Former San José Assistant Fire Chief Could Sue Over Firing

The San José Fire Department’s former assistant chief may sue the city over allegations that he was discriminated against and wrongfully fired.

James Williams, 57, who served as assistant chief in San José from 2021 to this July, filed a claim for damages against the city at the end of September over his firing, and his attorney said a lawsuit will be filed if the city doesn’t resolve the claim soon.

“He was really hoping he would retire with the city of San José,” attorney Jamon Hicks, of the Douglas/Hicks law firm, said.

If the city doesn’t respond to the claim within 45 days or chooses to reject the claim for damages, Williams would have up to six months to file a lawsuit against the city.

The claim alleges the department “systematically stripped Mr. Williams of his duties, excluded him from executive decision making, denied [him] fair performance evaluations, and [that he was] ultimately informed by the Fire Chief Robert Sapien that the City was ‘going in a different direction.’”

Hicks said Williams was referred to as a “dinosaur” during his time in San José, suggesting bias about his age, and was questioned about when he planned to retire. He was fired about two months before he would have become eligible for deferred retirement benefits, Hicks said, putting his future financial security at risk.

“The complaint filed on behalf of former Assistant Fire Chief James Williams came as unexpected news to the San José Fire Department. As it concerns a personnel matter, we are not able to comment further,” Sapien said in a statement.

Williams had a nearly 40-year career in fire service, including previous work in Oakland and two years as the chief of the Oxnard Fire Department. He abruptly resigned from his post in Oxnard in 2015 and received a $60,000 payout in exchange for agreeing not to sue the city, according to the Ventura County Star. It’s unclear what led to the departure.

In San José, the claim said Williams’ firing came after he had worked to strengthen ties with the firefighters union and pushed back on Sapien’s “effort to monopolize authority in violation of department rules assigning day-to-day operations to the Assistant Chief.”

The firing also came after Williams said he was seeking medical leave for a work-related injury, the claim said. Williams is alleging the city violated his rights under the state’s Fair Employment and Housing Act, and that he faced discrimination, harassment, retaliation and age bias.

“He’s definitely stressed, he’s definitely concerned,” Hicks said.

“The absolute last thing he wanted was litigation. We were extremely hopeful and optimistic that we would be able to sit down with the city of San José and the fire department, that we would have an opportunity to work this out without this becoming a public matter,” Hicks said. “Unfortunately, that wasn’t able to be.”