3 female Topeka police officers sue city, police chief alleging gender discrimination
Three female Topeka Police Department supervisors have sued the city and police chief alleging they were discriminated against and passed over for promotions because they are women.
Lt. Jennifer Cross and Capts. Colleen Stuart and Jana Harden filed the three-count discrimination lawsuit last week in U.S. District Court in Kansas City, Kansas.
The officers allege in the first two counts that the city discriminated against them and denied them equal protection under the law because of their gender. A similar allegation is made in the third count against Police Chief Bryan Wheeles.
They’re seeking $1.5 million in damages, according to court documents.
A spokeswoman for Topeka said the city was aware of the suit.
“The city takes claims of this nature very seriously and has full faith that the justice system will resolve this issue,” said Gretchen Spiker, director of communications for Topeka. “Because the matter involves pending litigation, and in order to not prejudice the process, the city has no further comment.”
Sexist comments, different standards
Cross, Stuart and Harden have served long careers with the department. Cross joined in 2004, Harden in 2000 and Stuart in 1999. They contend their experiences in that time demonstrate that the city “treats female officers different than male officers to the detriment of those female officers and the department.”
The lawsuit says the women faced sexist comments, had their authority circumvented by male officers and the chief, and were held to different standards than their male counterparts.
Some of the most recent allegations in the lawsuit stem from Topeka’s appointment of Wheeles as chief of police on Nov. 23, 2021, and his selection of deputy chief five days later. Stuart and Harden were among the candidates qualified for the position, according to the suit.
The officers contend Wheeles offered the position to a male candidate before conducting any job interviews. The city and Wheeles allegedly promoted that candidate because he was “believed to be in lockstep with the chief’s thinking and ideas for the department’s future,” the officers contend in the suit.
“In reality, however, Defendants chose (the candidate) because he is male,” the officers said in the suit.
The lawsuit claims that candidate did not have a masters degree, which all three women were told was needed to advance to the higher positions of the department, and was less qualified and experienced than Stuart or Harden.
When Stuart and Harden interviewed a few weeks later for a promotion to major, a male candidate was given the promotion. The lawsuit contends Stuart and Harden were also more qualified and experienced than that candidate.
According to the suit, Wheeles and the deputy chief met with Stuart shortly before announcing the promotion and told her she was not being promoted. They told her that at the level of major and above, a person needs a certain skill set to work “the politics.”
Stuart noted Wheeles had an opportunity to make a historic decision not once, but twice, but chose not to do so. The department has never had a female deputy chief and has had only one female major in its history, the suit says.
The lawsuit also includes references to instances in which female officers were held to different standards than their male coworkers. For example, Stuart at one time was the public information officer for the department. In that role, she was expected to be available 24 hours a day to go to crime scenes and provide information to the media, whether or not she was on duty.
When she was promoted to captain in 2018, a male lieutenant took over those responsibilities. Shortly thereafter his title changed to executive officer to the chief, he was given his own office and he had fewer responsibilities, according to the suit.
Between 2002 and 2006, Harden tried three times to get on the department’s response team, which is also known as SWAT. Although she passed physical requirements and scenario drills, she was not selected for the team. She was told she was not selected because the team’s leadership did not want a female, according to the lawsuit. The department has never had a female officer on the team.
Harden was also passed over for promotion to captain in 2015, even though she had more experience, education and time in rank when compared to the male candidate who was promoted. In 2018, Harden was denied a promotion to major. The chief at the time advised her she didn’t get the position because she didn’t have a masters degree.
She went back to school and graduated with a masters degree in December 2020.
Meanwhile, Cross was also denied a denied a promotion to captain in early 2018 because she didn’t have a masters degree. When she pointed out the male candidate who was promoted didn’t have one either, she was told it was “just his time,” according to the suit.
She went back to school and earned a masters degree in November 2020.
The lawsuit contends that Cross was also held to different standards than others in the department. In 2018, for example, she was reprimanded after attending a concert and doing a front handspring when invited on stage. A video recording had been uploaded online, and she was told her social media conduct was “unbecoming” of a commander.
Meanwhile other male officers were not reprimanded or disciplined for online conduct that reflected poorly on the police department, per the lawsuit, including the chief at the time who was shown on social media dressed as Cher.
In December 2021, Cross had applied for a promotion to captain. Two male officers, however, were given the promotion, one of whom had not completed his masters degree and the other who had just completed his. The lawsuit contends that Cross had more experience and institutional knowledge than the male officers who were promoted.
This past spring, Cross made a hostile work environment and bullying complaint to Topeka’s human resources office after she said her supervisors undermined her authority when dealing with police officers failing to comply with dress code requirements during training.
The city found her authority had been improperly undermined.
