Officer Brendan Mannix, a gay San Francisco police officer, won a $225,000 settlement against the city, alleging sexual orientation discrimination and harassment by other officers.
Officer Brendan Mannix, a gay San Francisco police officer, won a $225,000 settlement against the city, alleging sexual orientation discrimination and harassment by other officers.
The city’s Board of Supervisors approved the Mannix settlement during its Feb. 8 meeting.
Brendan Mannix filed his suit in 2018 in San Francisco Superior Court. He claimed that at the city’s Central Station, he was subjected to frequent antigay insults from Sgts. Patrick Tobin and Lawrence McDevitt. They would call him “such a queen” and “too dramatic,” and would react to him with remarks like “Ugh, you gays,” the suit says.
Brendan Mannix was also denied backup in dangerous situations, the lawsuit.
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Their harassment “was so severe, widespread, and/or persistent that a reasonable gay man in Plaintiff’s circumstances would have considered the work environment to be hostile or abusive,” the lawsuit says.
Mannix complained to the city’s Department of Human Resources and its Equal Employment Opportunity Division, but a report prepared by Sgt. Maria Ciriaco failed to include many of the incidents he mentioned, the lawsuit says.
Mannix also said that after he complained, he suffered retaliation and was given the least desirable assignments.
In settling the lawsuit, the city did not admit any wrongdoing by the San Francisco Police Department.
“Given the inherent costs of continued litigation, we believe the proposed settlement is an appropriate resolution,” Jen Kwart, a spokeswoman for the city attorney’s office, tells Mission Local. “There is no admission of liability on the part of SFPD or the city.”
Mannix remains an officer at the Central Station.
Tobin has retired, but McDevitt and Ciriaco are employed with the department, according to news reports.
A San Francisco Police spokesperson refused to say if they had been disciplined.
