A Cleveland firefighter who lost his job after pleading guilty to paying co-workers to cover his shifts is suing the city to get his position back, arguing that his race was a factor in his firing.
Calvin Robinson, 55, says in his lawsuit that the city, in firing him, discriminated against him because he is black. Twelve other white firefighters who were also criminally charged for the same thing were not fired, and Robinson says this "constitutes disparate treatment."
Robinson was the most prolific example of abusing the shift-trading process discovered in 2011. At the time, the trading of shifts was allowed and common among firefighters, but the hours were supposed to be paid back within a year. An independent investigation later found that some firefighters were being paid to work the traded shifts, which is illegal under Ohio law, and that the city also lost money to pay firefighters for benefits they didn't earn.