Kansas fire captain files lawsuit against the City of Wichita

WICHITA (KSNW) - Wichita Fire Department Captain Mark Jordan has been with the department for more than 25 years.

In October of 2021, he filed a lawsuit against the City of Wichita. It has now been assigned to federal court.

"We don't have a specific demand," said Sean McGivern, Mark Jordan's attorney. "That will come up in the litigation process."

The lawsuit currently filed says Jordan is qualified to become a battalion chief. It also says the City of Wichita has declined to promote Jordan. The current lawsuit mentions damages of up to at least $75,000.

"Mr. Jordan just wants to be fairly treated," said McGivern. "Nothing less. Nothing more."

The lawsuit, originally filed in district court, also claims there are race issues involved. Jordan is African American.

"And the city, the city will make you litigate the cases and that's fine," said McGivern. "In my interview with witnesses there is a degree of racism and resentment towards Mr. Jordan, frankly, based on his race."

With accused civil rights issues in the lawsuit, McGivern says the city chose to have that lawsuit removed to federal court. The lawsuit is currently in federal court where McGivern hopes to have a court date finalized soon.

While the City of Wichita's legal team said it has no comment on pending litigation, court documents show an initial response from the city.

In court papers, the city denies the allegations. Court papers from the city say city leaders promptly investigated complaints about a job evaluation for Jordan. Jordan claims his evaluation was good, at 3.67 recently on a scale of five.

Jordan's attorney, McGivern, claims in the lawsuit that Jordan signed an evaluation that shows a score of 3.67.

McGivern also claims two people at the fire department changed that review, lowering the score.

"And an electronic signature for Mark (Jordan) was then added to the evaluation that was lower," said McGivern. "City management added the derogatory information, copied and affixed his electronic signature to the new version."

In court papers, the City of Wichita also said "No action was taken by Defendant City with respect to Plaintiff's employment which was not based on legitimate, non-discriminating and non-retaliatory reasons."

McGivern claims changes that were made to the evaluation after Jordan's signature include things like "During this ratings period Captain Jordan struggled as an incident commander at a 2 alarm strip mall fire. This has been identified as a deficit."

City Attorney and Director of Law for the City of Wichita, Jennifer Magana, responded to KSN with the following:

"Thank you for giving the City the opportunity to comment for your story," wrote Magana. "But due to this being pending litigation, the City has no comment."