The city of Ventura will pay $750,000 to settle a lawsuit that accused the city’s fire department and one of its battalion chiefs of gender discrimination.
The suit was filed in 2024 by Melissa Corney, an aspiring firefighter and the daughter of Ken Corney, who was Ventura’s police chief from 2009 to 2020.
The city hired Melissa Corney in December 2022, making her its first female firefighting recruit in more than 20 years, according to her lawsuit. She graduated from the Ventura County Fire Department Academy five months later, but never became a full-fledged firefighter. The city dismissed her in January 2023, after her 12-month probationary period ended.
According to her lawsuit, the official reason for her dismissal was a failure to meet the department’s
physical fitness standards. But Corney’s suit says that she was subject to discrimination, double standards, harassment, hazing and retaliation due to her gender. She also accused the city of discrimination and retaliation based on disability, stemming from the city’s alleged failure to accommodate her COVID-19 illness during testing to become a firefighter.
The city denied all of the allegations in court papers. In an out-of-court settlement agreement that Corney signed July 7, the city did not admit to any wrongdoing or liability. It did agree to pay Corney $750,000 in exchange for dropping the lawsuit. The agreement states that both parties settled “merely to avoid litigation and buy their peace.”
The city also spent $226,000 on legal fees related to Corney's lawsuit, according to information provided by Andy Viets, a senior assistant city attorney. Most of that went to an outside law firm, Olivarez Madruga Law Organization, which has a contract with the city that allowed for up to $350,000 in fees on the Corney lawsuit.
The settlement agreement includes a confidentiality clause barring Corney or her attorneys from disclosing the terms to the media or anyone else. The agreement itself, though, is considered a public record under state law, and the city provided a copy of it in response to a request by The Star.
Recruit claimed city set her up to fail
Corney, who is now 34, had dreamed all her life of becoming a firefighter, according to her lawsuit. Before she was hired by the city, she had worked as an emergency medical technician for the Ventura County Community College District and as an EMT and paramedic for a private ambulance company.
Her lawsuit described a series of events when she was a trainee that she claims resulted in her not getting a fair chance to advance to permanent employment. She said she was provided "only limited training opportunities" compared to her fellow recruits, and was not allowed to use the department's training grounds and equipment while on duty, while her male colleagues "regularly trained while on duty without repercussions."
In November 2023, Corney took a "manipulative skills test" at the department's training grounds. During her test, a group of male firefighters "laid out in lounge chairs to sit and watch her take the test," her lawsuit states.
At one point during the test, Corney tripped and fell. She had been told to get up and keep going if that happened, so she did. According to her lawsuit, one of the captains administering the test "demanded she stop immediately, claiming it was 'too dangerous' to continue," which resulted in her failing the test. Male trainees who stumbled were allowed to continue, her lawsuit claims.
Shortly after that test, Corney got sick and used some of her sick leave. In her lawsuit, she says a manager asked if she was pregnant and wanted to know if she was committed to the job and really wanted to be a firefighter.
In December 2023, Corney caught COVID-19. She experienced "lingering symptoms" for weeks, including difficulty breathing, her lawsuit states. She was still suffering from those symptoms the next month, when she took a second skills test, her lawsuit states. She was let go four days later.
Just 5% of U.S. firefighters are women
Corney's lawsuit says the lack of female firefighters in Ventura was a sign that the department has "a deeply ingrained 'boys club' culture."
Gender imbalance is very common in firefighting. In 2020, just 5% of career firefighters in United States were women, according to a study by the National Fire Protection Association.
Heather Marques, a division chief with the Alameda County Fire Department who wrote a master's thesis on recruitment and retention of female firefighters, told The Star in 2024 that nearly half of U.S. fire departments have zero women firefighters. Other traditionally male professions such as the military and police work have far more women today than firefighting.
The city of Ventura does not currently have any female firefighters, said Jennifer Nance, a city spokesperson.
Tony Biasotti is an investigative and watchdog reporter for the Ventura County Star. Reach him at tbiasotti@vcstar.com. This story was made possible by a grant from the Ventura County Community Foundation's Fund to Support Local Journalism.
This article originally appeared on Ventura County Star: Ventura settles firefighter's gender discrimination lawsuit
