Female Patrolman allegedly faces discipline while male coworkers do not and is overlooked routinely for promotions, despite years of experience.

David ManesLawsuits & Press Releases

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Employee Files Lawsuit against Mercyhurst University for Sex Discrimination          

Diane, a patrolman, served for four years at Mercyhurst University and expected to receive her first promotion, since she had the most experience. According to Diane, the unwritten, but widely known, policy of the company is to promote those with the most experience to open positions. However, when a corporal position opened at Mercyhurst, a male coworker with less experience was promoted over Diane. According to the unspoken company policy, Diane should have been promoted, but apparently this policy doesn’t apply to women at Mercyhurst.

Gender Discrimination MisconductMeanwhile, Diane began to recognize that she was treated differently than male coworkers in routine tasks by her deputy chief. For almost a year, Diane asserts that the deputy chief made it more difficult for Diane to do her job by forcing her to work without a citation book. And then, when corrections needed to made on her police reports, rather than allowing her to make those corrections at the main campus, which was only minutes from her home, the deputy chief required her to drive thirty minutes to another campus to make those corrections. Naturally, Diane reported these instances to a supervisor but no corrective action was taken.

When Diane removed company patches from her shirts, just as her male coworkers did, she allegedly received discipline. The men did not. Frustrated by this ongoing discrimination, Diane spoke up about the disparity of treatment, but nothing was done.

In 2015, the hostility and discrimination heightened. Diane and two other male coworkers were disqualified from a shooting course. As a result, Diane was required to retake the course, while the men were not. Then, the deputy chief swapped Diane out of the monthly neighborhood watch meetings for no reason, replacing her with a male coworker, so she no longer received the overtime pay for that time. And then again, Diane watched as another male coworker with less experience received the job opening of sergeant, a position Diane deserved.

Clearly, Mercyhurst University practices sex discrimination by only promoting men with the less experience than their female counterparts and disciplining women more harshly than men. Mercyhurst University denies these claims, but Diane deserves fair treatment. KM&A advocates on behalf of people like Diane who have faced discrimination simply because of their gender.

Full text of this complaint, as filed with the District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania, is available at docket no: 1:17-cv-00178-JFC

Kraemer, Manes & Associates LLC is an employment law firm with principal offices in Pittsburgh and Philadelphia, serving all counties in Pennsylvania, focusing on employment law, business law, litigation, and civil issues. KM&A clients include employees, small businesses, parties in litigation, and people with a variety of legal issues.

For more information about this case, contact Attorney Kayla Drum at 412-626-5594 or at kd@lawkm.com.

NOTICE: All information contained in this statement comes from the Complaint which has been filed as a public record with the court. As dedicated civil rights attorneys, we strongly believe in the public value of telling our clients’ stories: violators can be held accountable, and other silent victims can feel empowered to stand up for their legal rights. Although we make every attempt to verify our clients’ claims, note that the defendant is expected to oppose our client’s position, and the court has not ruled one way or the other as of the date of this statement.