A years-long legal battle between Marshfield and former Fire Chief Kevin Robinson ended earlier this month after U.S. District Judge Nathaniel Groton rejected an age discrimination lawsuit Robinson filed against the town, ruling the complaint did not have enough merit for the case to go to trial.
Robinson resigned as Marshfield’s fire chief in March 2015, shortly after he and his brother, Capt. Shaun Robinson, were placed on administrative leave following an independent investigation into potential ethics violations.
The report generated from that investigation, provided to the board on Feb. 25, 2015, revealed potential ethics violations by both Robinsons related to both the employment and training of Captain Robinson’s daughter Shauna and to overtime grievances.
Over a year and a half later, in December 2016, Chief Robinson sued the town, then-Town Administrator Rocco Longo and Hall, alleging that he was forced to retire due to age discrimination and as retaliation for complaints he had made about age discrimination on behalf of himself and gender discrimination on behalf of his niece, and that the town failed to investigate those complaints.