Fired pregnant K-9 handler sues Redondo Beach, says union prez 'offered to kick her down stairs'
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: A Pregnant K-9 handler officer is suing the California city for wrongful termination after the department allegedly claimed they did not have "maternity clothes" and when she complained to her union president he "offered to kick her down the stairs."
Officer Daryn Glenn was declared the city's first BLACK K-9 handler in 2021. On Friday, September 9, Glenn who works at Redondo Beach Police Department filed a lawsuit in Los Angeles after she caught herself in the midst of unjust departmental diplomacy as she seeks "unspecified damages for gender and pregnancy discrimination, harassment, retaliation, and failure to prevent harassment and discrimination," according to DailyMail.
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The plaintiff informed her supervisor she was pregnant last October 2021, who on the same day removed her off patrol assignment. Supervisor Lt Cory King told Glen, "that it is department policy to remove female officers from patrol for safety reasons once they get pregnant,'' and was also told she was being taken off the patrol because the department does not have maternity uniforms for pregnant officers, the lawsuit states. Glenn was later reassigned to dispatch and she remained there until June after which she was off on maternity leave. In November Glenn was being transferred and when she complained to her union president that the department was discriminating against her on the basis of her sex, gender, and pregnancy and a transfer was not recommended or required by her doctor. But what her union president told her in response left Glenn startled.
She claims in the lawsuit he responded by saying, "If you want to stay in canine unit, I can push you down the stairs or kick you in the stomach." Bewildered and startled Glenn reported the union president's alleged comment to King, who did not take any measure to investigate the derogative situation and told Glenn to ignore the remark. The Redondo Beach Police Department in January allegedly took away her patrol vehicle, forbade her from attending K-9 training, and ordered her to turn over her dog so it could be sold, Glenn stated in the suit. In accordance with the convention stated in the suit, Glenn claims her career has been damaged after being unaptly fired due to which she has lost over time and promotional opportunities, and the stress has impacted her health.