Discrimination for Police Department employees, a sober reality nothing escapes

The 2 former West Chester Twp. police captains who lodged complaints towards Police Chief Joel Herzog final 12 months have filed a discrimination lawsuit in federal court docket towards the chief, trustees and township.

Former captains Joe Gutman and Jamie Hensley filed a Discrimination Lawsuit and are seeking an undisclosed amount of cash together with misplaced pay and advantages and compensatory and punitive damages, amongst different requests. They declare Herzog engaged in a sample of sexual and racial discrimination towards division employees and retaliated towards them after they complained about it.

They claimed Herzog made sexist feedback about feminine workers and their look; referred to 2 officers as “White Mike” and “Brown Mike,” “mocked” Trustee Lee Wong’s accent and referred to Indian residents as “dots” and his allergist, the husband of a mosque chief, as a “terrorist.”

After the captains started complaining, they are saying Herzog started freezing them out of command employees selections, undermining their authority and giving them lower than stellar efficiency opinions, which impacted their pay, amongst different issues.

Hensley give up the division final 12 months, and Gutman left in January after what the go well with describes as “insupportable” work circumstances.

“The persevering with hostility from Defendant Herzog, his allies, and the township induced Captain Gutman’s working circumstances to be so insupportable that no cheap particular person would endure them. The continuing retaliation and hostility started impacting Captain Gutman’s well being,” the go well with reads.

“Extra considerably, Captain Gutman feared for his security had been he to come across a life-threatening scenario within the line of responsibility because of the excessive hostility directed at him within the division. Because of this, he was compelled to resign from WCPD on January 16, 2021 after over 24 years of service to West Chester Township.”

Township spokeswoman Barb Wilson mentioned the township can’t touch upon pending litigation. The Journal-Information interviewed Herzog just lately about circumstances on the division practically a 12 months after the investigation.https://ddae827a87341cbcffe985479cf0eb13.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-38/html/container.html

“We had been working very diligently to make it a cushty, secure office for everybody,” Herzog mentioned about Gutman’s resignation. “We had a course of in place to repeatedly enhance and if he felt totally different that’s one thing you’d must ask him.”

The three trustees, Township Administrator Larry Burks and lawyer Douglas Duckett, who was employed by the township to research the allegations, are additionally named within the go well with.

“In collusion with the trustees, Defendant Burks, and Defendant Herzog, Defendant Duckett deliberately distorted and mischaracterized interview statements, did not interview corroborating witnesses, and selectively ignored most of what Plaintiffs informed him so he may provide the report Defendants needed: one which excused Defendant Herzog’s illegal habits and set the stage to terminate Plaintiffs underneath false pretenses,” the lawsuit reads. “Defendants did this to punish Plaintiffs for his or her protected exercise and speech.”

Duckett concluded Herzog didn’t deserve disciplinary motion however wanted to make some enhancements. Enchancment plans had been drafted for each Herzog and Gutman.

The grievance notes that Duckett’s report was launched whereas complaints had been nonetheless coming about Herzog. They’ve accused the trustees, Burks and Duckett of defamation, apparently referring to a prolonged assertion Trustee Ann Becker learn after they declared the matter to be over final July.

The assertion mentioned Herzog had been “raked over the coals and publicly shamed” for inappropriate statements. It admonished the captains for his or her therapy of Herzog’s administrative assistant, the problem that began two years of issues. They complained about her inappropriate apparel at work, her winking, providing to carry again lunch and different infractions. The trustees famous if she had been a person, these points wouldn’t have arisen.

“There has additionally not been a lot acknowledgement within the media of the captains’ sexist view of ladies within the office and unfair therapy of a feminine worker. Neither former Captain Hensley nor Captain Gutman have acknowledged error of their therapy of this worker or taken duty for the position they performed within the command employees dysfunction,” the assertion by all three trustees mentioned.

The lawsuit asks for a jury trial and a declaration that the defendants’ retaliation violated the captains’ constitutional rights. Along with the opposite financial damages, they’re looking for compensation for the “adversarial tax penalties of receiving a lump sum award slightly than their compensation and advantages over a number of, separate tax 12 months.”