Firefighter Kelly Gall is suing the city of Austin for failing to prevent sexual harassment from former Austin fire Lt. James Baker, who pleaded guilty in October to filming Gall in a fire station restroom.
In a civil lawsuit filed in Travis County this week, Gall says the city failed to take action against Baker, her former supervisor, for previous reports of inappropriate behavior.
“The city knew or should have known of the harassment based on previous complaint(s) related to Baker’s inappropriate sexual behavior,” the lawsuit states. “Baker’s sexual harassment was sufficiently severe/and or pervasive as such that it altered the conditions of Gall’s employment and created an abusive working environment.” According to the lawsuit, Baker intruded on Gall’s privacy when he placed a spy camera in the women’s restroom of their fire station at 401 Fifth St. while Gall was out responding to a fire call on Sept. 4, 2017.