MIDDLETOWN – A Middletown firefighter is suing the city over alleged discrimination against him by superior officers because of his service in the New York Air National Guard.
The suit, in federal court, contends that firefighter Matthew Kassel was suspended without pay after he secretly recorded fire department officials making allegedly discriminatory comments about the National Guard.
Kassel, who has served in the Middle East with the Guard, currently also works as a fireman with the federal agency when not working in Middletown.
He was suspended without pay from his Middletown job after he made the
recording, said his attorney, Mathew Tully.
“The bottom line here is you can’t retaliate against people when they report your unlawful conduct and provide evidence to prove it, and that’s what our client did,” Tully said. “He has the evidence to prove unlawful conduct and he provided it and the next thing he knows he is suspended without pay.”
Mayor Joseph DeStefano challenged that account.
“The idea that when you don’t get a promotion that you then create this picture that the city is anti-military is deplorable,” the mayor said. “Those are the issues that will be fought out in court, not with excerpts of secret tapes and just unsubstantiated allegations. We will battle them out.”
DeStefano said it couldn’t be the furthest from the truth that Middletown is anti-military.
The federal court has issued a stay in disciplinary proceedings by the city until the court battle by Kassel is resolved.
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