Aurora – A police sergeant who was passed over for promotion has filed a racial-bias complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, saying the city discriminated against him in its promotion process.
Sgt. Thomas Williams, who is black, has been critical of the city’s Civil Service Commission, which runs the promotion process for the police and fire departments.
He said he was the top scorer in most of the tests for promotion to lieutenant. But during the oral portion of the test, which is 60 percent of the overall score and done by a firm outside the city, Williams did not score well.
Williams, 48, was one of five candidates for promotion. The other four candidates were white males.
Police Chief Dan Oates expects a vacancy in a lieutenant’s position to be open by the end of the year. He has not yet promoted any officer to the position.
The city last week hired an outside investigator to review the Williams case, as well as the entire promotion process.
Oates supported the outside review after the Civil Service Commission conducted its own review of Williams’ promotion process and found it to be fair.
