NEW: EMT Sues AMR New Haven, Alleging Rampant Sexual Harassment, Discrimination, Hostile Work Environment
Erica Noll
Time’s Up Legal Defense Fund
For Immediate Release: November 22, 2022
Media Contact: Erica Noll, erica...@berlinrosen.com, 424.237.6790
EMT Sues AMR New Haven, Alleging Rampant Sexual Harassment, Discrimination, Hostile Work Environment
Plaintiff alleges AMR’s misogynistic culture caused her extreme emotional distress
New report outlines sexual harassment complaints from multiple female employees, describes company’s failure to adequately address claims
NEW HAVEN, CT - Ambulance giant American Medical Response (AMR) is under fire for an alleged pervasive culture of sexual harassment in one of its Connecticut divisions, following a lawsuit against AMR of Connecticut filed by former Emergency Medical Technician (EMT), Anna Broggi. The lawsuit, which alleges sexual harassment, discrimination, and retaliation, claims that AMR systematically ignored and refused to address a pervasive culture of misogyny within its ranks. The complaint alleges that, after Broggi was sexually assaulted by a coworker and reported the assault to management, the company repeatedly failed to take appropriate action. The full legal complaint can be viewed here.
The complaint, filed with the U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut, implicates leadership at AMR New Haven, including supervisors, Human Resources representatives, and AMR’s then Chief Operations Manager, who allegedly told Broggi, as she described the sexual assault to him: “Calm down, this is not a big deal, you should not be getting so worked up.” The plaintiff is supported by the TIME’S UP Legal Defense Fund and represented by Nina Pirrotti, Joshua Goodbaum, and Jordan Sala at Garrison, Levin-Epstein, Fitzgerald, & Pirrotti, P.C.
Broggi explains: “I filed suit against AMR because when my coworker tried to rape me, it turned my life upside down—and I feared that if I didn’t speak up and fight back, countless other women who work at AMR might experience the same.”
According to the complaint, when Broggi submitted a report of the assault to AMR’s Operations Manager, he was hostile and dismissive. Then, rather than terminating Broggi’s attacker, AMR placed him on a short leave and later welcomed him back after a cursory internal investigation. Broggi was forced to take her safety into her own hands by avoiding shifts with her attacker and having friendly co-workers escort her to her car at night.
“The ideal outcome is that I am the last female that this happens to,” Broggi says. “I really want to make sure that this never happens to another female because I know how hard it has been.”
Broggi’s experience and lawsuit against AMR Connecticut comes as Connecticut faces a statewide shortage of emergency responders, including paramedics, like Ms. Broggi’s attacker. A concern prior to the pandemic, EMT and paramedic shortages in New Haven have only worsened as a result of COVID-19 and have impacted response times for patients and driven fatigue and burnout among these essential workers.
Complaint Outlines Pattern of Misogyny, Harassment
According to Broggi’s lawsuit, leadership at AMR New Haven has created and fostered a culture in which sexualized comments and conduct, and refusal to support and elevate women employees into positions of power, are the norm The lawsuit alleges that AMR has dismissed or ignored other women who have called out this culture. Moreover, not only has AMR repeatedly turned the other cheek towards discriminatory behavior by its employees, but it allegedly continues to hire known sexual predators.
“How are we employing all these people who can’t be trusted?” a current AMR employee told the New Haven Register. “We’re putting them in the back of an ambulance alone with sometimes unconscious people…It’s very disgusting.”
This sexually hostile work environment allegedly pervades AMR New Haven from the top down. As the complaint against AMR describes, "Only three of AMR’s supervisors out of 17 total in the New Haven Division are women. All three of them had a sexual relationship with a male supervisor at the time they were promoted. The message was – and remains – loud and clear to women who want to advance their careers at AMR: You can’t succeed unless you concede."
“The entire culture there was just like a giant cesspool,” a former AMR employee told the New Haven Register.
Broggi described an important goal in bringing this lawsuit: “I want to be a woman who empowers other women…it seemed like going public was really the only way to drive the necessary change.”
Her attorney, Nina Pirrotti, echoed those sentiments: “It is our client’s hope that this lawsuit will not only obtain justice for her, but will prompt AMR to take significant measures to ensure that its work environment is free of sexual harassment and assault, and from retaliation for bringing these important concerns to light.”
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The Time’s Up Legal Defense Fund is providing legal and communications support to this case. Since the fund was established in 2018, it has received close to 6,000 requests from survivors seeking legal help for sexual harassment in the workplace.
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