By Chris Echegaray, The Worcester Telegram & Gazette (Massachusetts)
Accused of favoritism and discrimination, Worcester is embroiled in two separate legal battles with three members of its police force.
One officer has filed a lawsuit in Worcester Superior Court alleging the Police Department unfairly promoted six people.
And two African-American officers have a complaint before the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination accusing the city of bypassing minorities for advancement altogether.
Yesterday, those two officers, Spencer W. Tatum and Andrew Harris, and the city were given a Feb. 6 deadline in a Springfield hearing to file their arguments with the MCAD, which in 1996 found probable cause in the case.
The city is under an agreement with the MCAD to raise the department’s racial diversity. The agreement calls for the city to be consistent with equal opportunity regulations and affirmative action in hiring and promoting minorities until parity is reached.
Edward R. Mitnick, the MCAD hearing officer, will decide the case in the next several months.
In the other legal struggle, Officer Michael R. Girouard, who is white, was denied an injunction last month in Superior Court against recent one-day promotions of officers that he said were illegally made by the city.
The battles coincide with openings in the Police Department, about 10 opportunities for advancement -- from deputy chief to sergeants. The promotions will be made this month.
City Manager Thomas R. Hoover says that the promotions are intertwined with the Civil Service process, which involves test-taking and some seniority.
“Let’s not forget that promotions are controlled by Civil Service,” he said. “We have to follow Boston and the lists. We are restricted ... there is little we can do outside of those lists.”
He declined to comment on the cases.
In the case of the African-American officers, a provision of the 1988 agreement allows the city to promote minorities whose Civil Service exam scores may be lower than those of their white counterparts.
Sgt. John W. Lewis, promoted in 2001, is the highest-ranking minority person in the department, which has more than 350 officers.
Officer Richard P. Cipro Jr., president of the patrolmen’s union, said that tests for promotions are available every two years. He said there is merit to the Civil Service system.
“Everyone has a chance to study,” he said. “You study, take the test and get your score. It’s fair all the way down the line. The test and promotion is according to Civil Service.”
Officer Harris, now with the Operations Division, is a 20-plus year veteran on the force; Officer Tatum, now with the Gang Unit, is a 17-year veteran. They filed the complaint with the MCAD after the Police Department did not consider them for promotion to sergeant in September 1994.
At yesterday’s hearing, the officers’ lawyer, Richard L. Burpee, said that the evidence shows that the city failed to make promotions consistent with the city’s agreement to diversify the department. The lawyer said that both officers would be sergeants if the city had followed the agreement.
From 1992 to 1995, there were 11 promotions to sergeant. None of the officers promoted was black. In total, there were 25 promotions to all positions during that same period; none were of black officers.
The Police Department has argued that the two officers were not promoted because their scores on the Civil Service examination were not high enough to qualify them for consideration.
Meanwhile, a Superior Court judge last month denied Officer Girouard’s request for an injunction that would have prevented the city from promoting six police officers. Officer Girouard’s lawsuit, filed in November, states that the city fraudulently held one-day promotions of six “apparently favored individuals.”
The city promoted four patrolmen to the rank of sergeant and two sergeants to the rank of lieutenant on March 20. A day later, the officers were demoted to their previous positions. The Civil Service list from which promotions are made was set to expire March 31.
Officer Girouard’s lawyer, Peter J. Perroni, has charged that the city implemented the one-day promotions “to skirt the requirements” of Civil Service laws, which he said mandate that promotions be made from the most current promotion list.
The city administration said that the unusual actions were taken because of the fiscal constraints that prevented the Police Department from making promotions before the list expired. The actions effectively placed the demoted officers on a recall list, putting them in line for the first available openings.
The Human Resources Division of the state Executive Office for Administration and Finance allowed the one-day promotion. Officer Girouard and four other officers whose names appear on the latest promotional list appealed the state’s ruling to the Civil Service Commission.