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Discrimination charged Female firefighter unfairly axed, judge rules By CHRIS BRISTOL A Jackson County judge on Wednesday said the Medford Fire Department discriminated when it terminated a female firefighter two years ago. Kris Ettner, a former Southern Oregon State track and field star, sued the city in 1996 after she was terminated by the Medford Fire Department even though she had successfully completed a one-year probation. Ettner is now a Grants Pass police officer, and she wanted only back pay. Judge Rebecca Orf told the city to cut a check for $26,210 -- plus Ettner's court costs and attorneys fees. In her ruling, Orf criticized the department for firing Ettner based on a series of end-of-probation "task tests." The grading was "highly subjective in nature," Orf said. "The conclusion is inescapable that plaintiff's performance ... was held to a different and higher standard than that of male firefighters, due solely to her gender," Orf said. Ettner's attorney, Lee Werdell, blasted the fire department as a "boys club" in which supervisors resisted and undermined any attempts at integration desired by Fire Chief Dave Bierwiler. "They don't want any girls in the boys club," he said. "This kind of stuff happens all the time. All clubs for men fight like crazy to keep segregated." Werdell said the Medford department has no female firefighters. Bierwiler did not return a phone call seeking confirmation. Orf's ruling denied the city total victory in the case. Earlier this month, a jury voted 9-3 in favor of the city on Ettner's separate claim that she also suffered discrimination on the basis of "perceived disability." In a faxed statement to the Mail Tribune, City Attorney Ron Doyle played up the jury's decision over Orf's. He could not be reached for direct comment Wednesday afternoon. "The City will be reviewing (Orf's) opinion to consider an appeal," the statement said. "The City has no further comment at this time." The ruling capped a five-day trial that ended Oct. 12. At issue was the way Ettner's supervisors graded "task tests." According to Orf's ruling, Ettner was the only Medford firefighter in recent memory who had ever successfully completed probation and then failed the tests, which are a condition of permanent employment. Werdell said the tests consisted of demanding but routine on-the-job tasks, such as hauling hose up ladders and chopping holes in roofs. He said his client had passed such tests during probation, and noted that she also passed a demanding physical before she was hired in the first place. Orf said that not only was Ettner the first firefighter to fail the tests entirely at the end of probation, she was also the first firefighter who was ever given an entirely new set of tasks in a "retake" test. Werdell said male firefighters had on rare occasion failed one or two of the tests, but they were always allowed to take the same ones over. Orf said the tests were graded subjectively. Werdell said no objective criteria were used. "They can give her any score they want without justifying why," he said. "They flunked her, and she's probably the best athlete in the whole fire department." Ettner won the 1989 NAIA track and field finals in the javelin. After her dismissal in Medford, she was hired as a firefighter by the Grants Pass Department of Public Safety. Werdell said Ettner, 32, became a police officer after she received cross-training and decided she liked it better. Her supervisors in Grants Pass testified on her behalf. "Everybody in the next county thinks she's great, and she's doing great," he said. "She just had to get over the misery of getting dumped on by a male chauvinist fire department here in Medford." Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA