Court Battle Continues Between Omaha Fire Union President And City

There still has been no decision in a court fight between Fire Union President Steve LeClair and the city of Omaha. Both sides faced a judge on Wednesday to make their case.

It's been two months since an arbitrator ordered the city to give LeClair his job back.

While LeClair remains the local 385 Union president, he's not back to work as a firefighter. The city of Omaha appealed the decision hoping the court would uphold his firing and prevent him from ever getting on a truck again.

The city argues that LeClair’s admissions of what happened in this security video prove their point. In November of 2018 6 News reports that LeClair leaned into an African American woman at an Omaha bar and said something to her and then puts an elbow into her back and he walked away.

The woman told police he whispered "white power" into her ear. LeClair says he said "what white power." LeClair pleaded "no contest" to misdemeanor assault and was sentenced to probation.

The fire chief fired him saying his actions embarrassed the city. On Wednesday the city argued being a firefighter is a privilege, not a right and that the racial comment and assault are enough to fire someone and that the arbitrator exceeded her power to give LeClair his job back.

LeClair’s team says the arbitrator's decision should be final and binding and points to the case from a few years ago of an acting chief making slanderous comments about President Obama online and how the city did not fire him. In fact, they said he was eventually promoted.

The judge asked for the latest round of briefs to be filed in the next two weeks. It's possible a decision could be reached in February.


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