Orange Township firefighters accused of harassment reinstated with back pay of $865,000

Three Orange Township firefighters who lost their jobs after being accused of harassment and bullying in their fire house have been reinstated with back pay, according to a recent ruling by a panel of three judges in the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals.

A Delaware County judge had ruled last year that the firefighters — two of them supervisors — were improperly fired in 2019. The township disputed the ruling and filed an appeal arguing that Capt. John Hodges, Lt. Dave Martin and firefighter Bradley Belville were properly dismissed.

Back pay alone — without benefits including accrued vacation, pension and insurance benefits — will be $865,000, Michele Boni, township administrator, said. That is for the work the trio of firefighters never performed while on unpaid leave.

According to a 34-page investigative report, the inquiry into the firefighters began in September 2019 and involved mistreatment of a part-time firefighter who sought to become full-time at Station 361 at 7700 Gooding Blvd., where he and others say he was repeatedly harassed.

The firefighter was called names and obscenities and forced to wear a garbage can strapped around his shoulders, the report indicated. He was often hit in the groin, causing him to flinch and cover himself when colleagues approached.

An arbitrator at the time said that the behavior was pervasive but not directed solely at the one firefighter, calling it "normal firehouse behavior."

The part-time firefighter had told investigators that he initially took the abuse because he wanted to “fit in” and be part of the brotherhood.

The firefighter is not being named, in part, because, according to the initial report, the conduct was serious and might have involved criminal conduct including sexual assault and battery and The Dispatch does not name victims of sexual assault.

The appeals court noted earlier this month that the firefighter who was subject to the alleged abuse "appeared to willingly accept all the firehouse banter and the horseplay ... initially accepting the conduct as a sign of acceptance," according to court filings.

An attorney for the township has refused to provide legal costs to The Dispatch for the investigation and appeals, according to Boni.

The current status of the firefighters is unclear, as is their willingness to return to their former jobs.

dnarciso@gannett.com

@DeanNarciso