SKOKIE, IL — A Skokie Police Department sergeant last month filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against the department’s retired chief, its current chief, a police commander and the village, alleging that Skokie discriminates against female officers.
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Sgt. Melissa Russell has been passed up for promotion to the rank of commander eight times since December 2017, most recently in May, despite receiving the department’s highest performance evaluations, according the complaint filed on her behalf June 21 in Chicago.
Russell has repeatedly complained about facing harassment and gender discrimination on the job and the department’s failure to promote her, but it has failed to investigate her complaints and instead has retaliated against her, her complaint alleges.
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According to the 23-page suit, senior officers at the department have since 2021 required Russell to use personal insurance and personal funds to pay for medical treatments and physical therapy appointments stemming from severe on-duty injuries to her neck and shoulder she sustained in the line of duty.
Russell alleges she was frequently disciplined for things that male officers were allowed to do — like working out during a lunch break.
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“Male employees are permitted to work out on their lunch breaks and are not disciplined for doing so,” according to her complaint.
“In August 2022, Plaintiff was disciplined for wearing street clothes at work because she was going to physical therapy for her on-duty injury. Male employees are not disciplined for wearing street clothes at work,” it said.
“[Retired Chief Brian] Baker and [Chief Jesse] Barnes forced [Russell] to use vacation days instead of sick days for medical treatments stemming from a work-related injury,” the complaint continued. “Baker and Barnes did not force males to use vacation days instead of sick days for medical treatments. Baker and Barnes did not closely monitor how males enter ‘time off’ and whether the days are used as vacation days, sick days, or otherwise.”
According to the suit, Russell was also falsely accused of abusing overtime, while also being required to work unpaid overtime by taking calls, texts and emails outside of work hours as the sergeant for the “programs and planning” unit.
The discrimination or retaliation was based on her gender, in retaliation for her complaints about discrimination and harassment, in retaliation for her on-duty injuries — or some combination of the three according to the suit.
Russell’s suit also describes how a male sergeant was promoted to commander ahead of her even though he had less training and had not graduated Northwestern University’s 10-week School of Police Staff and Command class and she had.
“Certain supervisors, including [Cmdr. Timothy] Gramins, made complaints about [Russell] just before the promotional process in an effort to lower [her] promotability score and/or to negatively impact her ability to be promoted,” according to her suit.
In addition to alleged violations of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, the 12-count complaint includes counts under state minimum wage law, the Fair Labor Standards Act and the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Russell, Baker, Barnes and Gramins are all Lake County residents, according to the suit.
Patrick Deignan, Skokie’s communications director, said in a statement that the village and its police department offer its workers an “equitable and professional” environment that values diversity and accommodates everyone.
“The allegations in this litigation are entirely without merit and are in direct conflict with the Department’s well-established organizational standard of excellence, fairness, and respect. The Skokie Police Department maintains a strong and ongoing commitment to serving the community by maintaining this standard of excellence while providing opportunity and promoting diversity throughout its ranks,” Deignan told Patch.
“As with any litigation involving personnel, the Village has engaged outside counsels to represent it in this matter and cannot offer further comment at this time,” he added.
U.S. District Judge Sunil Harjani set an initial status hearing for the case on Sept. 10, with both sides of the case to have filed an initial joint status report a week earlier.
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