Anthony Almeida Harassed by Fellow Lafd Firefighters over His Catholic Priest Sex Abuse Claims: Department Will Pay $500,000

By Dennis Romero
LA Weekly
January 31, 2012

http://blogs.laweekly.com/informer/2012/01/anthony_almeida_sex_harassment_suit_500k.php

Chris Yarzab

Looks like the boys in the station had quite a laugh over firefighter Anthony Almeida's legal claims that he was abused by a Catholic priest.

And now the Los Angeles Fire Department must pay nearly $500,000 because officials failed to stop the razzing.

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission today announced:

The Los Angeles City Fire Department will pay $494,150 and implement widespread anti-harassment training to settle federal charges of discrimination ...

The EEOC in L.A. says "fellow firefighters at his station" ... "employed deeply offensive comments of a sexual and religious nature" after learning that he had filed suit against the church alleging abuse by a priest:

... Several co-workers mocked him for that, using explicit and offensive religious and sexual epithets.

What's more, the EEOC alleges, the LAFD "failed to adequately halt or address it." On top of all that? Almeida faced "retaliatory discipline" for apparently cooperating with an unrelated EEOC inquiry.

The cost for the department is $494,150, plus it has to "provide widespread live anti-harassment training to all fire station chiefs and their subordinate staff, impacting every fire station in the city of Los Angeles," according to the EEOC.