A former Marine diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder after combat service in Afghanistan filed a discrimination lawsuit against the city last week after being rejected for a job as a city firefighter.
Brett D’Alessandro claimed in his lawsuit that he finished third on a civil service test for one of the Paterson Fire Department jobs in 2017 and was then sent to the Institute for Forensic Psychology, which is based in Oakland, for an evaluation.
The lawsuit alleges that D’Alessandro later was contacted by the city’s deputy fire chief and was told he was not being offered a position because he was deemed unfit for service based on the psychological evaluation.
In the lawsuit, D’Alessandro said he had been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD, while he was still in the Marines but that military doctors determined he was well enough to continue with his service in the armed forces.