embers
of the National Latino Officers Association of America and lawyers who have
represented them over the last four years announced a $26.8 million settlement
of a federal class action lawsuit yesterday against the New York City Police
Department, former Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani and former Police Commissioner
Howard Safir.
The suit, filed in September 1999, alleged that the Police Department created a hostile environment for minority officers, who were disciplined in a discriminatory fashion and suffered reprisals when they complained. The terms of the settlement, which was agreed to in a mediation session run by special masters appointed by the court, include a 27-month period in which the court will retain jurisdiction over the case to enforce provisions intended to address discrimination and retaliation.
The settlement, first reported yesterday in The New York Daily News, will become official when approved by the court, probably in a few months, said lawyers for both sides.
"We have struggled for quite some time to get acknowledgement
Mr. Miranda, a 21-year veteran of the Police Department who retired as a lieutenant, called the settlement an important victory for the plaintiffs and a positive step for the department and the city.
Georgia Pestana, a lawyer for the city, said that the city admitted no wrongdoing in its settlement.
"Any organization with more than 40,000 people is going to have problems," she said. "I don't think there are many more at the N.Y.P.D. than at any similar sized group."
Ms. Pestana said that the city had decided to settle the lawsuit because it would have been expensive to litigate and because it was better for morale within the Police Department to put it in the past. Twenty million dollars have been allocated for damages, Ms. Pestana added.
She said that the special masters would receive $2 million for handling the claims and that the plaintiff's lawyers would be paid $4.8 million. Ms. Pestana went on to say that although $20 million was being set aside for awards, she thought that the special masters would award about $5 million.
Under the provisions of the settlement, officers and other Police Department
employees who are Latinos or African-America
A lawyer for the plaintiffs, Richard A. Levy, said that within 45 days, detailed notices would be sent to every minority employee who worked for the Police Department between 1996 and 2003. Those notices, he said, will give instructions on how to file for compensation.
The special masters who oversaw the settlement will then determine who is eligible for compensation and will set the amount each receives, Mr. Levy said.
The case had been set to go to trial in United States District Court in Manhattan on Jan. 7, but intense negotiations began about five weeks before then, Mr. Levy said. A previous attempt at mediation lasted about four months in 2001 but went nowhere, he said. One of the special masters who presided over the settlement was Kenneth R. Feinberg, the administrator of the federal Victim Compensation Fund established in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
Mr. Levy and Mr. Miranda gave examples of discrimination alleged by participants in the lawsuit.
Some officers said they had been harassed with racial epithets or given stiffer penalties for job infractions than those given to white officers. Other instances of alleged discrimination were said to be more intentionally punitive.
Mr. Levy said, for instance, that Hiram Monserrate, a member of the City Council from Queens who once served on the police force, participated in the first public announcement of the lawsuit, in 1999, while still an officer. The next day, Mr. Levy said, Mr. Monserrate was transferred from the 111th Precinct in Queens to a Harlem precinct far from home.
As part of the settlement, the Police Department's Office of Equal Employment
Opportunity will maintain a special unit that will analyze whether minority
employees are being discriminated or retaliated against. Officers will be
allowed a period of time to gather data relevant to their case if they contend
that disciplinary charges are discriminatory,
After the announcement, Mr. Monserrate expressed satisfaction."W