McNicholas & McNicholas Files Discrimination Suit

LOS ANGELES, CA – The Los Angeles-based plaintiff’s trial law firm McNicholas & McNicholas filed a lawsuit on behalf of Edward Jordan and De’wana Hubbard, two African-American detectives working Legal Affairs Division (LAD) at the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), who were allegedly subjected to discrimination and harassment based on race, as well as ostracized and retaliated against by superiors. 

Detective Jordan and Detective Hubbard have been on the job at the LAPD for more than 20 years.  Their work at LAD consists of assisting the Office of the City Attorney in defending race and gender discrimination lawsuits against the LAPD and providing training to the 21 divisions within the LAPD on proper workplace behavior in order to avoid these types of lawsuits from occurring in the first place.

Panel Counsel to the Los Angeles Police Protective League and lead attorney Matthew McNicholas comments, “It’s ironic how these detectives were subjected to the exact treatment that their duties as LAPD officers were meant to prevent.  They have helped defend the LAPD in many, many race-based lawsuits; they certainly know what that unlawful treatment looks like and feels like.”

Background

The detectives were subjected to a number of improper actions, including:

♦ Racial taunts, such as throwing a banana peel at one of the detectives;

♦ Denied privileges and benefits associated with their positions, such as not being permitted to interview officers applying for positions directly under Det. Hubbard’s command, which is standard practice at the LAPD, and being denied full electronic keycard access to floors and basic workplace necessities, such as the men’s room for Det. Jordan.

♦ Det. Hubbard was denied equal access to the training needed she needed to be successful in her position. She was set up to fail and embarrassed after she was the only one denied advance notice of a meeting and looked unprepared.

♦ Det. Jordan, after he reported improper conduct, was transferred out of his unit while the bad actor was not, and was given a subordinate-sized desk.

♦ Det. Hubbard, after being properly selected for her supervisory position by going through the formal channels, was told by her supervisor on one of her first days, “I did not pick you, you were not my choice.”

♦ After a supervisor within the division had been asking for months to fill a vacant position in his unit with a Detective, the supervisor suddenly declined when Det. Jordan was selected and waited weeks to fill the spot with the next available white detective.

Over Mr. McNicholas’ career, he has handled multiple high-profile harassment, discrimination, and retaliation cases on behalf of officers against the LAPD, including: $12.3 million for five LAPD trainees forced out of the academy based on disability discrimination; $5.8 million for the first African-American in the Bomb Squad who was discriminated against; $3.9 million for the first Asian-American in the K-9 Unit that discriminated against; $3.6 million for a bomb-dog handler in the LAPD’s LAX K9 Bomb Detection Unit because he stood-up for the lone female in the unit; and $5.9 million on behalf of 10 officers subjected to retaliation for refusing to follow an illegal ticket quota.

McNicholas & McNicholas, a Los Angeles-based plaintiff’s trial law firm, represents clients in the areas of catastrophic personal injury, employment law, class actions, sexual abuse and other consumer-oriented matters such as civil rights, aviation disasters and product liability. Founded by a family of attorneys spanning three generations, McNicholas & McNicholas has been trying cases to jury verdict on behalf of their clients for more than five decades.