OutInMemphis.com – Beth Maples-Bays
Knoxville, Tenn. – Knoxville Police Department’s internal investigation branch and Civil Service Board officials denounced two high-ranking Knoxville Fire Department (KFD) employees and substantiated claims made by KFD Captain Jamie Faucon that she was discriminated against on the basis of her gender identity/expression.
Faucon, who is transgender, previously filed a grievance asserting that Assistant Fire Chief Mark Foulkes and Master Firefighter Mike Brown altered and reduced the scope of her duties and moved her office to a location making it difficult to fulfill her responsibilities, as part of a general climate of discrimination. Faucon also alleged that Foulkes and Brown made derogatory statements indicating their displeasure with having a transgender firefighter serve on KPD.
“I filed the grievance based on harassment, discrimination, loss of on-call pay, and removal of my authorized vehicle,” states Faucon.
Faucon, who continues as quality control officer for the organization, received word in early June that the grievance investigation findings were in her favor. Numerous witnesses were questioned in the investigation including not only KFD employees, but employees from other City/County governmental departments as well. Some cited “fear of retribution” if they cooperated with the inquiry, despite the presence of whistleblower protections.
The City also has anti-retaliation rules to cover those who make “good faith” complaints of job discrimination in order to “ensure that no excessive burdens be placed on a complainant which might discourage filing of complaints.” Faucon feels that Foulkes and Brown attempted to retaliate against her by smearing her performance in her last job performance evaluation. With prompting from the Civil Service Board, that evaluation was pulled and rewritten to reflect a more accurate description of Faucon’s recent work history.