A case in which a former Denver police watchdog accuses the Denver Independent Monitor’s Office of gender inequality goes to trial Monday.
Valerie Arnold sued the city and county of Denver alleging that after she complained about the discrimination, her workload was increased, her concerns were ignored and she was fired.
Arnold worked as a “deputy monitor” between 2007 and 2011 under former Independent Monitor Richard Rosenthal.
Rosenthal denied many of the claims Arnold made, but added that many of the differences in the way he treated the two deputies had to do with their rank in the office, court records say. He had two deputies, including Gregg Crittenden, who was a “senior deputy monitor.”
Rosenthal also claimed Arnold was argumentative and sometimes unprofessional and disobeyed his orders, the city claims in a court document.
Arnold’s suit, filed by Dindinger Law Offices, says the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission determined in 2011 that “there is reasonable cause” to believe the city violated her rights outlined in Title VII.
Crittenden received preferential treatment in terms of work duties because he was a man, the suit says. Arnold was on call more than twice as often as the male deputy, the suit says. Crittenden earned $111,000 a year, while she got $80,000, according to the lawsuit.
When Arnold asked to be placed “off call” on certain holidays, Rosenthal allegedly asked Crittenden first, and if Crittenden wished to have the holidays off, his requests got first preference, the lawsuit indicated.
Arnold received exceptional or good job reviews until she complained to the Career Service Authority. That’s when Rosenthal gave her a job rating of “below expectations,” the lawsuit says.
The city and county of Denver claim, however, that Crittenden was given work allowances not because of his gender, but because he was a parent who had child visits in Glenwood Springs every other weekend.
Denver claims that in October 2010, Arnold failed for more than a month to do a report on the .
Arnold then hired the same law firm hired by Booker’s family to sue Denver as her attorney to represent her interests. Rosenthal responded by taking her off the Booker case because of the conflict and placed her on paid leave in December 2010. He fired her Jan. 7, 2011.
Two years later, Arnold sent letters to Mayor Michael Hancock and City Council members referring to Crittenden as a “doofus” and Rosenthal by an obscene name, according to the city.
“My co-worker knocked up some chick when he didn’t use a condom on a booty call,” the letter says. “One might expect a middle-aged man in the new millennium to assume any responsibility arising from his penis, so to speak, but instead, I was the one who suffered the consequences.”
