Milwaukee, WI

Milwaukee, WI: (Jul-23-07) A discrimination lawsuit was brought against the Fire & Police Commission, alleging that former police chief Arthur Jones and the Fire & Police Commission passed them over for promotion because they were white men. The lieutenants filed suit in 2003, accusing the city's first permanent black police chief of discriminating against them by repeatedly promoting minority and female officers ahead of them. During Jones' tenure, about 80% of Milwaukee police lieutenants were white men, but about half the 41 people he promoted to captain were minorities or women. In their suit, the lieutenants sought $300,000 each, or $5.1 million, in addition to unspecified punitive damages.

In a settlement reached, a federal jury ruled in their favor in 2005, finding that between them, the officers were discriminated against a total of 144 times. The jury and US District Judge Thomas Curran awarded $3.7 million in damages. Curran later awarded attorney's fees that brought the total to about $4.6 million. In January 2007, a federal appeals court upheld the verdict but sent the damages back to the district court in Milwaukee to be recalculated. Both sides agreed to mediation, which resulted in a $2.65 million payout to 17 police officers who filed suit. Each officer would receive about $104,000 each. [JOURNAL SENTINEL: POLICE DISCRIMINATION]

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Published on Jul-24-07