CHICAGO (AP) – A jury has awarded a suburban Chicago firefighter more than $11 million for suffering gender discrimination and sexual harassment at the hands of fellow firefighters.
Dena Lewis sued the city of Country Club Hills in 2012, alleging she was passed over for a promotion and retaliated against for reporting misbehavior. She later added the allegation firefighters regularly watched pornography at the fire station.
After two weeks of testimony, a Cook County jury Monday found in favor of the firefighter on all three of her claims.
Lewis, a member of the Country Club Fire Department since 1998, has been on paid administrative leave since 2015. She said she was thankful to the jury for “seeing through the cover up to find the truth.”
Representatives from Country Club Hills did not immediately respond to a request for comment.