Iowa City settles fire department discrimination lawsuit for $925,000

IOWA CITY — Iowa City has agreed to pay former firefighter Sadie McDowell $925,000 to settle a lawsuit in which she alleged discrimination and harassment in the workplace based on her gender and sexual orientation.

The Iowa City Council did not discuss the settlement, which was approved unanimously Tuesday with other items on the council’s consent agenda.

  Buy Photo

McDowell, who filed the lawsuit in 2022, attended the council meeting Tuesday and gave a brief, emotional speech during public comment. She called on the council to support a more equitable culture in the Iowa City Fire Department and provide better treatment for all people who seek help from public servants in Iowa City.

“This does not have to be the end of the story for the evolution of the ICFP and its service to its community,” said McDowell, 41.

She declined to comment after the meeting.

The total settlement agreement is $925,000. According to the city agenda, $500,000 of the settlement will be paid by the city’s risk management fund. The remainder will be paid by the city’s insurance provider. The payment will be split three ways:

McDowell’s lawsuit was set for a July 30 trial in Johnson County.

In a 19-page filing in 2022, lawyers for McDowell listed some of the treatment they said she experienced as a fire department employee from her hiring in June 2011 until she was placed on unpaid leave in 2021.

This included reportedly receiving praise as the only “good woman firefighter” who had served in the department. She also overheard co-workers commenting on female employees' appearance and their sexual and dating history.

The filing states that in 2017, McDowell was subjected to unwanted and nonconsensual kissing and groping by another firefighter. A week later, when McDowell confronted the man, he said it was her fault, explaining, “I couldn’t help myself because your body is just too sexy.”

According to the suit, male firefighters told McDowell, who is gay, that she had “the hottest wife in the Department.”

McDowell also alleged she worked with a captain who asked her to drive him and other firefighters around downtown when students were out partying so male firefighters could “ogle young women” and comment on their appearance.

Co-workers also reportedly made racist comments, including how Black people from Chicago were “ruining” Iowa City, and homophobic remarks, such as that teenagers come out as gay to be “cool.”

When McDowell complained about the incidents, nothing changed, according to the lawsuit. McDowell reported being passed over for a promotion and her supervisor referred to diversity training as “Sadie’s thing.”

McDowell’s lawsuit claimed that as a result of the conditions in the workplace, she developed mental health conditions, including depression and stress-related disorders.

McDowell was the city’s fourth female firefighter when she was hired in 2011.

The city’s first female firefighter, Linda Eaton, made national news in 1979 after department leaders would not let her breastfeed her baby during breaks at the station.

Fellow firefighters and their wives said it wasn’t fair Eaton could spend private time with a family member on her shift when the same privilege wasn’t extended to wives and other children, Little Village reported in 2015.

Eaton lost a discrimination lawsuit against the city in 1981.

Sadie McDowell Petition 8.3... by Gazetteonline

Erin Jordan of The Gazette contributed to this report.

Comments: alejandro.rojas@thegazette.com