City to Pay Cop 108G
Deal ends race-discrimination lawsuit
Friday, January 29, 1999
By JOHN MARZULLI
Daily News Staff Writer
The city will pay a Hispanic cop $107,973 to settle a lawsuit charging he was
branded a "coward and a traitor" by his commanding officer for filing a
discrimination complaint, it was disclosed yesterday.
Officer Hiram Monserrate is the second official of the Latino Officers
Association to receive a substantial sum stemming from a lawsuit filed against
the NYPD.
In November, a Manhattan federal jury ordered the city to pay the group's
president, Sgt. Anthony Miranda, $96,000 in damages for retaliating against him
after he filed a racial discrimination complaint.
"We'll take on the NYPD with a vengeance to prevent this kind of discrimination
in the future," said Bonita Zelman, the group's attorney.
Monserrate filed complaints with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity
Commission and the NYPD in late 1997, alleging racial discrimination on the
sergeant's promotion exam. He also complained of a hostile work environment at
the 111th Precinct in Queens.
The confidential complaints leaked back to the precinct, and he was targeted for
retaliation, Monserrate alleged.
"The commanding officer threatened to go toe to toe with me and called me a
'traitor and a coward' for expressing my discontent," said Monserrate, 32, an
11-year NYPD veteran.
The cop's shift was changed, and he was slapped with disciplinary action for
minor violations such as leaving his memo book inside a squad car, Monserrate
said.
His commanding officer, Capt. Anthony Lubrano, denied the allegations. "It's an
out-and-out lie," he said, declining further comment.
Monserrate is second vice president of the Latino Officers Association, which
has more than 2,000 members, and has aggressively sued the NYPD over a host of
issues.
The group has won the right to march in uniform at the Dominican Day Parade and
obtained an injunction against a rule requiring cops to obtain approval before
speaking at news conferences.
A police spokesman declined comment on the settlement. Lorna Goodman, a city
corporation counsel spokeswoman, said the settlement did not represent an
admission of discrimination.