PHILADELPHIA – A Black corporal detective of Korean heritage alleges that the Chester Police Department engaged in racially discriminatory behavior towards him, which he says caused him to take leave from the department – but the City of Chester maintains that its pending bankruptcy should stay the case.
Benjamin Thomas of Philadelphia filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania on Nov. 10 versus the City of Chester Police Department.
“Plaintiff was hired by defendant in or around 2012 as a police officer. In or around 2016, plaintiff promoted to the rank of Corporal Detective, which remains his present rank. Plaintiff was the subject of persistent ridicule, harassment, disparagement and discrimination based on his race and national origin from 2012 through present,” the suit says.
“Those incidents include: mockingly bowing; co-workers referring to plaintiff as ‘Wang;’ ‘decorating’ plaintiff’s stats on the detective unit’s stats board with Chinese characters, which Captain Chubb permitted to remain and did not address; at least one officer (who later became Commissioner) pulling his eyes to a slant and mockingly imitating Asian speech. In August 2020, plaintiff made a formal, written complaint about the race and national origin-based harassment he received to defendant’s human resources representative, Ms. Pettiford.”
The suit adds that besides “almost a decade of disparaging comments about the plaintiff’s race and national origin, most immediately preceding the aforementioned written complaint was a series of ‘memes’ targeting the plaintiff, including a picture of Kim Jong Il with a caption reading ‘North Korea is the best Korea,’ a picture of an albino Asian baby with a caption reading ‘Two Wongs don’t make a white,’ and an image of the plaintiff transposed onto an ‘Asian Identification Card,’ each of which, along with others, were placed in plaintiff’s cubicle and throughout the Detectives division workplace.”
The plaintiff also claims that the harassment and discrimination continued unabated for the following year, with remarks directed towards him based on the shape of his eyes and stereotypes surrounding both Asian drivers and Asians’ mathematical ability, leading him to continue to vocally oppose such treatment.
“After opposing to his employer the harassment he was receiving on the basis of his race and national origin, plaintiff was further ostracized and isolated at work, with his co-workers refusing to speak with him and stating ‘we can’t have fun here because people are too sensitive’ and ‘we can’t have any fun now because Ben made a complaint.’ The foregoing harassment was carried out by co-workers, including supervisors, only one of whom (of equal rank) is of Asian descent and none of whom are of Korean descent. Plaintiff spoke with his Commissioner about being isolated and ostracized, who responded only ‘hang in there’ (i.e. “toughen up”) and did not offer any assistance or remedy,” the suit states.
“Also after opposing the discrimination he was receiving on the basis of his race and national origin, plaintiff’s supervisor Captain Chubb denied his request to ‘flex’ his time, but subsequently approved another detective’s request to flex time, and Chubb flexed his own time at least 12 times. Captain Chubb is not of Asian descent. Plaintiff requested petty cash to spray paint over the word ‘f—k’ that was scratched into his police vehicle, which request was denied, while a request for petty cash from a non-Asian employee to tint his vehicle’s windows was approved.”
Thomas contends that the “persistent ridicule, harassment, disparagement, and discrimination was…the product of a workplace that was aware of such conduct but failed to discourage it or engage in discipline to correct it, that tolerated and explicitly condoned such conduct toward Thomas, and that fostered a culture of anti-Asian discrimination of which Thomas was the primary victim.”
“The discrimination suffered by plaintiff, set forth more fully hereinabove, caused him to take medical leave, with both physical and psychological symptoms, in or around June 2021, which leave continues to present because plaintiff’s aforementioned symptoms are exacerbated by defendant’s discriminatory culture that continues to the present. The facts set forth more fully above are not an exhaustive list of defendant’s discriminatory conduct toward plaintiff, some of which occurred on a near-daily basis,” the suit says.
On Nov. 16, defense counsel filed a notice explaining that the City of Chester’s year-long and pending bankruptcy proceedings act a stay to any and all litigation against the City.
For counts of violating Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 through discrimination and retaliation, and violating the Pennsylvania Human Relations Act, the plaintiff is seeking compensatory and punitive damages in an amount to be determined at trial, reasonable attorney’s fees and costs associated with this action, and other such relief as this Court may deem just and equitable.
The plaintiff is represented by Christopher Markos of Williams Cedar, in Philadelphia.
The defendant is represented by Daniel C. Moraglia of Bennett Bricklin & Saltzburg, also in Philadelphia.
U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania case 2:23-cv-04418
From the Pennsylvania Record: Reach Courts Reporter Nicholas Malfitano at nick.malfitano@therecordinc.com