Disney World firefighter sues CFTOD for discrimination

A Disney World firefighter is suing her employer and accusing the governing district of discrimination and creating a workplace that’s “intimidating, hostile, and offensive” in a new federal lawsuit.

Thinh Rappa, an Asian-American woman born in Vietnam, said she faced sex and race discrimination while working for the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District (CFTOD), which handles emergency services at Walt Disney World.

CFTOD did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Rappa alleged that in 2021, a fellow male firefighter-paramedic was cooking dinner at the station when he told her, “Maybe you should speak English, Thinh,” according to her federal lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court’s Orlando division. “He then slammed a ladle on the countertop and blurted out mockingly, ‘Ying, yang, yong, ping, pang, pong,’” her lawsuit said.

Rappa’s complaint alleged she was once on a 2022 call to a sick child having trouble breathing at an unnamed hotel, but her colleague insisted the boy was OK.

“See I got us out of there early and we get to go home now,” he told her afterward, Rappa said in her lawsuit.

Rappa responded by telling her coworker he acted unprofessionally and he should have brought the airbag from the fire engine to help the child she believed was suffering from Croup.

Her coworker “acted extremely defensively and shoved an ambulatory stretcher into Ms. Rappa so as to pin her between the stretcher and the wall, and yelled, ‘I am the medic here not you!’” Rappa’s lawsuit said. “Ms. Rappa was frightened for her life and attempted to deescalate the situation, responding, ‘I’m so sorry and you’re right. You do what you need to do.’”

Rappa said she complained to human resources and then was moved to a different fire station, a move she called punishment because it was known for high volume calls.

Rappa went on medical leave in May 2022 which she claimed was from post-traumatic stress disorder from working at the district. She returned to work in January 2023 and the lawsuit described Rappa as “presently working at the district.”

“As part of her job duties, Ms. Rappa was tasked with transporting patients to hospitals, rotating from fire trucks to rescue trucks, and assisting rescue trucks with their patients,” the lawsuit said.