East Lansing defends police department policies

GRAND RAPIDS - In its response to a federal lawsuit, East Lansing defended its police department's handling of promotions for female officers, but admitted that in 2014 Chief Jeff Murphy, then a captain, motioned like he was going to throw away an application he was handed by a female officer.

That application was the second time Tresha Neff applied for a promotion to lieutenant, with the first coming a year earlier, according to court records. When she submitted her application to Murphy, according to her lawsuit, he took it "in his hand and then motioned like he was going to throw it in the trash and said 'is this where this goes?'"

The city admitted to that allegation in its filing Friday in federal court in Grand Rapids. While the the lawsuit doesn't include the then-captain's first name, City Manager George Lahanas confirmed Thursday it was Chief Jeff Murphy.

"This type of response (to a lawsuit) doesn't provide the context, but that will be provided at a later date," Lahanas said Thursday. "And my understanding is that they were joking."

Murphy couldn't be reached for comment.

Neff, a  21-year veteran of the department, sued the city claiming she was passed over for promotions because she is a woman. Her filing also alleges she was denied training, better schedules and other benefits that her male co-workers were allowed. Neff's lawsuit alleges that as a result she lost wages, was humiliated and her professional reputation suffered.

EL police officer suing city for gender discrimination

The city denied those allegations in its response to her lawsuit "for the reason that they are not true." It also asked the judge to dismiss the lawsuit and award the city costs and attorney fees associated with defending itself. The city said its actions "were at all times motivated by legitimate, non-discriminatory reasons."

Messages were left Wednesday afternoon seeking comment from City Manager George Lahanas, the city's attorney and Joni Fixel, Neff's attorney.

It wasn't until December 2011, after 17 years as a police officer and eight previous applications for promotion, that Neff was promoted to sergeant, according to her lawsuit. The lawsuit also says she doesn't have any disciplinary action in her records at the department.

But the city's response indicated she had a verbal reprimand in her file for six months, but doesn't specify when that was placed in her file or the reason for the reprimand. The city also denies that it has a passed over women for promotions and given them to less qualified or equally qualified men in the department.

The police department was established in 1921 and the first woman was promoted in 1977, according to Neff's lawsuit, and only four other women have been promoted since.

During the time Neff alleges she was passed over for promotions because she was a woman, the city's police chief was a woman, Juli Liebler. She retired in June after four years as chief and more than 25 years in the department.

Contact Matt Mencarini at (517) 267-1347 or mmencarini@lsj.com. Follow him on Twitter@MattMencarini.