A former Lansing firefighter who filed a discrimination lawsuit against the city has won his case in court. He will receive $1 million dollars for damages incurred.
Michael Lynn Jr. started working for the Lansing Fire Department in 2014. Lynn, who is Black, says what started as a dream career quickly fell apart when he began experiencing racism in the workplace.
"This was a dream of mine to be a firefighter. That dream actually turned into a nightmare," he said.
According to Lynn, from the time he was hired he filed multiple complaints with the city's human resources department. Most of these went unresolved.
In 2019, Lynn filed a federal lawsuit against the city alleging racial discrimination.
"After I had made several complaints, and when I say several I mean close to 10 or more complaints to HR, and I recognized that they weren't doing anything about it and weren't willing to, I was forced to file a lawsuit," he explained.
According to court records, Lynn found a banana that was placed on his firetruck during his shift at the department, something he said happened after months of harassment and discrimination.
"So I've been making complaints about the environment there. When that happened, that was the straw that broke the camel's back," he said. "But then I went off, they were supposed to be trying to do something to fix it and I just continued getting retaliatory write ups, and the environment was just extremely hostile."
On Oct. 7, a jury at the U.S. Western District Court in Kalamazoo unanimously sided with Lynn.
"So half the community believed me, half didn't know what to believe. So today feels really like we have some closure on that," he said.
In an email statement, city attorney Jim Smiertka said they disagree with the verdict and will be considering an appeal.
“The City is disappointed in this verdict and we disagree with it. The City Attorney’s Office will work with our outside counsel in this matter to review all our options moving forward," the statement said.
After filing the federal lawsuit in 2019, Lynn went on paid leave. But in early 2021, he was fired from the City of Lansing Fire Department. The city said Lynn violated the Lansing Ethics Ordinance and the city's social media policy after he shared the personal work cell phone number of then-Lansing Police Chief Daryl Green.
"When I came out with this, I wasn't expecting the response that I got from downtown administration down there," he said. "But when I did get that response, it really kind of added to the environment, it was already hostile."
Lynn has called his termination retaliatory and filed a separate lawsuit alleging wrongful termination in the Ingham County Circuit Court in 2020. That lawsuit is still pending.
If the court sides with Lynn in the separate lawsuit, he could have the opportunity to return to his former position as a firefighter. He says if he were to return, the department would need to be intentional about addressing racism in the workplace.
