By Eliza Ridgeway

A female Santa Clara County Fire Department captain who served in Los Altos until this year has filed a sex-discrimination lawsuit in civil court seeking unspecified monetary damages from the department. Monique Vandenberg, who became Santa Clara County’s first female fire captain in 1995, claims she was wrongly singled out and repeatedly reprimanded by a hostile supervisor, and that the county fire administration persecuted her for subsequently filing a complaint.

Vandenberg’s complaint alleges gender discrimination, retaliation, failure to prevent discrimination and harassment. The suit criticizes regional battalion chief Orbrad Darbo and unnamed department management personnel, but no employees located at the Los Altos fire station, where Vandenberg worked until last autumn.

One of Vandenberg’s attorney’s, Joshua Boxer, of the Law Offices of Joseph and Angela Alioto, said that Vandenberg’s crew and other fire station captains have been supportive of her case. Santa Clara County Assistant Counsel Nancy Clark declined to comment on the suit.

Fire captains supervise a crew of fire and medical personnel at local fire stations, and answer to a regional battalion chief. Vandenberg alleges that her battalion chief showed naked pictures of himself to another female captain, and as chief of her battalion singled out herself and other women for unequal treatment. Currently, there are 3 female captains out of the 55 in the county.

While at the Los Altos station, Vandenberg claims she was disciplined for loss of equipment with which she was not involved, while none of the involved male officers were accused. According to Vandenberg, the battalion chief told her, “Don’t go down that road with me” when she complained of being singled out.

According to the lawsuit, in a September 2005 letter of reprimand, the battalion chief falsely accused Vandenberg of department policy violations. After taking a stress-related leave of absence in October 2005, Vandenberg relocated to the Los Gatos fire station, where she still works. A probe launched by the county in March found no discrimination, according to Clark.

“The investigation … was clearly a continuation of the retaliation,” Boxer said. “(Vandenberg) would like her record to reflect that she had an exemplary record until she started speaking out. That’s why receiving these negative items in her personnel file was so troubling to her.”