'Good ole boys club': NYPD sued for gender discrimination for not promoting female cop
NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK: A former NYPD detective claims she was denied promotion and lost up to $360,000 in retirement benefits because the department is a "good ole boys club." According to a Manhattan Supreme Court lawsuit filed on Friday, Stacy Bowen, 43, resigned in July 2022 as a detective in third grade after repeatedly being denied a promotion to second grade, while watching less qualified men land the position.
The document states that the New Jersey resident, who was first promoted to the position in 2007, spent 15 years as the lowest grade detective in the Narcotics Borough of Staten Island. The document stated that the New Jersey resident spent the first 15 years as a lowest-grade detective in the Narcotics Borough Staten Island after being promoted to the position in 2007.
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According to the lawsuit, in just the past four years, Bowen has witnessed five men "recommended for promotions ahead of her with less time on the job, in the rank of detective, and less time in the Narcotics Borough."
In the lawsuit, it is claimed that "these promotions highlight the good ole boys club that existed not only throughout the Staten Island Narcotics Borough but throughout the entire NYPD."
The court documents state that a woman was last promoted to second-grade detective status at the Staten Island Narcotics Bureau in 2014. According to the filing, only 10% of 2nd-grade detectives and 7% of 1st-grade detectives overall in the NYPD are female.
According to SeeThroughNY, Bowen earned $153,434 in 2020. The lawsuit claims that despite Bowen's formal gender discrimination complaint to the Office of Equal Employment and her complaints to her superiors, they "took no actions to fix the problem." However, the lawsuit asserts that despite Bowen's obvious qualifications for the position, they retaliated against her by never submitting her for promotion.
According to the lawsuit, Bowen made "705 arrests, seized 12 firearms, and carried out over three hundred search warrants" while serving as a detective, and she consistently received high-performance ratings. Two lieutenants allegedly lobbied for Bowen's promotion from 2019 onward, but the defendants did not recommend her.
According to the court documents, if Bowen had been promoted, she would have received at least a $15,000 raise, which translates into retirement benefits of $7,500 to $10,000 more annually, or roughly $270,000 to $360,000 more over the course of her retirement.
She accuses the city of gender discrimination and is suing for unspecified damages. According to Bowen's attorney John Scola who spoke to New York Post, "Discretionary promotions have always been an area where discrimination has run rampant in the NYPD." He added, "Women, like Detective Bowen, who has made over 700 arrests in her career, can't even get on a list to be considered for promotion, but less qualified but more connected men jump the line to make the grade."
"We will review the lawsuit if and when we are served," an NYPD spokesperson said.