Hinsdale Firefighter Sues Village

HINSDALE, IL — A Hinsdale firefighter who retired in January filed a lawsuit in 2018 that alleged age discrimination prevented him from getting a promotion. Doug Niemeyer left the department after 21 years of service.

In his lawsuit, Niemeyer, now 55, said he was rejected four times for a lieutenant's position — in 2006, 2011, 2015 and 2018 — despite his experience and qualifications. Before joining the Hinsdale department, he had been part time with the Clarendon Hills department for 18 years, rising to the rank of lieutenant.

Starting in 2004, Niemeyer served as the "senior man" during his shifts in Hinsdale. The senior man holds that position when no lieutenant is on shift.

The lawsuit claims the department "skewed" the scoring process for younger, less qualified and less experienced candidates. Of the 100 available points, 55 points are through subjective evaluation, while only 5 points are rewarded for seniority, the lawsuit said.

In 2011, for instance, Niemeyer received a 90.9 when he was 46, but three younger candidates — two of them 37 and one of them 39 — scored higher because of the subjective evaluations, the lawsuit said.

"By designing the process in this manner, Hinsdale was able to essentially control the promotional process as it pleased since the subjective evaluation comprised more than half the available points," the lawsuit said.

According to the lawsuit, Niemeyer expressed his concerns about the promotion process with the then-acting chief in 2011. The chief told him that an area municipality was eliminating commander positions held by senior department members to retain the junior members, the lawsuit said.

"This conversation reflected Hinsdale's concern regarding retaining new hires of the Hinsdale Fire Department and illustrated the village's motive in enacting a scheme to discriminate against older candidates," the lawsuit said.

In its response to the lawsuit, the village denied it was motivated to discriminate against older candidates.

Niemeyer is seeking compensatory and punitive damages. No trial date has been set.

According to court records, a preliminary settlement conference has been held by phone. An in-person conference is set for April. The litigation contains exhibits for the scoring of lieutenant candidates in 2011, 2015 and 2018.

In a statement, Hinsdale's lawyer, Lisa Meador, said the village stands by its promotional process that evaluates candidates through "a number of different components."

"We support the leaders selected through this process," Meador said. "The claim that any promotional decisions are based upon a candidate’s age is preposterous and untrue, and we are defending this case aggressively."

Niemeyer's attorney, David Strubbe, didn't return a message for comment.