| A former Sugar Land firefighter claims the city fired him unfairly for having diabetes, filing a civil rights lawsuit in a federal court.
Brandon Tingley, who joined the department in 2003, claimed his co-workers repeatedly harrassed him about his type-1 diabetes all the way through his 2005 termination. The harrassment included numerous pranks, Tingley said.
"By way of example," Tingley said, "other firefighters would fill his locker with empty tubes of glucose and empty boxes of dextrose, his Christmas stocking in the fire house was filled with packets of Equal, his fire gear was filled with blood sugar test strips and tubes of glucose..."
Tingley, of Katy, claimed in his lawsuit that he complained about the treatment to his superiors several times, and his ultimate termination from the department amounted to "retaliation" for speaking out.
Tingley said his last day as a Sugar Land firefighter was April 1, 2005. Feeling sick, he said, he left work that day and later received a call from a supervisor explaining Fire Chief Dannie Smith wanted him to take a fitness-for-duty exam, according to his suit.
The lawsuit alleges a doctor hired by the city determined Tingley should not work any longer as a firefighter because of the diabetes. No fitness test was administered and the doctor never took a blood sample, according to the suit.
The doctor specifically cited standards of the National Fire Protection Association, a trade association.
Tingley was reassigned to a desk-job shortly thereafter, and he alleges the city then wanted Tingley to provide documentation from a doctor that he was fit to drive.
Tingley calls the request "absurd," since he already had a driver's license and his job description did not involve driving.
On June 27, said Tingley, he found out he was terminated from the department.
Tingley filed a claim with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and he said on Sept. 16, 2006, the agency issued a letter of determination in his favor.
Tingley's lawyer, Andrew S. Golub, characterizes the case as one of disability discrimination and retaliation.
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