Latest news with #genderdiscrimination
New York Times
5 days ago
- Politics
- New York Times
Fired D.E.I. Administrator Sues the University of Michigan
A Black administrator who was fired by the University of Michigan has sued the school, accusing it of racial and gender discrimination in its investigation of whether she made antisemitic comments. Rachel Dawson, the former director of the university's office of academic multicultural initiatives, denied in her lawsuit that she had made antisemitic remarks last year. Two Jewish professors from other universities had accused Ms. Dawson of saying in a private conversation that the university was 'controlled by wealthy Jews,' that Jewish students were not in need of her office's diversity services because they are 'wealthy and privileged' and that 'Jewish people have no genetic DNA that would connect them to the land of Israel,' according to documents that were part of a complaint from the Anti-Defamation League of Michigan. In her lawsuit, filed on Monday in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, Ms. Dawson painted a starkly different version of events. And she said that there was racial bias in what she called the unusual process that the public university used to investigate the complaint and in its decision to side with her accusers. 'Historically, Black women have been subjected to stereotypes that portray them as confrontational or untrustworthy,' Ms. Dawson wrote during a disciplinary review, according to her lawsuit. A lawyer for Ms. Dawson, Amanda M. Ghannam, said she would file another lawsuit in state court, which will claim that the university violated Ms. Dawson's free speech and due process rights. Under Michigan law, those claims against a state institution cannot be brought in federal court, Ms. Ghannam said. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Yahoo
‘The Big Boys' Club': ‘Gender discrimination and harassment, including sexual'
LANSING, Mich. (WLNS) – While she worked at the Lakeview Post of the Michigan State Police, Trooper Megan Moryc said she was subjected to specific actions of gender-based discrimination. In a 6-page complaint filed July 15, 2023, with Inspector Lisa Gee-Cram of the MSP Human Resources Division, Moryc, 40, laid out multiple instances of actions taken by multiple troopers and sergeants she described as gender discrimination. Letter-to-Insp.-Lisa-Gee-Cram-HR-Discrimination-1Download And the supervisor, often in the middle of those issues, was Sgt. Robert Metivier. In her complaint, Moryc referred to the MSP Lakeview Post as 'a misogynist 'good ole boys club' where female troopers received disparate treatment,' MSP Professional Standards Section Investigators Special Lt. Nicole Boch and Special Lt. Donald Pisha wrote in a report. A heavily redacted report from those investigators, who work in the section of the agency most people refer to as 'internal affairs,' concluded that 'none of the witnesses were able to directly substantiate the allegations.' The internal investigation was closed, and members who had been accused of violating departmental policies were notified that the complaint had been deemed unfounded. Wendy Murphy, a professor at New England Law in Boston and leader of the Women and Children's Advocacy Project at the school, said women entering law enforcement invariably face discrimination and harassment. 'There are some spaces in society that are just intensely hyper-masculine and therefore more difficult places for women to acclimate, to feel welcome,' Murphy said. 'It's almost insurmountable in some ways.' Murphy made these general observations based on decades of litigation related to gender discrimination and teaching about this form of discrimination. She was unable to review the voluminous documentation about the MSP that the 6 News Investigates Team has obtained throughout this investigation. 'These are considered hypermasculine environments because they have historically been places where primarily men are welcome. Women have had minor roles over the years but not welcomed as equals,' Murphy said. That 'hypermasculine environment' that has been at the heart of a nearly 5-year dispute between Moryc and the MSP, which has fired her twice – the first in 2021 after a criminal complaint followed horseplay with other officers at a union outing, the second time in February for alleged perjury in a divorce hearing – after the courts ordered her to be reinstated. Her appeal of the second firing earlier this year is ongoing. Moryc District Court Register of ActionsDownload The MSP said her career ended because she broke the law and violated policy. She says her job was taken from her because of sex discrimination and harassment. The 6 News Investigates Team, since August, has been investigating this dispute, reviewing hundreds of pages of internal investigations, court filings, court opinions, emails and prosecutorial communications. They are quoted as presented, with typos and grammatical lapses. Moryc has sat for hours of on-camera interviews, but officials for the state of Michigan have declined to respond to specific questions from the 6 News Investigates Team. This dispute, which at one point reached the Michigan Supreme Court, is chronicled in this ongoing report by 6 News Investigates about a sexualized 'big boys' club' at the Lakeview Post of the Michigan State Police. Morycc Court of Appeals DecisionDownload Denied special training On three instances, Moryc reported in the memo to Gee-Cram, she said she applied for but was denied the opportunity to receive training as an evidence technician. That's when Metivier's name first emerges as a factor in Moryc's claims. In 2017, the training was awarded by Metivier to then-Trooper Aaron McCormick, who in 2016 had served as Moryc's first field training officer. Moryc says she was informed by command that McCormick was awarded the training opportunity 'due to his seniority at the Lakeview Post.' She again sought the training in 2018. This time, Trooper Jacob Lewis was awarded the training. She writes in her complaint to Gee-Cram that she was informed that, although Lewis has less seniority than Moryc, Metivier 'influenced' the decision made by Lt. Christian Clute. Clute, Moryc wrote, decided for part 'based on 'post need,' and management reserved the right to change their standards for the selection process.' Once again in 2019, Moryc sought an appointment for evidence technician training. This time, Metivier awarded the position to Trooper Jennifer Alway, a less senior officer at the Post. Metivier, in a recorded interview with Professional Standards Services, MSP's internal affairs division, said he awarded the position to Alway because 'she's meticulous and reports are fantastic. Don't have to tell her to do things twice. Her follow-up is done in a timely manner.' Pushed to explain why he selected Alway, who had less time on the job than Moryc, Metivier told the investigator, 'Because Jennifer was a better candidate. Nothing against Megan. She was just a better candidate.' The investigator did not push Metivier in the interview to explain how Moryc failed to meet the criteria he outlined as the basis for his selections. The investigator also did not ask Metivier why Moryc had been skipped over in opportunities awarded to male troopers. Reached by text message, Metivier referred the 6 News Investigates Team to MSP legal to answer any questions. 'I'm the sergeant; you're not' But the constant in these scenarios was Metivier, who, Moryc said, was sexist. And not just because he had rejected her requests for training. She recounted a situation in which troopers were answering the call in a domestic violence incident. She responded to the call, along with Metivier and her boyfriend at the time, former Trooper Trevin Antcliff. Metivier directed the two troopers to await the arrival of another trooper. When challenged by Moryc about that choice, she said he responded, 'Well, it would be a lot more intimidating with three big guys.' But Metivier offered a slightly different version in his interview with PSS. He said he was not expecting Moryc to arrive on the scene and directed her to provide outside security. She, he alleged, said she wanted 'to go in.' 'I didn't ask you to be here,' he told the investigator about Moryc. 'You're not going in. I said there's nothing more intimidating than three very large individuals coming at you. OK, I'm the smallest one of the three between me, Trevin and Jim Yates. And she looks at me, and she goes, 'Well that's pretty [expletive] sexist.' I looked at her and said I didn't ask your opinion. I'm the sergeant; you're not.' He said the exchange was 'no big deal,' but then noted he called his supervisor, Lt. Christian Clute, to report the incident to him 'just in case' she called him. The PSS report in which Moryc's allegations against Metivier regarding the domestic violence incident noted Moryc arrived on the scene third, and troopers waited three minutes for Trooper Yates to arrive. The investigation report did not include a reference to Metivier's admission he had made the statement about being 'more intimidating with three big guys.' PSS-321-21-RedactedDownload 'All-boy' decisions Moryc's 6-page complaint included other instances, alleging that Metivier referred to Alway, the female trooper selected in 2019 to attend the evidence technician training instead of Moryc, as 'all boy.' In December 2017, Moryc was assigned to investigate a suspicious fire outside the city of Greenville. She alleged Metivier, who was also a 'fire investigator,' brought in a second trooper, Paul Fry, to assist on the investigation. Soon thereafter, she alleged in the complaint, 'I became completely shut out of my investigation.' When Metivier and others were scheduled to review the case with a multijurisdictional task force, including federal agencies, Moryc said she was excluded from the meeting. She raised the concern with her acting sergeant at the time, Scott Ziesman, who had assigned her to the case. His response was to reassign the case to another investigator, she said. An internal investigation revealed the case was assigned to federal law enforcement and an MSP detective. Moryc alleged Ziesman also chose to make Trooper Jacob Lewis a field training officer. FTO positions receive a 5% increase in pay during training shifts. She alleged Lewis and Metivier had a friendship outside of work, an allegation Metivier denied to a point during a PSS investigation. But he did note he knew Lewis' father, who was a county sheriff, and that they had spent time together in social settings. In another incident, Nov. 27, 2018, Moryc used a computer station generally used by a Post administrative assistant to review dashcam footage of an arrest she had made. While she was working on the review and report, Trooper Casey Omiljan questioned why she was using that station. Omiljan was dating the administrative assistant. Moryc said she left her backpack in the office when she departed that day. She said she couldn't find it where she thought she had left it. When she finally found the backpack, there were condoms inside. The administrative assistant admitted to having placed the condoms in her backpack and moving it. Moryc said she reported the situation to Ziesman, noting she 'did not find it funny.' Ziesman told her, she alleges, that if she wished to pursue a complaint, it could be escalated up the chain, but command would be 'mad' at both Moryc and the administrative assistant. A PSS investigation was conducted into the allegations of discrimination, but officers determined them to be unfounded, a letter from command to Moryc read. Easy to excuse MSP spokesperson Shanon Banner did not respond to a request for an interview on questions related to racial discrimination cases and sexual harassment cases. 6 News has been investigating the case and has reviewed hundreds of pages of internal MSP investigations, court filings, court opinions, emails and prosecutorial communications. Dozens of emails and phone calls to troopers and command staff identified in the reports have gone unreturned. Banner has issued only blanket statements: 'The Michigan State Police has a long-standing tradition of demanding the highest possible standards of professional conduct from its enlisted and civilian members. All allegations of misconduct are aggressively investigated. Oversight of the investigation process is the responsibility of the Professional Standards Section.' Said the law professor Murphy: 'What's unfortunate about the law, especially when it comes to holding employers accountable for being discriminatory against women, is that it's very easy to provide an excuse for why you treated a woman differently and worse.' It is, in a sense, presumptively illegal to treat a woman differently and worse. But if the employer comes up with a seemingly legitimate explanation, the law is very tolerant of those excuses. Much more tolerant that it used to be and certainly much more tolerant than it ought to be.' She said that legal tolerance is something that should be changed. 'There's too much room in the law for law enforcement to discriminate against women and to cover it up. We don't take pretext arguments very seriously when there's race discrimination. It's a lot harder to get away with race discrimination. But if you do the same thing to a woman and you offer up a pretext excuse for why didn't get a promotion — you can get away with it. You're less likely to get away with it if you did the same thing to a Black man.' 6 News Digital Content Manager Duncan Phenix contributed to this report. If you or someone you know is experiencing domestic or sexual violence, there is help. If you are in immediate danger, call 911 or your local law enforcement agency. For support related to domestic violence, call: 1-800-799-7233 For support related to sexual assault, call: 800-656-HOPE (4673) Read this series in order: Discontent in the Michigan State Police 'Wolf in the hen house' 'I never wanted to cheat on my husband' The 'womanizer' 'Too much room in the law … to discriminate' Frequently Asked Questions 'The degradation of women' 'Gender discrimination and harassment, including sexual' Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Solve the daily Crossword
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
‘Big Boys' Club': ‘Wolf in the hen house'
LANSING, Mich. (WLNS) – After nearly five years of fighting to keep her job as a trooper with the Michigan State Police, Megan Moryc was fired – for the second time – on Feb. 13 for allegedly lying under oath during a divorce hearing in 2018. She says she is the victim of gender discrimination and has filed suit. MSP says the agency is protecting its employees from an abusive woman. Moryc, 40, had faced examination by her superiors, prosecutors, judges, arbiters and appellate judges – from administrative hearings to the Michigan Supreme Court – and one thing has been crystal clear: No matter what was decided, MSP officials wanted to withdraw her appointment as a trooper and send her back to civilian life. 'Big Boys' Club': Discontent in the Michigan State Police All of this is playing out as unions representing troopers and commanders for the MSP have in the leadership of the MSP's top brass, Col. James F. Grady and his second-in-command, Lt. Col. Aimee Brimacomb. Both unions have called for their resignations. The head of the Michigan Republican Party and current state Sen. Jim Runestad (R-White Lake) joined the unions in calling for the leaders' resignations. He's also called for criminal investigations into Brimacombe related to accusations she used a 2015 black Buick Regal issued by the state for her work for personal travel. The office of Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer issued a statement supporting Grady, whom she appointed to the post, and his second-in-command. In the middle of all of that is the case involving Moryc, whose firing in February followed an administrative hearing on Jan. 7 that was just the latest confrontation in her battle with MSP. Since August 2024, the 6 News Investigates Team has been examining this battle between Moryc and the MSP, reviewing hundreds of pages of internal investigations, court filings, court opinions, emails and prosecutorial communications. This has included audio and transcripts, surveillance videos and on-camera interviews with Moryc. Those interviews and documents obtained through Michigan's Freedom of Information Act, commonly referred to as FOIA, and previous court filings came before March 25, when a judge in Eaton County Circuit Court issued an order preventing Moryc – or anyone in the case – from releasing anything obtained from discovery or during depositions of her ongoing Michigan Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act lawsuit against the agency. Officials for the state of Michigan have declined to respond to detailed questions from the 6 News Investigates Team for months, but for the next several days, you will read and view what 6 News Investigates has learned from this labyrinth of allegations, investigations, criminal cases and internal actions and inactions by MSP. You will learn about Moryc's fight for a career at a sexualized 'big boys' club' at the Lakeview Post of the Michigan State Police. Where this started MSP leadership first fired Moryc, a trooper since 2016, in 2021 after she accepted a plea deal to assault charges following a drunken incident with fellow troopers during a union gathering. She served 21 days in the Grand Traverse County Jail and then was fired on internal charges related to alleged sexual assaults in the incident, charges an arbitrator could not determine to be accurate, charges that were dropped as part of the plea deal. In February 2022, the arbitrator ordered Moryc to be reinstated. Her termination was downgraded to 6 months of unpaid suspension, and the state was on the hook for back pay to June 1, 2021. Arb Decision MSP & MSPTA – Megan Moryc discharge[7091]Download Through attorneys at the office of the Michigan Attorney General, MSP challenged that ruling, which was overturned by a local judge, reinstated by the Michigan Court of Appeals and then upheld when the state Supreme Court declined to hear new arguments. MSP leadership withheld her back pay until May 22, 2025, and the Michigan Department of Treasury confirmed that she received a check from MSP. 'The check description reads 'MAKE WHOLE SETTLEMENT,'' treasury spokesman Ron Liex wrote in an email to 6 News Investigates. Liex was unable to confirm the amount of the check, but 6 News has learned it was for tens of thousands of dollars less than what Moryc ought to have been paid from June 1, 2021, until Oct. 2, 2025, when she returned to the state payroll. Deducted from her back pay were payments for premiums for health insurance she didn't have while the case worked through the courts and MSP did not employ her. In addition, the check deducted annual pay she received from another job she took while the case wound through the legal system. An assistant attorney general argued in December 2024 that Moryc could not be fully restored to duty, nor should the state have to pay her the totality of her back pay, because her law enforcement license had lapsed during the years-long appeals process. When required to restore Moryc to duty, MSP immediately placed her on paid suspension while the agency investigated her for allegedly lying during a court hearing. That investigation soon came to an end. This past Dec. 20, MSP investigators declared she had lied under oath and recommended her immediate termination, and on Jan. 7, she again stood before command staff in Grand Rapids for a disciplinary hearing to address that recommendation. The charge emerged from her testimony during the divorce of former Trooper Trevin Saxon Antcliff, Moryc's supervisor-turned-friend-turned-sex-partner-turned-dating partner-turned-lover, a man who MSP confirms resigned while facing felony perjury charges for the same case and separate misdemeanor domestic violence charges. Antcliff's resignation in January 2024 had allowed him to keep his nearly 20-year pension, despite the pending criminal cases and having faced disciplinary action, in part, for having sexually harassed Moryc, an admission that is part of her civil rights lawsuit against the department. Given all those issues, this is what, in part, Moryc told the disciplinary hearing on Jan. 7: 'The fact is, we are here for two reasons today. First, the men who have investigated this case appear to be incapable of providing a woman sexual agency. … I. DID. NOT. LIE. … Second, this department had constructive notice that Trooper Trevin Antcliff served as a danger to every woman he came in contact with. … The department is perusing [sic] this alleged perjury not because it believes a crime was committed but because it is attempting to mitigate its' [sic] liabilities and to undermine my character and integrity. Let the facts stand as they are.' With-all-due-respectDownload After Moryc's statement, officials adjourned, they said, to consider the allegations more thoroughly. Then on Feb. 13, Moryc was called before the administrative hearing team again. This time, there were no statements from her. She was terminated. Not wanting to talk about it Dozens of emails and phone calls to county prosecutors, troopers and command staff identified in the reports have gone unreturned or referred to others. MSP spokesperson Shanon Banner has issued only blanket statements, avoiding answering specific questions: 'The Michigan State Police has a long-standing tradition of demanding the highest possible standards of professional conduct from its enlisted and civilian members. All allegations of misconduct are aggressively investigated. Oversight of the investigation process is the responsibility of the Professional Standards Section. Independent of whether a criminal charge results in a conviction, the employee may still be subject to administrative actions if the investigation reveals a violation of department policy. Policy violations are investigated thoroughly and acted upon in a manner consistent with labor law and collective bargaining agreements.' Emailed statement from Shanon Banner, communications director, Michigan State Police The office of Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel also declined to discuss specifics regarding the years-long legal battle to keep Moryc from the job. 'The Department of Attorney General's only involvement in the matters you have identified is representing the Michigan State Police in two cases, MSP v MSPTA regarding a prior arbitration with a trooper, and Moryc v MSP, an employment case brought by the same trooper against MSP,' spokesperson Danny Wimmer wrote in response to questions from 6 News. 'As both matters are currently pending in court, we cannot comment at this time. And since our office is serving as legal counsel to MSP any discussions or advice related to those cases are attorney-client privileged communications, and cannot be discussed.' Email statement from Danny Wimmer, spokesperson for the Department of Attorney General. Neither MSP nor the Office of the Attorney General has explained how this lengthy legal war has benefited taxpayers, who are footing the bills. Complaint-1st-Amended-SIGNEDDownload Moryc sued MSP in Eaton County Circuit Court, alleging violations of the state's anti-discrimination law – the Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act. While allegations of retaliation against her, such as the perjury investigation, continue as a part of her lawsuit, earlier allegations, including sexual harassment, have been barred by the court because too much time has elapsed between when the alleged discrimination occurred and when the complaint reached the court. Moryc v MSP register of actionsDownload The criminal case Moryc had an unblemished record as a trooper stationed at the Lakeview Post from her hiring in 2016 until October 2020, when she was accused of physically and sexually assaulting fellow troopers during a drunken roughhousing session at a union event in Traverse City. The above video is a compilation of snippets from about 15 minutes of surveillance video from a resort in Grand Traverse County, Oct. 13, 2024. Moryc can be seen in the light orange-colored shirt in the video. All 15 minutes of surveillance video were used by MSP commander staff to justify Moryc's termination in 2021 and during an arbitration hearing. 6 News Investigates will release all of the video from that case in a future report in this ongoing series. Moryc was charged with two counts of assault and battery and two counts of criminal sexual conduct, 4th degree and ultimately entered a 'no contest' plea to the two counts of assault and battery, misdemeanors that allowed her to continue a career in law enforcement. A 'no contest' plea is distinct from pleading guilty; pleading no contest means a defendant accepts conviction but does not admit guilt. Moryc District Court Register of ActionsDownload But 86-2 District Court Judge Robert Cooney discarded her agreement with prosecutors, sending her to jail for 30 days, 21 of which she served. She was fired from her job and became lost in what she calls 'purgatory,' leaving her with a criminal record and mired in a legal battle for reinstatement. Letter from Thomas Deasy regarding service in jailDownload Just days before Moryc was scheduled for release from the jail, MSP officials showed up, MSP folders, and served Moryc with notice of an administrative interview, to be held while she was an inmate. The service of the administrative interview effectively identified her as a law enforcement agent, she argued, and put her health and safety at risk. The interview was delayed until she was out of jail and ultimately led to the administrative hearing in which she was discharged in the summer of 2021. After an arbitrator in February 2022 ordered the MSP to reinstate Moryc with back pay – ruling the activities in Traverse City didn't rise to the level requiring termination from employment – MSP leaders, represented by the attorney general's office, appealed. MSP argued the arbitrator had exceeded her authority in the arbitration decision, Ingham County Circuit Court Judge James. Jamo agreed. In that appeal by MSP, Jamo overturned the arbitration award, but his judgment was reversed on Dec. 28, 2023, in a published unanimous opinion by a 3-judge panel of the Michigan Court of Appeals. A published ruling by the Court of Appeals applies statewide unless it is overturned by the Michigan Supreme Court. Morycc Court of Appeals DecisionDownload 'Moreover, unlike the CBA [collective bargaining agreement] at issue in Lenawee Co, nothing in the CBA here provides that an employee charged with or convicted of a crime is subject to mandatory termination, nor does it indicate that the arbitrator did not have the authority to reduce the grievant's punishment from termination to an unpaid suspension,' the judges opined. Michigan Supreme Court order in MorycDownload And the lawyers for the attorney general did appeal again to the Michigan Supreme Court, which on Sept. 18, 2024, declined to hear the case, thus upholding the reinstatement. MSP put Moyrc back on state payroll on Oct. 2, but – 'before the ink was dry' on her human resources paperwork, she said – she was placed on paid administrative leave but ordered to be available Monday through Friday, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Lost her license Motion for Entry of Order to Enforce Arbitration AwardDownload While the internal investigation into whether or not Moryc lied under oath plowed forward, lawyers from the state and her union were battling in court over the original arbitration decision from February 2022. In a hearing on Dec. 18 in Ingham County Circuit Court, again before Judge Jamo, Assistant Attorney General Mary Waddell argued that Moryc was back on the State of Michigan payroll – and had been since Oct. 2 – but she couldn't be rehired as a trooper. Jamo-order-2024-enfore-arbitration-awardDownload 'She cannot legally be reinstated to an MSP trooper position because she lost her MCOLES (Michigan Commission on Law Enforcement Standards) certification,' Wardell told Jamo, citing the Michigan Commission on Law Enforcement Standards, the licensing agent for law enforcement in Michigan. Timothy Dlugos, an attorney representing the Michigan State Police Trooper Association, the union for MSP troopers, argued on Moryc's behalf. 'Her MCOLES license only lapsed because of the dilatory action of having to go through the appeal process here,' Dlugos told Jamo. 'It lapses after two years of inactivity. At the time she was ordered back to work by the arbitrator, her MCOLES license hadn't lapsed.' Moryc's capacity to renew her license with MCOLES remained unclear as the MSP investigated allegations of perjury. To date, she has not seen her license renewed, and with an administrative finding that she lied, it may be impossible for her to renew that license. If she does, she will find herself on a '' of law enforcement agents accused of being untruthful. That list is made available to defense attorneys, allowing defendants to impeach the credibility of a law enforcement agent during trial. The testimony Moryc's alleged perjury stemmed from whether she lied under oath on Oct. 9, 2018, during the divorce proceeding in Montcalm County between Antcliff and his second wife, Nina. At issue: Were Antcliff and Moryc in a romantic relationship, and was she honest in her testimony? Then-trooper Antcliff had been assigned as Moryc's field training officer for the final two-thirds of her on-the-job training in 2016-17. She informed MSP investigators that a sexual relationship between them began while she was his trainee, and the sexual activity would later develop into a romantic relationship that ultimately collapsed. In early 2024, attorneys from the Newaygo County Prosecutor's Office had declined to bring criminal charges against Moryc for that alleged perjury, saying those charges were 'unlikely to meet the burden of proof at trial.' Similarly, though, Newaygo County Prosecutor Rachel Robinson was prepared to issue felony charges for perjury against Antcliff for his testimony in the same hearing. Newaygo-County-FOIA-Antcliff-1Download Former U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan Barbara McQuade says she's not surprised that formal criminal charges on perjury had not been filed. 'Perjury cases are very challenging because you must prove that the person knowingly made a statement that was false. Misleading statements are not sufficient. Omissions are not sufficient,' McQuade wrote in an email to the 6 News Investigates Team. 'In addition, the false statement must be material to the testimony. That is, it must have been important to the outcome of the case.' Department 'violation' Despite that philosophical consideration and the absence of new evidence from that criminal investigation, MSP Professional Standards Section investigator Special Lt. Christopher Tuckey concluded Moryc had committed perjury. Moryc was notified of the decision on Dec. 20. The Professional Standards Section is the agency's internal affairs investigation department, which handles both criminal investigations against troopers and alleged policy violations by troopers. The notice about her hearing on Jan. 7 claims Tuckey's investigation 'established that you violated department policy, and the law, when you perjured yourself while testifying, under oath, in a divorce proceeding of your (then) boyfriend when called by his attorney as a witness in defense of his alleged infidelity with you in 2017.' Sexual harassment Antcliff finalDownload MSP rules allow the agency to discipline troopers for alleged crimes, even if prosecution does not occur. Transcripts from the divorce proceeding on Oct. 9, 2018, reveal that Moryc was never asked if she was having a sexual relationship with then-Trooper Antcliff. Attorneys only asked when the two began dating romantically. In her final divorce order and opinion, dating Oct. 29, 2018, 20 days after the alleged perjury, Montcalm County Circuit Court Judge Suzanne Hoseth wrote, 'Again, this Court recognizes that when working closely with another individual, particularly in life-or-death situations where they are called to protect the public and each other, it is not uncommon for the boundaries to blur between a professional relationship and something more.' She does not conclude in her opinion that either trooper lied on the stand during testimony before her. The first document below was given to 6 News by Moyrc, and any handwriting or annotations on it were made by her. Judgement of Divorce and OpinionDownload 2018 divorce transcriptsDownload 'Fabricated interpretation' Moryc vehemently denies that at the time of the incident she was questioned about during testimony, she was in a 'romantic' or 'dating' relationship with Antcliff. 'He [Antcliff] was like my best friend because I was secluded from all my friends, any support system. I had no support system there, I didn't,' Moryc told the 6 News Investigates Team. 'He started pursuing more of the physical. Would want to come over after work. Bring alcohol and want to, you know, stay up and drink and have a good time. And then this physical relationship formed.' Moryc, who was married at the time to Christopher Lee Symonds, says Antcliff's advances made her uncomfortable. 'I never wanted to cheat on my husband. I never,' she says. 'I wasn't comfortable. I told him I wasn't comfortable.' MSP investigators said Moryc's explanation was a 'fabricated interpretation of the meaning of 'relationship,' as it related to your involvement with your (then) boyfriend, was material in the court testimony and weaponized by you to defend your integrity during administrative investigation.' As Moryc's second field training officer, Antcliff had the authority and responsibility to report on her training and progress. His assessments could have resulted in her losing her position with MSP because she was still on probationary status. That eventually led to disciplinary action pending against him when Antcliff resigned and walked away with his pension. Moryc told investigators his make-or-break assessments of her performance were 'in the back of my mind.' Wendy Murphy, a professor at New England Law in Boston and leader of the Women and Children's Advocacy Project at the school, said the situation described is illegal under civil rights laws. 'Quid pro quo sexual harassment doesn't involve a question of wantedness,' she says. 'It's per se improper.' She said the threat of ending the career of a subordinate is 'inherent in the relationship.' 'A wolf in the hen house' For its part, MSP commanders determined Sept. 26, 2023, in an administrative charging document, that Antcliff had committed sexual harassment. 'After review of the attached PSS Investigation, there are several Official Order violations to include Sexual Harassment (Quid Pro Quo), impairing the efficiency of the agency, and the below code of conduct,' the charging document reveals. Tuckey's investigation revealed command staff had concerns about placing Moryc with Antcliff for training because he was a 'womanizer' and had a 'negative reputation with women.' The decision to place her under his supervision was made because she was married at the time. 'We felt that we can't consider what are essentially rumors and conjecture in how we do our assignments,' Lt. Rob Davis told investigators about assigning Moryc to Antcliff and concerns about his 'womanizing.' Much of what Davis told investigators was summarized in the subsequent investigative report. The quotes come directly from the audio interview. Davis went on to share that during one meeting where placement of Moryc was considered, another command staff member referred to the situation as 'putting a wolf in the hen house or something like that.' As Moryc completed her training phases and became a full road officer, her sexual relationship with Antcliff continued. She says she's not sure exactly when that relationship shifted from best friends who had sex to a 'dating' relationship. 'We never really defined lines,' she said. 'I would say the most defining point in this relationship that started out as, you know, we were best friends, was, you know, in late like December 2017 – when I was divorced and we were looking at getting a house together. Before then, we hadn't really because we were best friends, and I don't really know how to define it.' The 2023 investigation of Antcliff concluded he had engaged in a sexual relationship with Moryc while he was her field training officer. 'During the principal interview with Trooper Antcliff, he admitted engaging in [a] sexual relationship with Trooper Moryc beginning approximately two weeks after she started FTO with him,' the report concludes. Court cases continue When Moryc was called in again and fired on Feb. 13, union officials filed an arbitration notice on her behalf. On April 14, a hearing was held before an arbitrator. Post-hearing legal briefs were required to be filed with the arbitrator by the end of business on June 3. Those records are not yet available. The arbitrator is expected to release a ruling in 30 to 60 days from June 3. Moryc's suit in Eaton County Circuit Court, alleging she has been discriminated against by MSP because of her gender and alleging she has been illegally retaliated against by the agency for reporting that discrimination, continues. A Michigan Department of Civil Rights investigation into those allegations was dismissed by the agency after Moryc filed suit, a spokesperson for the MDCR told the 6 News Investigates team. MDCR #643570_RedactedDownload MSP's only response to her claims was Banner's blanket statement. The state attorney general's office also offered a similar response about its limited involvement. 'The Department of Attorney General's only involvement in the matters you have identified is representing the Michigan State Police in two cases, MSP v MSPTA regarding a prior arbitration with a trooper, and Moryc v MSP, an employment case brought by the same trooper against MSP,' spokesperson Danny Wimmer wrote in response to questions from 6 News, including how this case benefitted the taxpayers of the state of Michigan. 'As both matters are currently pending in court, we cannot comment at this time. And since our office is serving as legal counsel to MSP any discussions or advice related to those cases are attorney-client privileged communications, and cannot be discussed.' If you or someone you know is experiencing domestic or sexual violence, there is help. If you are in immediate danger, call 911 or your local law enforcement agency. For support related to domestic violence, call: 1-800-799-7233 For support related to sexual assault, call: (4673) 6 News Digital Producers , Trevor King and 6 News Digital Content Manager Duncan Phenix contributed to this report. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Solve the daily Crossword
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Yahoo
‘Big Boys' Club': ‘Too much room in the law … to discriminate'
LANSING, Mich. (WLNS) – Wendy Murphy, a professor at New England Law in Boston and leader of the Women and Children's Advocacy Project at the school, says women entering law enforcement invariably face discrimination and harassment. 'There are some spaces in society that are just intensely hypermasculine and therefore more difficult places for women to acclimate, to feel welcome,' Murphy said. 'It's almost insurmountable in some ways.' Law enforcement, particularly statewide agencies such as the Michigan State Police, are hyper-masculine environments, she said. 'These are considered hyper-masculine environments because they have historically been places where primarily men are welcome. Women have had minor roles over the years, but not welcomed as equals.' Murphy offered her general observations of gender discrimination in employment. They are based on her review of decades of litigation related to gender discrimination and her teaching about this form of discrimination. She was not able to review the voluminous documentation the 6 News Investigates Team has obtained throughout its investigation of former Trooper Megan Moryc's ongoing dispute with the Michigan State Police. 'Big Boys' Club': Frequently Asked Questions She said law enforcement, particularly statewide agencies such as the Michigan State Police, are hypermasculine environments and that anti-discrimination laws related to gender discrimination often are lax. 'What's unfortunate about the law, especially when it comes to holding employers accountable for being discriminatory against women, is that it's very easy to provide an excuse for why you treated a woman differently and worse,' Murphy said. 'It is, in a sense, presumptively illegal to treat a woman differently and worse. But if the employer comes up with a seemingly legitimate explanation, the law is very tolerant of those excuses. Much more tolerant than it used to be and certainly much more tolerant than it ought to be.' She said that legal tolerance is something that should be changed. 'There's too much room in the law for law enforcement to discriminate against women and to cover it up,' she said. 'We don't take pretext arguments very seriously when there's race discrimination. It's a lot harder to get away with race discrimination. But if you do the same thing to a woman, and you offer up a pretext excuse for why you didn't get a promotion – you can get away with it. You're less likely to get away with it if you did the same thing to a Black man.' Murphy told the 6 News Investigates Team that it is not uncommon for women to isolate themselves from discriminatory activity in the workplace, including sexualized joking, watching of pornography and other inappropriate workplace behavior. 'It's a learned behavior. At some point, a woman thinks to herself, 'I know I'm supposed to complain about this. I know it's illegal. I learned this in, you know, our training on what Title 7 [federal civil rights law] forbids,'' Murphy said. ''But the last time I complained about it, I, you know, didn't get any overtime pay or…', 'Or something like that happens to them where they know damn well that's because they filed a complaint. They suffered in some way in their job. So women learn to accommodate. They learn to look the other way, or if they find it intolerable, they learn to avoid situations, and that makes it a lot harder for them to work with men. Work alongside men. 'It makes it harder for women to develop that trust that you really have to have with your partners and your colleagues when you are in law enforcement.' 6 News Digital Content Manager Duncan Phenix contributed to this report. If you or someone you know is experiencing domestic or sexual violence, there is help. If you are in immediate danger, call 911 or your local law enforcement agency. For support related to domestic violence, call: 1-800-799-7233 For support related to sexual assault, call: 800-656-HOPE (4673) Read this series in order: Discontent in the Michigan State Police 'Wolf in the hen house' 'I never wanted to cheat on my husband' The 'womanizer' 'Too much room in the law … to discriminate' Frequently Asked Questions 'The degradation of women' 'Gender discrimination and harassment, including sexual' Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Solve the daily Crossword
Daily Mail
11-07-2025
- Business
- Daily Mail
Female Moet exec told she was 'gagging for it' sues firm for $1.5m
A female executive at Moet Hennessy is suing the champagne maker for $1.5million after she was allegedly told she needed 'anti-seduction' training and she was 'gagging for it'. Maria Gasparovic, the former chief of staff to executive Jean-Marc Lacave, was sacked last June, just four months after she told her HR department about senior colleagues' alleged misconduct while she worked at the firm's Paris headquarters. Lacave, her direct boss, is alleged to have told her that in order to be promoted, she needed 'anti-seduction' training, it was reported. He is also accused of telling her that she had not been promoted because a client had said she was 'gagging for it' at a meeting. Gasparovic is suing the multi-billion dollar firm for $1.5million in damages and compensation over accusations of sexual harassment, gender discrimination, and unfair dismissal. LHMV has refuted the claims, and has filed a lawsuit against her for defamation after she posted the allegations to social media. A defamation trial is expected in the fall. In her dismissal letter, Moet Hennessy said she was being fired for impersonating another employee on a call while on sick leave, and for making threatening remarks to colleagues, though she had denied all these allegations. Before she was made to leave, she reportedly submitted a whistleblowing report to the firm in which she detailed her allegations of harassment and discrimination, though according to a legal complaint she filed the firm did not carry out a formal investigation. Mark Stead, the company's former chief operating officer who is in a relationship with Gasparovic, was reportedly sacked for allegedly misusing travel and expenses resources shortly after he accompanied her to meetings with HR. Since her sacking, around a dozen people have reportedly come forward to reveal a series of executive departures 'related to a toxic workplace environment where bullying and mismanagement were problems'. At least four female employees at Moet Hennessy's Paris headquarters have reported bullying and harassment before leaving. Three of those who filed complaints at employment tribunals have since settled with the firm. Several women allegedly complained about being the subject of unfounded rumours about having affairs with men at the company. According to the Financial Times, after one woman told HR that people were spreading false rumors that she had slept with a male executive to get work opportunities, she was simply told to 'get used to it'. Many employees of the firm complained of stress and bullying, with at least 20 staff at the headquarters going on long-term sick leave in 2024 alone. One source told the FT that gossip and rumors are rife at Moet Hennessy, and that it was a 'boys club'. They said that bosses would 'scream at people like it was a fashion house in the 1990s, except we are in 2025 - that behavior is no longer acceptable'. The source reportedly added: 'Lots of people were going on sick leave, people were disappearing overnight. It took on disruptive proportions'. In a note sent to staff in September 2024, Moet Hennessy's then-chief executive Philippe Schaus and head of HR Paula Fallowfield tried to put out the fires of Gasparovic's allegations, and of the wider concerns within the company, the FT reports. 'We assure you that each case has been handled thoughtfully, fairly and in line with a commitment to confidentiality and our values,' they wrote in the email, while reminding staff of 'the distress one-sided narratives may cause'. 'We are committed to providing a positive working environment . . . Moreover we are also determined to do everything possible to protect the reputation of Moet Hennessy,' they wrote. Gasparovic's lawsuit is expected to be heard in court later this year.
