Former Fulton assistant fire chief claims age discrimination in lawsuit against city

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

Former Fulton Assistant Fire Chief Todd Gray has accused the City of Fulton of age discrimination in a lawsuit that was filed on Wednesday in Callaway County.

Court documents say that Gray was first a volunteer firefighter for eight years, beginning in 1994, before being hired full-time as a firefighter in April 2002. He was promoted over time eventually became the assistant chief and served as the union president.

The lawsuit claims Gray was fired two years before being able to receive full retirement benefits.

The petition also claims that issues arose when in 2024 when younger firefighters refused to wear their personal protection equipment while responding to calls, which is an apartment violation of the fire department’s standard operating guidelines.

The lawsuit also claims Chief Russell Sing was also violating the policy by not wearing PPE.

“Chief Sing responded that he, as the office in charge of the scene, was not going to wear the PPE,” the lawsuit claims.

Gray was eventually fired after bringing concerns to his office’s attention, the lawsuit alleges.

Court documents say younger firefighters started referring to Gray as “old-timer” and “old man” while he was still working there. He was then allegedly reprimanded after an anonymous survey was done and Gray alleges he was not given an opportunity to respond to any allegations made against him by younger firefighters.

The lawsuit also claims younger firefighters had interfered with “murder investigations” and routinely made racist comments, but the city had used its “progressive discipline policy,” with them but not Gray before he was fired.

Gray was the oldest person in the department at 53 years old and claims the city has recently participated in age discrimination with a number of former employees in their 50s and 60s, court documents say.

The lawsuit lists the firing of Renee Taylor from her city administrator position. Taylor was in her mid-60s at the time of her termination. It also claims former parks and recreation director Clay Caswell was forced to resign while he was in his 50s and that the head of the city’s engineering department was also forced to resign in his mid-50s.