Town, Fire Dept. Fight Female Firefighter's Discrimination Lawsuit

EAST HAVEN, CT — In Eileen Parlato's discrimination lawsuit against the town, and the East Haven Fire Department, she argues the public safety agency has a long history of misogyny, sexism, and hostility toward female firefighters.

In her complaint, filed in U.S. District Court Tuesday, Parlato claims that she has been the victim of decades of sexism. She said that began 30 years ago, "when the department tried to prevent her from becoming its first female firefighter."

Now, her assertion is that her gender is the reason she was not made assistant chief last year.

Parlato's federal lawsuit claims she was not promoted "based on her sex," in violation of Title VII, the Connecticut Fair Employment Practices Act, and the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment.

Parlato is represented by attorney Nina T. Pirrotti.

East Haven Town Attorney Michael Luzzi said Tuesday, among myriad other rebuttals to the suit's claims, that the hiring process was done "largely based upon the unbiased evaluations of an outside independent panel."

A panel made up of "fire department officials from other towns," he wrote in a December 2021 letter to Pirrotti obtained by Patch via the Freedom of Information Act.

A firefighter for three decades, 17 of the last as a battalion chief, she applied for the post of assistant chief in the summer of 2021.

She was not promoted to the role.

In the complaint, Parlato claims that the promotional process was "manipulated from start to finish to achieve its goal – is a product of a long history of sex discrimination at the EHFD."

East Haven Town Attorney Re... by Ellyn Santiago

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"An Environment That Is Overtly Hostile to Women"

Luzzi wrote the "unbiased" panel interviewed candidates and that "Parlato performed poorly in the interview and was not graded high enough to proceed to the next stage."

In the lawsuit, Parlato claims she was the most qualified person for the job, given her years as a battalion chief. Luzzi said that she was "not entitled to a promotion simply because she had served many years as battalion chief."

She also cited that now-former assistant fire chief Chuck Licata and she, noting the two had a working relationship, spoke about her ascension to the post shortly before he retired in the summer of 2021. According to the lawsuit, Licata told Parlato that he believed she should be "his natural successor."

But Luzzi said that seniority was not in play.

"While her service is commendable, the advancement process involved here was not based on seniority," he wrote. In the letter from Luzzi to Parlato's lawyer in December, he denied the town and fire department have discriminated against Parlato.

"Undeniably, in all areas, East Haven has made great strides in being diverse and inclusive," he wrote. And noted that, "Under Marcarelli's leadership, all females who have made the eligibility list have received conditional offers of employment."

Her discrimination lawsuit notes that she was denied the chance to interview with the Board of
Fire Commissioners and that after her first interview with the panel, got a letter informing her that she would not be proceeding to the next round in the interview process.

"At best, your letter is puzzling on this point. On the one hand, you spend pages wrongly accusing the department of discrimination and misogyny," Luzzi responded. "On the other hand, you were certain categorically that there is not a shadow of a doubt that had Parlato appeared before the Board of Fire Commissioners, they would have chosen her as the East Haven Fire Department’s next assistant chief."

Luzzi wrote that it's "difficult to understand how you can claim that a process established by the fire commission was discriminatory, while also saying that the commissioners would have promoted your client."

Over the course of her career with the fire department, Parlato was the "only female supervisor and one of only three women in a department of 52 employees," the lawsuit reads.

The suit reads that the "selection of a strikingly less qualified male candidate ... is not surprising," and is the "inevitable product of a male-dominant environment in which men have all the power, avoid hiring women at all costs, and go out of their way to deny any women who do get hired the support they need to succeed."

In the 22-page complaint, Parlato maintains that the three women have been targeted. Parlato's lawsuit claims that the "all-male EHFD leadership team refused to assign this firefighter a partner at the remote station to which she was assigned."

Town demands a 'litigation hold'

Luzzi said that he and the town have found that when "dealing with (Pirrotti) she is long on using extreme, incorrect, and dramatized facts about our town."

"But she's very short on her ability to evaluate, understand, and then properly apply the law. Relevant facts matter, and as this litigation unfolds, the record will unmistakably reflect that it was not the Town that attempted to manipulate this process," he said.

When the town first got the letter advising a lawsuit was coming, Luzzi said, "we immediately responded."

"Not only did we dispute her ill-conceived facts and threats, but we also demanded that a litigation hold be placed to preserve all Parlato’s correspondence related to this matter," Luzzi said. And added that includes communication with Licata and members of the East Haven Town Council.

"It's unfortunate that Ms. Parlato is choosing to end her career in this fashion," Luzzi said in a statement emailed to Patch. "It is simply shameful that Ms. Parlato and her lawyer now choose to attack our department, which has supported numerous Parlato family members for years."

Three Parlato family members work for, or have worked for, the fire department, officials said, including her brother. And a number of other family members work for, or have worked for, the town of East Haven.

In his statement to Patch, Luzzi said that while it's "undoubtedly" best to avoid litigation when possible, since the town has been "forced onto this path, no stone can be left unturned."

"If anyone has followed anything over the last three years in East Haven, they can see that our Town employs some of the finest labor and litigation attorneys in the Northeast. We are on sound legal ground in this matter, and we will defend it accordingly.”

In Parlato's complaint, she asserts that since she first notified the town of her intention to sue last year, the town, and fire department have retaliated against her.

"The Town of East Haven and East Haven Fire Department retaliated against the plaintiff because of her participation in protected activity, namely, her complaint of sex discrimination in the Assistant Fire Chief promotional process."

Parlato seeks compensatory and punitive damages, to be named assistant chief or get all "front pay," as well as attorney's fees and costs.

Read the full complaint here:

Parlato Complaint vs EHFD by Ellyn Santiago

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