A female firefighter who was one of the first to break the FDNY’s gender barrier more than two decades ago said yesterday that little has changed since then, telling a jury that she was discriminated against and ostracized for taking part in what is still a man’s world.
Judith Beyar, 51, testified in Brooklyn federal court that she was denied a prestigious position, lost overtime shifts and suffered humiliating harassment at her Staten Island firehouse – all because she is a woman.
Beyar, who began her firefighting career in 1982, said she applied for a senior-level job, called the “24-hour person,” in 2000 and was told by one of her chiefs that she’d been given the post. Her duties would have included chauffeuring then-Deputy Chief Robert Mosier. But a few months later, Mosier told her he had another job in mind for her, she claimed.
“He told me he needed me as his secretary,” said Beyar, who took the stand on the opening day of her $10 million gender-discrimination trial against the FDNY. “He needed me to take care of his correspondence.”
Later, she said, she was told by another firefighter that Mosier simply didn’t want a female chauffeur.
“I was qualified, I was senior,” Beyar said. “Because I’m a woman I was discriminated against.”
After that, she said, her responsibilities began dwindling, and her name was erased from the log book on the occasions that she put in to work overtime.
“I didn’t feel welcome,” she said.
Beyar said she brought her sick daughter to work one day and was shocked when her little girl pointed to a photograph posted in the firehouse and said, “What’s that between your legs?” Someone had drawn a penis under her skirt, she testified.
The hostile work environment forced her to resign, her attorney, Thomas Bello, said during opening arguments.
Defense attorney Lisa Griffith said Beyar was using her gender to pry money out of the city.
“She used the fact that she is a woman to fabricate claims in order to bring a federal lawsuit. Why? Money,” said Griffith.
Griffith said Mosier offered Beyar the chauffeur job eight times, and each time she turned him down.
“Why? Because taking it would hurt this federal lawsuit,” the lawyer said.