James Mundo, a Chicago firefighter who identifies as a gay man, settled a discrimination lawsuit against the City of Chicago for $515,000 last month.
Mundo sued the city alleging it failed to take adequate measures to curtail extensive and disturbing sexual harassment, court documents said. According to the allegations, he received this treatment from former Deputy Chief of the Chicago Fire Department's Labor Relations Division Janice Hogan and others in the department. Mundo said in the case filing he was discriminated against on the basis of sex, sexual orientation and gender nonconformity.
From Aug. 2006-Jan. 2008, Mundo worked as a firefighter/paramedic before moving to an office-based role as an investigator in the CFD's internal affairs division. During that second job, he reported to a supervisor from whom he had allegedly experienced homophobic harassment in his previous role.
In Jan. 2013, Mundo moved to a different position supervised by Hogan; he worked there until his medical leave of absence Oct. 2018, the same month he submitted an official complaint of sexual harassment he allegedly experienced at Hogan's hands. The complaint included entries from Oct. 2016-Oct. 2018. Mundo then sued Hogan and the city April 2020 for various claims stemming from his allegations.
Following the settlement decision, Mundo's attorney, Glenn Gaffney, released an emailed statement to Windy City Times which said, "No monetary compensation can fully make up for what [Mundo] has suffered, he is ready to look forward and towards healing."
"We are not going to speak to it beyond what we said at the city council hearing," a spokesperson for the city's department of law said.
The settlement was decided at the council's committee on finance meeting Dec. 11 and was one of three settlements authorized in that meeting.
Ken Robling, deputy of the employment litigation division in the department of law, presented the department's settlement recommendation to the committee during the meeting and reported the case was at the time pending jury trial in federal court.
"The department of law is seeking this settlement to settle the case to mitigate potential financial exposure to the city," he said to the committee. "The plaintiff is seeking over $3 million in compensatory and emotional distress damages."
The $515,000 in settlement aligns closely to Robling's verbal report that the department of law estimates his attorney's fees to be over $500,000 at time of the council meeting.
"Taking all the risks associated with trial into account, the department believes settlement is the best way to avoid the risks, uncertainty with trial and to limit financial exposure to the city," he said.
Gaffney said via statement the legal team and Mundo hope this litigation and resolution will be "stepping stones towards a commitment by the Chicago Fire Department to correct and prevent unlawful employment actions such as those alleged by Mr. Mundo."
