Female probation officers of color sue NYC for discrimination in pay and promotions
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Dalvanie Powell is president of the United Probation Officers Association, a plaintiff in a lawsuit against the city that alleges a pattern of racial and gender discrimination in the Department of Probation. Photo courtesy of UPOA
By David Brand
New York City’s Department of Probation has consistently underpaid the women of color who make up the bulk of its workforce, even as white men receive higher wages and promotions, a new federal lawsuit charges.
The complaint, filed in Manhattan federal court by five female officers of color and their union, accuses the department of violating non-discrimination laws by suppressing salaries and failing to promote women and people of color who comprise about 90 percent of New York City probation officers.
The discrimination has gone on for years and has worsened amid major demographic changes, according to the United Probation Officers Association and the five plaintiffs.
“As the numbers of non-white and female Probation Officers increased, defendants began to suppress salaries while simultaneously increasing the requirements of the job,” the complaint states.
About 75 percent of probation officers were white men in 1985, but the workforce demographics have drastically changed over the past three decades. By the early 2000s, people of color — mostly women — made up about 70 percent of the workforce, the lawsuit states.
The city typically pays female probation officers of color at the lowest end of the civil service salary scale and continues to pay them the minimum rate through their tenures, the plaintiffs allege. At the same time, the city has increased salaries for administrators — predominantly white men — while promoting white men at a disproportionate rate, the complaint continues.
“We are proud of how probation officers have stepped up during the pandemic, taking on additional responsibilities while risking their own health and safety in service to our city. But for too long our work has been undervalued because our members are predominantly women and people of color,” said Dalvanie Powell, president of United Probation Officers Association.
“The city can either be part of the problem or part of the solution, and support hardworking civil servants who do essential work,” she added.
The union and the five officers — four African American women and one Latina woman — filed the lawsuit in Manhattan federal court Jan. 11.
A report by the New York City Public Advocate’s office found men earned nearly $5,000 more than women in the Department of Probation. New male staffers started earning $2,500 more than their female counterparts, the report found.
The UPOA previously filed a discrimination complaint with the federal Equal Employment Opportunity in June 2019.
The plaintiffs include Jean Brown, an African-American woman who has worked in the Department of Probation since 1993, and Cathy Washington, who has worked in the department since 1990. Despite their decades-long tenures, neither reached the maximum salary set by the city for civil servants.
In a statement, a spokesperson for the city’s Law Department called the lawsuit “meritless.”
“The New York City Department of Probation is committed to having a diverse, equitable, and inclusive workplace and has fully abided by the contract, including compensation structure and all other terms, that was negotiated by the UPOA as the exclusive collective bargaining representative of NYC Probation Officers for the past 40 years,” the spokesperson said.
