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Aspiring firefighter sues La Habra Heights over alleged anti-Semitism

An aspiring firefighter for the City of La Habra Heights has sued the municipality, alleging he endured months of workplace harassment based on his Jewish heritage and perceived sexual orientation.
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December 21, 2016

An aspiring firefighter for the City of La Habra Heights has sued the municipality, alleging he endured months of workplace harassment based on his Jewish heritage and perceived sexual orientation.

Jared Hartstein filed suit in California’s Superior Court in Los Angeles County on Dec 13. The 27-year-old man said he was physically assaulted by senior firefighters while working for the city’s fire department between August and December 2015. He said he suffered rampant anti-Semitic provocations including Hitler salutes, drawings of swastikas on his personal possessions, being called “Bear-Jew” and jokes about his Jewish religion and ancestry. 

The firefighter-in-training alleged La Habra Fire Department personnel also subjected him to numerous jokes and insults based on an incorrect assumption that he was gay. 

“On a daily basis, it was pretty constant harassment,” Hartstein said in a phone interview. “They really just attacked me from any way that they could.” 

An official for the city of a little more than 5,000 people that is near the Orange County border said its own investigation into the allegations was not able to substantiate anything.

Hartstein said he had dreamed of becoming a firefighter since he was a boy. He completed fire academy training and studied to become an emergency medical technician. At La Habra Heights, he was training to become a volunteer firefighter, which he saw as a major step toward landing a full-time firefighting position.

“It was my dream job,” he said. “When I was offered the position, I was just ecstatic, I felt like my dream was coming true, everything I had worked hard for was becoming a reality. I never expected this to happen.”

The harassment started from his first shift, Hartstein alleged. He said it began with name-calling and anti-Semitic jokes, and gradually escalated to physical assaults and more sinister behavior. At first he tried to shrug it off, he said, hoping the harassment would go away. But instead of waning, the problems intensified to the point that he began to fear for his safety, he said.

Hartstein said the most terrifying moment came during a training exercise that took place in the dark. He said someone cut off his oxygen supply and he began to suffocate inside his own gear. He said he’s still suffering post-traumatic stress from the incident. 

“That was just terrifying, to me that was just the worst,” he said. “I really started to feel endangered. It felt like things weren’t safe.”

On his last shift before he decided to leave the department, Hartstein said, he opened his training binder to find someone had drawn a swastika inside. 

“I just couldn’t go back after that. I was so infuriated, I just didn’t know how to deal with my emotions,” he said. 

Hartstein said he tried to counter the harassment by letting the alleged harrassers know he didn’t like the jokes and name-calling. But he said he couldn’t complain to his supervisors because they were involved in the harassment too, or stood by and watched it happen.

Tom Robinson, interim city manager for the City of La Habra Heights, said the alleged incidents dated back to before he took office. He said the city has taken Hartstein’s allegations very seriously, and hired an independent investigator to look into them. The investigator could not corroborate the allegations, he said.

“Why wouldn’t an employee bring something like that forward, especially if it was going on over a period of time? It’s very strange,” he said. “The city takes this kind of stuff very, very seriously. Nobody wants to see this in their shop. We’ve not been able to substantiate it.”

Hartstein said he is seeking financial compensation from La Habra Heights for his alleged treatment. His attorney, Bradley J. Mancuso with the Bohm Law Group, said in an email that Hartstein is seeking “full compensation for a 30+ year career that has been destroyed. Jared also is seeking compensation for the severe emotional distress he has suffered as a result of Defendants’ outrageous behavior.

But Harstein said nothing could make up for what he experienced, and for what he sees as the end of his dream career.

“I don’t want this to happen to anybody else, whether they’re Jewish or have a different type of religion or faith or ethnicity,” he said. “I just don’t think anybody should have to go through that and I hope that this makes some changes and I hope people are held accountable.”

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