A Marlborough firefighter has filed a whistleblower suit against the city and Fire Chief James Fortin, claiming that he was stripped of his duties as a mechanic when he brought up concerns about the safety of the department’s trucks, reports The MetroWest Daily News.
According to the complaint, filed in Middlesex Superior Court on Dec. 4, Firefighter Michael Newton was stripped of his duties as department mechanic in April, after he “raised concerns to Fortin about the disrepair of the department’s apparatuses and the resulting threat to public safety.”
Newton, who was appointed as the department’s in-house mechanic in 2007, alleges in the suit that top department officials ignored his reports that several of the department’s vehicles, especially those from a particular manufacturer required an inordinate amount of repairs. His lawyer said on Monday that Newton received unfair treatment when he brought his concerns to his supervisors.
“Mr. Newton is a longtime firefighter from Marlborough and has served the city very well,” attorney Joseph Sulman said Monday. “He has the right to bring concerns without fear of retribution.”
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