SEATTLE — A veteran Seattle police sergeant has filed a lawsuit against the city claiming she was retaliated against after reporting that several officers were being favored to receive extra overtime pay.
Sgt. Ella Elias filed the lawsuit in King County Superior Court, saying she suffered from a relentless campaign of hostility and discrimination after reporting the overtime scheme, The Seattle Times reports.
A special assignment set up in late 2011 and early 2012 allowed a select group of South Precinct officers to collect a significant amount of overtime pay, the lawsuit said. The four officers who benefited from the assignment were close friends of Assistant Chief Nick Metz. The lawsuit says that Metz and other commanding officers approved 16 hours of overtime every weekend for months.
That meant the officers made about $63 per hour, the lawsuit said.
Elias reported what was happening, but her complaints initially fell on deaf ears, the Times reported. Her superiors eventually stopped the special overtime treatment, but when the officers learned she was the cause of the change, they made her a target, the lawsuit says. The four officers banded together against Elias, repeatedly defying or ignoring her orders, the lawsuit says. None of the officers was disciplined for their behavior, the lawsuit says.
Elias joined the Seattle Police Department in 1992 and has an outstanding work record, according to the lawsuit.
The City Attorney’s Office responded to the lawsuit with a statement saying the office is aware of the allegations and would file an answer to the complaint soon.
“We deny the allegations and will vigorously defend the Seattle Police Department,” officials told the Times. “Sergeant Elias was offered the opportunity to participate in an internal investigation of her claims and declined to do so, choosing instead to file a lawsuit seeking several million dollars from the city. We look forward to responding more fully through the court process.”
Elias’s lawyer disputed the city’s claim, saying she had taken part in all internal-affairs investigations.
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