Series of employee discrimination lawsuits rock East Bay law enforcement
At least five women have filed employment lawsuits against the Concord Police Department and Contra Costa County Sheriff's Office in recent months alleging discrimination, retaliation and widespread misconduct in the workplace.
Plaintiffs Amy Hendricks, Harley Valadez and Kristen Krieger are all former officers with the Concord Police Department and Beth Long still works there. According to their attorney David Ratner, these women were denied promotions on the basis of gender on dozens of occasions -- often in situations where the promotion was given to less qualified male personnel.
The women filed suit against the department in October.
"There's a glass ceiling in place that prevents women from achieving the rank they deserve," Ratner said in an interview Tuesday. "I'm hopeful that by these women stepping up, positive changes can be made within the Police Department."
The allegations against the Concord Police Department describe a working environment in which women were penalized over pregnancies and maternal leave, as well as efforts to seek mental health care related to job stress.
Concord police and the city attorney did not respond to a request for comment on the lawsuit.
When Hendricks started seeing a therapist in 2014, after more than 10 years as a sworn officer, the department allegedly discouraged her from doing so.
"Concord PD instructed her to not talk about her struggles as it was a sign of 'weakness,'" Ratner alleges in the lawsuit. "On top of that, the department therapist lacked ethical boundaries, as she would discuss employee's problems with other employees."
Then in 2016, Hendricks was involuntarily reassigned to dispatch under Capt. William Roche, who served with the department until 2021.
"Ms. Hendricks knew of circumstances involving Captain Roche retaliating against the female Dispatchers, which intentionally caused a staffing shortage," the lawsuit states. "He told Ms. Hendricks that the Dispatchers were 'b----es' and he was going to 'make it miserable for them.' Captain Roche said he was going to 'force them out' and get the 'good ones' jobs elsewhere."
The lawsuit documents other forms of workplace misconduct, including an incident in which a sergeant allegedly referred to Hendricks as a "sea donkey" -- a derogatory term for unattractive women, according to Urban Dictionary -- in front of other officers during a briefing.
In 2021, Hendricks alleges she was forced into "industrial disability retirement" with two weeks' notice, despite having never applied for retirement. She was also prevented from keeping her service weapon, which the lawsuit claims is standard practice for retiring male officers.
"Concord PD wanted her doctors to answer if she was a danger to herself or to others. They also wanted the doctors to answer if she should be able to retain her duty weapon. Every medical report that addresses Ms. Hendricks' ability to carry a firearm or any danger concerns consistently showed there was no evidence to suggest any issues," Ratner writes in the complaint.
Beth Long, who has worked for the Concord Police Department since 2002, alleges she repeatedly received lower scores than her male counterparts on promotional exams that were administered by all-male superior officers.
"The exam and grading were very subjective. There was no clear grading structure or criteria nor explanation for the low grade," the lawsuit alleges.
In April 2021, Valadez was placed on modified duty after failing her pistol qualification, prevented from immediately attempting to requalify and placed on a "performance improvement plan."
"This was done in an effort to embarrass Ms. Valadez as other male officers were not forced to wait so long for requalification," writes her attorney.
A male officer allegedly failed his pistol qualification on the same occasion as Valadez -- but was given an opportunity to requalify the following day -- and another was allegedly given "unlimited opportunities in the same day to test until he qualified" on a previous date.
Krieger, who worked with Concord police until 2020, alleges that her office was given to a male officer after she suffered an on-duty knee injury. The department also denied payment for Krieger's knee surgery, claiming it was too expensive.
"At the same time, Concord PD covered higher costs for the same surgery for her male colleagues," the lawsuit says.
In addition to various forms of workplace discrimination and retaliation, the lengthy civil complaint also details a number of other questionable incidents involving law enforcement, including an incident in 2020 in which an all-male team of five officers received roughly 80 hours of overtime pay to produce a Christmas video for social media. That video is still available at https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=4062562430429482..
The plaintiffs are demanding a jury trial but the case is unlikely to go that far. According to their attorney, Contra Costa County has "mandatory ADR" or Alternative Dispute Resolution, meaning it will likely end up in mediation.
The Contra Costa County Sheriff's Office is also facing allegations of discrimination and retaliation against a female employee, according to a different lawsuit that was also filed in October.
Caroline Ramos, a fingerprint technician who has worked for the Sheriff's Office since 2011, alleges that her boss -- Cyrena Viellieux -- routinely made racist statements at work and disparaged overweight colleagues. Ramos also accused Viellieux of unlawfully accessing confidential law enforcement databases to conduct unauthorized research for friends and family members. When she complained, however, Ramos says Viellieux retaliated by accusing her of payroll fraud.
Ramos' attorney Michael McNicholas did not respond to an email requesting an interview. The Contra Costa County Sheriff's Office and the county counsel also did not respond to requests for comment.