Lafd Case Study
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College of Business and Economics CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY, LOS ANGELES
LOS ANGELES FIRE DEPARTMENT (LAFD): DIVERSITY IGNITES DISCRIMINATION
Patricia Robbins & Stephen McGuire
October 2, 2009 This case study is a revised version of the original study authored by Oshin Babaian, Fernando Iniguez, Vardui Koshkaryan, Maribel Pelayo, Patricia Robbins & Taguhi Sogomonyan under the supervision of Prof. Stephen McGuire, “Los Angeles Fire Department,” Proceedings of the 2008 NACRA Annual Meeting, 22 (1), Oct. 30-Nov. 1, Durham, NH.
“Feed the Big Dog!” touted forty-nine-year-old African American veteran firefighter, Tennie Pierce, at the crew’s early morning beach volleyball game in October 2004. Pierce, who called himself “Big Dog” during the games, taunted the much shorter Latino paramedic, twenty-four-year-old Jorge Arevalo as he repeatedly shouted “I take craps bigger than you!” 1 comparing Arevalo to the size of his feces. The dinner bell rang at six that evening at Fire Station 5 in Westchester, California. It was Arevalo’s turn to cook dinner. Arriving fifteen minutes late, Pierce began eating the spaghetti with meat sauce that awaited him on the stove. After a few bites, he noticed some of the men laughing. Pierce demanded to know what was in his food, and as the others chuckled, he ran out. Jorge Arevalo apologized to Pierce that night for mixing dog food into his dinner. An Asian female firefighter stated that Pierce accepted the apology and called it “water under the bridge.” 2 It was a surprise to some of the crewmembers when Pierce later Pierce later sued the city for racial discrimination and was rewarded $1.43 million in settlement with $60,000 in back pay. TENNIE PIERCE (Source: www.msnbc.msn.com)
The LAFD’s long-held tradition of horseplay and pranks resulted in a number of lawsuits that claimed discrimination and harassment on the basis of race, gender and sexual
__________
College of Business and Economics CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY, LOS ANGELES
LOS ANGELES FIRE DEPARTMENT (LAFD): DIVERSITY IGNITES DISCRIMINATION
Patricia Robbins & Stephen McGuire
October 2, 2009 This case study is a revised version of the original study authored by Oshin Babaian, Fernando Iniguez, Vardui Koshkaryan, Maribel Pelayo, Patricia Robbins & Taguhi Sogomonyan under the supervision of Prof. Stephen McGuire, “Los Angeles Fire Department,” Proceedings of the 2008 NACRA Annual Meeting, 22 (1), Oct. 30-Nov. 1, Durham, NH.
“Feed the Big Dog!” touted forty-nine-year-old African American veteran firefighter, Tennie Pierce, at the crew’s early morning beach volleyball game in October 2004. Pierce, who called himself “Big Dog” during the games, taunted the much shorter Latino paramedic, twenty-four-year-old Jorge Arevalo as he repeatedly shouted “I take craps bigger than you!” 1 comparing Arevalo to the size of his feces. The dinner bell rang at six that evening at Fire Station 5 in Westchester, California. It was Arevalo’s turn to cook dinner. Arriving fifteen minutes late, Pierce began eating the spaghetti with meat sauce that awaited him on the stove. After a few bites, he noticed some of the men laughing. Pierce demanded to know what was in his food, and as the others chuckled, he ran out. Jorge Arevalo apologized to Pierce that night for mixing dog food into his dinner. An Asian female firefighter stated that Pierce accepted the apology and called it “water under the bridge.” 2 It was a surprise to some of the crewmembers when Pierce later Pierce later sued the city for racial discrimination and was rewarded $1.43 million in settlement with $60,000 in back pay. TENNIE PIERCE (Source: www.msnbc.msn.com)
The LAFD’s long-held tradition of horseplay and pranks resulted in a number of lawsuits that claimed discrimination and harassment on the basis of race, gender and sexual
References: Pelisek, Christine. “What really happened at fire station 5?” LA Weekly. 14 Mar. 2007 . Pelisek, Christine. “What really happened at fire station 5?” LA Weekly. 14 Mar. 2007 . Pelisek, Christine. “What really happened at fire station 5?” LA Weekly. 14 Mar. 2007 . Banks, Sandy. “Female Firefighters Harassed in Los Angeles.” LA Time. 3 Dec. 2006 27 Banks, Sandy. “Female Firefighters Harassed in Los Angeles.” LA Times. 3 Dec. 2006 http://cms.firehouse.com/web/online/News/Female-Firefighters-Harassed-in-LosAngeles/46$52301 Kandel, Jason Banks, Sandy. “Female Firefighters Harassed in Los Angeles.” LA Times. 3 Dec. 2006 LAFD: DIVERSITY IGNITES DISCRIMINATION 24 Banks, Sandy. “Female Firefighters Harassed in Los Angeles.” LA Times. 3 Dec. 2006 http://cms.firehouse.com/web/online/News/Female-Firefighters-Harassed-in-LosAngeles/46$52301