Officer wins discrimination lawsuit

Jury: East Whiteland denied Sian Keating a promotion because of her gender

A federal jury hearing the case of a former East Whiteland police officer has found that the township denied her promotion in the department because of her gender.

The jury ruled on Thursday that Sian Keating was due $200,000 in compensatory damages for being passed over in favor of a male candidate for a fulltime position in the department, after her promotion had been recommended by the former police chief in 2017.

A statement from the law firm of Console Mattiacci, which represented Keating, praised her for coming forward and fighting the discrimination she faced from the township.

The firm said it was “proud to represent Officer Sian Keating, who had the strength and courage to fight back when her civil rights were violated, not only for her own sake, but for all women in law enforcement across this Commonwealth.”

The jury in U.S. Magistrate Judge Timothy Rice’s courtroom in Philadelphia returned with its verdict finding the township guilty of discrimination on Thursday after a four-day trial.

Keating, who now serves as a full-time police officer in Malvern — the first ever full-time female police officer in that department — could not be reached for comment. She was represented by attorneys Julie A. Uebler and Anna Norman of the Console firm.

Both John Gonzalez, the attorney representing the township from the firm of Marshall Dennehey Warner Coleman & Gog

gin of Philadelphia, as well as Township Manager John Nagle, who allegedly played a key role in denying Keating her promised promotion, declined comment on the jury’s verdict.

In addition to the $200,000 awarded to Keating for pain and suffering, Rice is also expected to rule on what level of back pay and future pay the township is responsible for compensating her for the loss of income. Keating’s attorneys have asked for $37,634 in lost back pay and $277,214 in lost future earnings in the township.

In her complaint, Keating is identified as a 2011 graduate of the Delaware County Community College’s municipal police academy, with training in DUI investigation, human trafficking investigation, drug identification, and other police patrol fields. She began working parttime for East Whiteland in November 2013, after having worked as a police officer in Darby, Delaware County, earlier that year.

According to the suit, in early 2017 Sgt. Dan Wilson notified then-Chief Eugene Dooley of his intention to retire that summer. Dooley intended to promote Officer John Kopacz to the rank of sergeant to fill that vacancy, and to then promote Keating to fill the full-time position that Kopacz was leaving in the department’s detective division.

Dooley formally proposed the two promotions at an executive session of the Board of Supervisors on May 3, 2017, according to the complaint. The promotions were both tentatively approved, the suit states, and Keating was advised of her promotion that day.

But on May 5, 2017, Nagel met with Dooley and Lt. Mark Ercole and told them they could not promote Keating and that Officer Jeffrey Murray, another parttime officer, should be promoted ahead of her. The only explanation given was that Murray had prior military experience that Keating did not have.

“There was no requirement that East Whiteland give preference for promotions to candidates with military service,” the complaint states. “Mr. Nagle’s explanation was just a pretext for gender discrimination. The real reason Mr. Nagle preferred Officer Murray was because of his gender.”

Still, Dooley continued to assure Keating that he would push for her promotion. At one point, Deputy Chief Chris Yeager asked Keating to appear for a fitting from a new dress uniform, which only full-time officers receive, according to the suit. Eventually, in late May 2017, Dooley told Keating that she and Murray would be given assignments in the detectives division on part-time basis to “compete” for the fulltime job for six months. By then, he said, the township would have adopted new hiring policies and a decision would be made as to who would get the promotion.

Keating claims that she received contacts from Sgt. Patricia Doyle, head of the detective’s division, about the situation. Doyle first told her that Murray had also “been promised” the promotion to full-time, and that both of the candidates have families to support. But she said that both Keating and Murray were qualified for the post, and that Nagle’s proposal for the six-month competition was “ridiculous.”

Kopacz was promoted on June 14, 2017, by the supervisors, even though no new hiring policies had been adopted, and previously the supervisors’ approval for personnel decisions by Dooley were not required.

Between August and November 2017, the township hired or extended offers to five new part-time police officers, even though it had not adopted new hiring policies or procedures, the suit states. The supervisors were supposed to have discussed policy revisions in February and April, but did not adopt the new policy until June 13. At the time, the supervisors chair described the policy as being “long overdue.”

Dooley had gone on leave for months before he died in March. Keating had sought and received approval from the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to file a discrimination lawsuit, its deadline being June 25.

According to the suit, the new hiring policy was a “misguided attempt to defend themselves from Officer Keating’s lawsuit and not because they required such a policy to implement police hiring and promotions” some of which had taken place without the policy since Wilson’s retirement. That vacancy, the suit suggests, is still open, and Murray still works as a part-time officer.

Keating received an offer of full-time employment in Malvern in March 2018, and accepted it, resigning her post in East Whiteland because full-time Malvern officers cannot work in other departments.

Officer Sian Keating