A former Harrisburg police officer who rose to the rank of sergeant is suing the city, claiming that, due to her gender, she was passed over three times in a 19-year period.
The 57-year-old Teresa Covey placed second in the civil service exam needed to advance to the position of police sergeant. Because it looks into high-profile crimes and offers a better work schedule, she wanted to work in the prominent Criminal Investigations Division.
However, the lawsuit claims that she drew the short straw and was assigned to the night shift with the third platoon, which made it challenging for her to take care of her family.
According to the lawsuit, Covey withdrew from the agency in January because she couldn’t work that schedule and the department wouldn’t reassign her.
In a lawsuit filed in federal court this week, Covey is accusing Harrisburg of sex discrimination under the Pennsylvania Human Relations Act and Title 7 of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
According to the lawsuit, Covey, a passionate motorcycle rider, spent years trying to land a job as a police motorcycle operator, a post that remained open until at least 2019. On April 4, 2016, she made her first attempt but received no response.
According to the lawsuit, Covey was the only qualified candidate for the job—in fact, the only application.
Covey followed up with the department’s training coordinator, then-Sgt. Kenneth Young, on September 26, 2017. According to the lawsuit, she requested additional training for the role and confirmed her interest. However, according to the lawsuit, Young’s response was non-committal, and Covey was not hired.
She questioned Commissioner Thomas Carter in 2019 about the unfilled position. A copy of her original application was requested by Carter. Young said that at that time, there were only two motorcycles that could be used, and that this situation had persisted for two years. But according to the lawsuit, that was untrue.
In 2020, Covey received a promotion of corporal. She received the second-highest score out of seven applicants when she took the civil service exam in 2023 to advance to sergeant. In that year, she conducted two interviews between April and July: According to the lawsuit, one involved a panel of four interviewers, one of whom was from Harrisburg’s Human Resources Department. According to the lawsuit, the second interview was less formal.
According to the lawsuit, Covey stated in her second interview that she wanted to be assigned to CID, where she had about three months of experience.
However, Harrisburg promoted Corporals Jacob Pierce and Matthew Novchich to sergeant for CID before her on or around July 3, 2023.
According to the lawsuit, Pierce had previous CID experience and scored fourth on the civil test.
However, according to the lawsuit, Novchich, the sixth-highest scoring applicant, had significantly less officer experience than Covey, had no prior CID experience, and did not fulfill the department’s qualifications to be eligible for CID.
Covey was sent to the uniformed patrol division’s evening shift and promoted to sergeant instead of being recruited for CID.
Unlike CID, which has regular working hours from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Covey would have to work from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. or 11 p.m. to 7 a.m., which made it impossible for her to take care of her family.
She was essentially chased out by the promotion. On January 9, she retired.
Covey questioned Carter why she wasn’t selected for CID before she retired. However, according to the lawsuit, Carter passed her up for the job because he chose to send her to Captain Terry Wealand, the CID supervisor.
The lawsuit claims that, with department superiors’ participation, Carter has the last say in decisions about city police personnel. According to the lawsuit, Covey later discovered that not all of the human resources and command staff had participated in the interviews with the other applicants.
Regarding the case, city police officials chose not to comment. Harrisburg’s solicitor, Neil Grover, stated that the city has not received the complaint and will not comment.
At a swearing-in ceremony held in January of last year, Carter informed the public that this year’s class of sworn police officers is among the smallest, with the current number of sworn, uniformed policemen standing at 136, compared to the city’s planned 162.
It was mentioned during the swearing-in ceremony that Covey had retired.
Covey also made headlines when she devised a way to assist protect cops during a time when the COVID-19 outbreak was wreaking havoc across the nation.In order to protect city cops without face masks, the city police agency bought 300 microfiber biker bandanas based on her suggestion.
“For the men and women who had nothing,” she remarked. Something is going on.
Stories by
Jonathan Bergmueller
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