ByTeddy Tauscher
The Eagle-Tribune
METHUEN, Mass. — The city will enter into mediation this month with attorneys representing Methuen’s first female firefighter as both sides work to settle a $2.75 million discrimination lawsuit scheduled for trial next year.
In a lawsuit filed in 2020 in Essex Superior Court Methuen Fire Department Capt. Tracy Blanchette alleged she was unfairly passed over for a promotion within the department due to her gender.
A Civil Service Commission ruling in November 2021 , which led to her promotion to captain in early 2022, determined that gender bias existed. However, the lawsuit has remained ongoing with the trial now set for Feb. 24, 2025 , with mediation scheduled for Dec. 19 .
The commission found that favoritism and sexism within the primarily male department had played a role when Blanchette was passed over for promotion, despite a stellar record, in favor of a male firefighter who was friends with Fire Chief Tim Sheehy.
The commission report called the violations of law by the city “intolerable.”
Essex Superior Court Justice Janice Howe ruled in January that there is a distinction between the findings by the Civil Service Commission and the aim of the lawsuit.
Howe wrote that the commission had determined gender discrimination faced by Blanchette was only the “second reason” for their ruling and not “essential to the merits of the proceeding.” Howe wrote the primary reasoning behind the commission’s decision was the “city’s flawed interview process.”
Acting Mayor D.J. Beauregard declined to comment on the case, beyond reaffirming the date of trial and mediation, citing the pending litigation.
Blanchette is being represented by Gary Nolan of Nolan Perroni , a firm that specializes in representing labor unions and law enforcement. Nolan did not respond for comment.
The commission reported that multiple factors, including gender, had played a role in firefighter Capt. Matt Tulley’s promotion over Blanchette, additionally highlighting that the department had historically made no efforts to increase the number female firefighters.
“The predisposition in Tulley’s favor was compounded by Sheehy’s predisposition against Blanchette due to a proven personal and institutional bias against her in which her gender was a contributing factor,” wrote the commission. “The MFD’s leader refuses to acknowledge even the possibility that a gender bias in favor of male firefighters during his tenure as the MFD Chief has contributed to the dearth of female firefighters in the MFD and elsewhere.”
Beauregard confirmed Wednesday that both Tulley and Blanchette are currently employed by the city as captains.
The city has said the choice to not promote Blanchette was a result of her poor score in an interview portion of the assessment. While she received a high score on a number of tests she scored the lowest of the interview portion. In a court document filed earlier this year, city lawyers offered a scathing assessment of Blanchette’s performance.
“Ms. Blanchette was not promoted due to her extremely poor performance on the interview portion of an assessment center,” wrote attorneys for the city in a joint pretrial memo this year. “Each member of the interview panel unequivocally agreed that Plaintiff had had a remarkably poor interview – so poor that it was a stark outlier (as the scores indicate), in comparison to the interview performance of the other three candidates.”
The commission’s report however offered a similarly scathing assessment of the interview process itself, highlighting instances where interviewers had kept poor and sometimes contradictory notes. The report even noted an instance where reviewers had failed to correctly tally up their scores for Blanchette.
This interview had also been conducted a year prior to the vacancy the department was looking to fill.
The commission also revealed that Tulley employed Sheehy at his private electrical business, as well as family connections between Tulley and city officials at the time.
Blanchette’s lawsuit and the commission’s report also provides details on her record and awards.
Her accolades include being honored as firefighter of the year by both the Methuen Rotary Club and the Massachusetts State Firefighting Academy after her lifesaving efforts during the Malden Mills fire in 1995.
The commission ruling also ordered that Blanchette receive back pay starting from the date she was passed over for the promotion.
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