so hard that he either collapsed or could not stop his body from shaking on four separate occasions, the suit states.
Ponton, 37, says he was hired in January 2022 and that he has Klippel- Fiel syndrome, a rare congenital condition characterized by the abnormal fusion of any two of the seven bones in the neck.
"When defendants learned of plaintiff's medical condition, they perceived him as having a disability and physically unfit to work as a firefighter," according to the suit, which also states that the plaintiff's wife temporarily suffered from postpartum depression.
Ponton felt marginalized by his fellow crew members and superiors for supporting the coronavirus mask and vaccination mandates and his colleagues also asked him about other politically charged issues, such as his views on gun ownership. The plaintiff says he was terminated for pretextual reasons in August 2022.
In their court papers, attorneys for the city state that Ponton's lawsuit is devoid of information stating the city knew of his medical condition.
"While plaintiff pleads a series of interactions with his colleagues in the city's Fire Department, the complaint does not reference any facts showing that anyone at the city was aware of his alleged disability or any sort of connection between his alleged disability and the interactions alleged," the suit states.
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