Ohio's District Court of Appeals overturned a decision in October that dismissed three female firefighters gender-discrimination lawsuits against the Toledo Fire Department, reports The Blade. The judge who originally dismissed the case said the women did not prove discrimination rather than poor treatment. Capt. Carla Stachura and firefighters Judi Imhoff and Geraldine McCalland, who are each asking for $250,000 in damages and compensation, now can take their case to court.

Stachura, Imhoff and McCalland filed the suit in November 2005 against the city and three department officials. The lawsuit alleges gender discrimination and that the official created a hostile working environment for women, saying that verbal abuse and sexually demeaning language from co-workers was ignored and went unpunished. The plaintiffs also hope to add wrongful termination to the lawsuit, having been fired in February 2007 for secretly recording workplace conversations. Although the practice is legal in Ohio, fire officials said that doing so violated the department's code of conduct. The three later were reinstated after appealing to the firefighters union, the paper reports.

Stachura claims that her superiors denied her privileges given to men of her rank and seniority. McCalland claims that she was denied appointment to public education officer in favor of a less-qualified male employee. She later received the post after filing a complaint with the city.