Woman Who Claimed Fellow S.F. Firefighters Harassed and Threatened Her Is Awarded $300,000

A jury has found that members of the San Francisco Fire Department harassed, threatened and discriminated against the department’s first woman lieutenant and has awarded her $300,000.

The verdict Friday in favor of Anne Young came just a day after the department was slammed in a report by a court-appointed monitor for failing to end discrimination. Young, 33, was one of the first four women to be hired by the department in 1987 and was promoted to lieutenant two years later. She later quit.

“I’m very happy with the verdict,” she said. “They believed me and they did not believe these stereotypical male firefighters.”

Fire Commission President Jack Ertola said he regrets the verdict and the commission will consider an appeal. Despite the jury decision, he said, the department has an “outstanding relationship with the vast majority of women.”

Young charged in her lawsuit that she was harassed with pornographic materials and physically threatened--including incidents in which colleagues threw debris from a fire at her and tried to push her off a building. Her allegations were brushed aside, she said, and those in charge retaliated against her for complaining.

The department is operating under a federal consent decree that requires the hiring of more women and minorities. Monitors have recommended that the decree be extended for two more years.