White Philadelphia fire lieutenant sues over Black promotions

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(Legal Newsline) – A white lieutenant passed over for a position as captain in the Philadelphia Fire Department is alleging the City prefers to select minority candidates for high-ranking positions.

Matthew Gavula sued the PFD Aug. 10 in federal court after losing out on a promotion to Black employees in 2024. Halfway through that year, the top seven applicants for captain had been elevated to that position, leaving him next in line at No. 8.

He was even named acting captain for the mobile integrated healthcare department, which responds to behavioral health calls, in mid-2024 and figured he would be given that job permanently. Instead, he served until Oct. 31, 2024, when a new civil service eligibility list came out.

Black candidates ranked Nos. 1 and 2 on it. He never received the permanent promotion.

“There is a pervasive reverse racial discrimination within Defendant’s Fire Department structure (towards Caucasian personnel,” Gavula’s attorney, Ari Karpf, wrote in the complaint.

“If a Caucasian employee engages in some type of wrongdoing, he or she is held to a higher standard and faces stiffer discipline or even termination. Yet, Defendant so institutionally perpetuates a pro-black environment and racism that Defendant’s Fire Department actually hires or retains completely unqualified or very problematic personnel based on their race.”

Also named as defendants are Fire Commissioner Jeffrey Thompson and Deputy Fire Commissioner Martin McCall, whose promotion over a white candidate sparked a similar 2022 lawsuit cited in Gavula’s complaint.

Jared Jacobson alleged McCall was picked for the job because he is Black, and the case ultimately settled in 2025 in the beginning days of a trial. Judge R. Barclay Surrick had let the allegations make it that far when he denied the City summary judgment, concluding in “a close call” that a reasonable jury could decide that McCall had been chosen because he is Black.