Two captains sue Algonquin fire district

A pair of captains claim they were wrongly demoted and are suing the Algonquin-Lake in the Hills Fire Protection District and its trustees to get their higher ranks back.

In the lawsuit filed in May in McHenry County Court, brothers Charles and Joe Teson also allege the district violated a state statute that says the districts should have used captains instead of lieutenants to fill the battalion chief slots.

Until December, the Teson brothers spent 10 years serving as battalion chiefs, court documents say.

But a settlement between the district and the International Association of Firefighters said everyone in the battalion chief position had to pass a test first, said attorney Will King, who represents the brothers.

Because the Tesons weren't required to take a test for their 1997 promotions, the district bumped them down to the captain rank, King said.

The Tesons never faced a pay cut with their demotions and in fact were awarded raises, King said.

But the brothers argue their downgrades violate state law because they didn't accompany staff reductions, King said.

Moreover, the settlement that King says his clients did not endorse, opened their positions to qualified lieutenants who scored high enough on the exam, when it should have excluded them.

King said this stipulation runs counter to the state's Fire Department Promotion Act.

"The only people eligible for promotion to battalion chief would be the two persons in the next lower rank of captain - the two plaintiffs," he said.

The Tesons actually tested for the positions in April, but weren't selected to refill them, King said.

If the court rules in the Tesons' favor, it is unclear whether the district would employ four battalion chiefs, demote the two former lieutenants now in the positions or terminate them.

Steve DiNolfo, the attorney representing the fire district, says it will "vigorously defend" itself against the brothers' "frivolous" complaint.

"The conduct of the district will be established to be appropriate by the court, once the facts are set forth," DiNolfo said.