New London — Police Sgt. Cornelius Rodgers, whose claims of racial discrimination at the police department have led to an outside investigation, now alleges he is inappropriately being passed over for upcoming promotions.

Rodgers filed two recent grievances with the city and has a new complaint with the Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities in which he claims, in part, that the police department and union retaliated against him for a previous complaint and took him out of the running for a promotion to lieutenant.

“The NLPD and union are conspiring to assert a wrong interpretation of the union contract to drop my ranking and remove my status,” Rodgers contends in a CHRO complaint.

In November, shortly after he was informed he had ranked second on a written promotional exam and oral board for promotion to lieutenant, Rodgers said the union stepped in to inform the city of a clause in the union contract that penalizes an applicant for past disciplinary actions.

Rodgers has faced more than two dozen disiplinary actions throughout his 17-year career, the most recent being a 20-day suspension for striking a handcuffed prisoner in 2019. But he said the city, at the union’s urging, is interpreting the wording in the contract incorrectly.

The contract states that “if an employee is suspended for twenty days or more in one event, resigns voluntarily, or is discharged for just cause, he/she shall lose his/her seniority.” As a result, Rodgers said he was informed by the personnel department he was dropped from No. 2 to No. 4 on the lieutenant's exam.

While he may lose seniority, nowhere does the contract mention taking away points for his years of service, Rodgers said. He said the union contract defines seniority as “time in grade,” or rank, not years of service. According to his interpretation, he said should lose credit for his four years as sergeant but not for his 17 years of overall service, as the city has done.   

As a result, Rodgers said, the move by the city erases his years of service to the department and cancels any advantage he would have on future promotional exams. The loss of seniority also denies him the ability to act as shift commander.

“This is the wrong interpretation and this is retaliation against me,” Rodgers said. “It’s a lifetime punishment. Any exam I ever take in my career, I’m always going to be less than what I should be. It’s discrimination.”

New London Police Union President Todd Lynch, named in the CHRO complaint, said the union has no power to change anything about the promotional process. Union members, he said, came to him asking for clarification of a specific portion of the union contract relating to the promotional exam.

“I simply passed on to the city our members' concerns for clarification as I do on numerous different topics on a weekly basis,” Lynch said.

Rodgers accuses the department of trying to “dirty him up,” a practice of bringing in discipline around the time of a promotion to give justification for someone to be passed over for promotion.

Rodgers said the drop in seniority also helps the city to bypass provisions in the newly passed state police accountability bill, which says that if a minority who has taken a police promotional exam tests “equal or higher to his white counterparts, that individual should be promoted.”

“What is comes down to is a constant attack on me as a Black man and my rank,” Rodgers said in an interview this week. “This has been a constant and the minute I got promoted (to sergeant) it got worse.”

Rodgers points to the union’s alleged interference as retaliatation and part of his ongoing struggle at the department, most recently with union leadership, Lynch and Vice President Chuck Flynn. In June, Rodgers said his personal vehicle was contaminated with pepper spray, which led to an investigation. Rodgers suspected a fellow officer, but the investigation was inconclusive.  

Lynch defended the union and other officers who had taken the lieutenant's exam.

“When it comes to promotions, you need to look at someone’s history, including disciplinary history. His happens to be poor,” Lynch said of Rodgers. “He needs to look in the mirror and not blame everyone else.”

The back-and-forth with the union, Rodgers said, dates back to his March 23, 2020, complaint with the CHRO and Equal Employment Opportunity Commission that alleges discrimination throughout his career due to his race. He filed a complaint outlining an array of grievances with the department, detailing instances that he says shows he was treated differently and faced more discipline than his white colleagues.

In the wake of that complaint, Rodgers said Lynch bypassed him when filing a use of force report and instead went to a white supervisor. He said Police Chief Peter Reichard had authorized Lynch to bypass him.

Rodgers was the subject of another recent internal investigation after his attorney, Jacques Parenteau, inquired with a Freedom of Information request about the use of force incident that had involved Lynch striking a suspect.

In May, Lynch filed a complaint, alleging Rodgers inappropriately had access to and shared the use of force report. Rodgers said it was an attempt to get him fired but he successfully argued during the investigation that he had First Amendment protection when sharing information with his attorney.

Rodgers claims Lynch looked for a way to get back at him.

“After the investigation the NLPD, New London Police Union, and Mr. Lynch continue to aid and abet each other in retaliating against me,” Rodgers said in his complaint.

Mayor Michael Passero said it would be inappropriate to comment on a pending grievance. He confirmed he did meet with representatives from the NAACP this week and plans another meeting next week to discuss the issue.

Rodgers remains defiant.

“Every time I’ve had to deal with adversity at this department they’ve expected me to flinch. Most people in my position would have never taken the test,” he said.

He said it was only after some of colleagues learned that he had scored so high on the exam that his disciplinary history became an issue because “it messed up everyone’s plans.”

Rodgers' claims of racial bias at the department remains the subject of an investigation by an outside attorney hired by the city. Passero said a report on the results of that investigation is forthcoming.   

g.smith@theday.com