BENTON – Belleville police sergeant Kimberly Fulkerson sued Chief William Clay on Nov. 25, claiming his department refuses to promote her because of her gender.
Fulkerson claims Clay has kept a lieutenant position vacant for 18 months because no one qualifies for it except her.
She says that her only promotion in 26 years came about because no one else qualified and a staff shortage left the department no choice.
She further claims the department hasn’t promoted a female in at least eight years.
Her lawyer Thomas Kennedy of St. Louis sued Clay as an official and an individual.
Kennedy also named the city and its police and fire commissioners as defendants.
He identified Russell Scott as commission chairman, and Linda Fields and David Martinson as commissioners.
According to the suit, defendants have created discriminatory procedures that keep females from advancing their careers.
“Defendants actively created opportunities for promotions and bent policy and procedure to promote lesser qualified male officers instead,” Kennedy wrote.
He wrote that Fulkerson received a bachelor’s degree from St. Louis University in 1991, and worked for Belleville police since 1994. She never received discipline or negative evaluations and her file contains many letters of thanks and recommendations from Belleville citizens.
Former chief Dave Brauer allegedly told Fulkerson she couldn’t attend the policeman’s ball or play in police softball and bowling tournaments.
Sergeant Jim Dahm allegedly refused to back her up on calls, and the city didn’t discipline him.
Kennedy wrote that Fulkerson wished to apply for the detective division, gang unit, narcotics division, or special weapons and tactics.
“Male officers in charge of the specialized divisions promoted officers to these divisions by invitation only,” he wrote.
He wrote that current promotion procedures allow the chief and commissioners to arbitrarily award additional points to employees in disproportionate ways.
“The police chief can award chief’s points without any oversight and does so at his complete discretion,” he wrote.
He wrote that Doug Jones, Denny Weisbrodt, John Mayville, Dave Frame, Mark Eschmann, Tim Jones and Craig Stafford received more points from the chief than Fulkerson in 2003, placing them higher on the qualification list.
He wrote that Fulkerson moved up the list as male officers were promoted, and was number two for an available sergeant’s position in 2005, but the department didn’t fill the position at that time.
Commissioners allegedly promoted males when no positions were available.
In 2005, the city and commissioners created a lieutenant position allegedly so that sergeant Donald Sax could be promoted.
Fulkerson finally received a promotion in 2007, as the first female sergeant in department history.
“Defendants were incredibly short staffed at the time and plaintiff was the only candidate available for promotion,” Kennedy wrote.
In 2011, Clay asked Fulkerson to take over supervision of code enforcement from retiring lieutenant Dave Ellis. Fulkerson accepted the position, but defendants allegedly denied her request for promotion to lieutenant.
In 2012, defendants allegedly created a new test for promotion eligibility.
“Since 2012, nearly every female officer in the police department that has taken the test for promotional eligibility has failed,” Kennedy wrote.
“Whether or not female employees have qualified for the promotional list, only male officers have received promotions since at least 2012.”
The lawsuit claims that Clay appointed officer Chris Mattingly to sergeant in 2016 or 2017, and added 50 cents to his hourly pay by naming him master sergeant.
“Chief Clay later promoted master sergeant to lieutenant, even though he did not change positions or job duties at the time,” Kennedy wrote.
The suit also claims that Clay promoted officer Patrick Koebbe to sergeant in 2019, and named him master sergeant two weeks later. Defendants allegedly promoted officer Sean Harris to sergeant in 2017, and Clay named him master sergeant.
“Officer Harris had been charged with battering a citizen of Belleville, Illinois in the past,” Kennedy wrote.
Clay hasn’t promoted Fulkerson to master sergeant, even though she is the most senior sergeant in the department and is qualified for the role, the suit claims.
It further claims that Fulkerson passed a lieutenant exam in 2018, but the chief and commissioners placed male applicants higher on the list by awarding more points to them.
Defendants promoted sergeants Keilbach, Kroenig, Hunter, and Mattingly to lieutenant in 2018 and 2019. Kroenig had been a sergeant for a year, the suit claims.
In May 2019, a lieutenant’s position became available.
“This position has never been filled, even though plaintiff is eligible for the position,” Kennedy wrote.
Defendants are allegedly holding the position open until the next testing period so they can promote a male.
Fulkerson makes about $72,000 a year, and would receive a raise of $15,000 as lieutenant.
The suit points out that in 1995, Belleville and the United States signed a consent decree requiring the city to not engage in unlawful discrimination.
The district court clerk assigned Fulkerson's case to Magistrate Judge Reona Daly.
Kennedy’s colleagues Sarah Hunt and Mary Quill also represent Fulkerson.