A female Providence firefighter who was a material witness in a sexual harassment case involving another city firefighter has filed her own lawsuit against the city.
Danielle Masse, a rescue lieutenant who was hired in 2001, claims she was demoted from the rank of captain and suspended for 10 days less than one month before she took the stand to testify on behalf of Lori Franchina, a former firefighter who was awarded $806,000 by a federal jury in a gender discrimination and sexual harassment trial earlier this year.
In the suit filed in federal court Wednesday, Masse claims she faced discipline that was “far more severe and drastic” than 25 “similarly-situated co-workers” following a December 2014 incident in which she got into an argument with a Rhode Island State Police trooper at the scene of a single-car accident.