CT court reverses decision, drops Hartford probationary police officer’s bias claim

In a win for the Hartford Police Department, the Connecticut Appellate Court recently reversed a decision concluding the department had discriminated against one of its officers.

Conflicting stories

Khoa Phan was a probationary officer with the Hartford Police Department. To make a much longer story short, he received generally satisfactory performance ratings along with a few unsatisfactory scores. He claimed he then had negative encounters with a sergeant who made unprofessional and inappropriate comments, including about Phan’s Asian/Vietnamese ancestry.

Phan further claimed, in essence, that after making the comments, the sergeant ensured the probationary officer received negative performance reviews from other sergeants who reviewed his work. He subsequently received fewer favorable ratings.

Employers won’t be surprised to learn, however, there’s another side to the story. The police department claimed Phan was argumentative and confrontational and hadn’t been truthful in describing several situations, including an incident in which he had apparently been told to use his taser but failed to do so. As a result of the problems with truthfulness, the police chief later dismissed Phan from his position.

Officer sues over sergeant’s alleged comments

Phan filed a discrimination claim citing the sergeant’s purported comments. To make another long story short, a human rights referee determined the police department discriminated against the probationary officer and awarded him more than $235,000.