Seattle police captain wins $3M in settlement for ‘gender discrimination’ lawsuit

Seattle will pay $3 million to a Seattle Police Department (SPD) captain after she sued for gender discrimination and retaliation.

Deanna Nollette was demoted from assistant chief to captain after Adrian Diaz took over as chief in 2022, according to FOX 13. In the lawsuit, Nollette claimed that Diaz and others excluded women from leadership and opportunities, and that she was eventually moved to the night shift as retaliation.

According to the filing, Chief Diaz allegedly “has a history of misogyny.”

“He is demeaning to women in the police force, articulating his bias that women should not hold leadership positions in the police force,” the lawsuit read, according to KIRO 7, going on to claim that the chief excluded female leaders from command staff social events, and offered travel, training and network opportunities only to male officers.

She served as SPD’s assistant chief between 2018 and 2023. She worked for the SPD for 27 years.

“Many times, when [Nollette] presented an idea to Diaz, he would ignore her and give credit to a male officer,” the filing read.

Nollette cited one instance where she claimed Diaz suggested women in the department act as cheerleaders for an SPD flag football team created as a “team-building exercise.”

Nollette spent five months on medical leave “because of the emotional toll Diaz’s discrimination took.” When she returned, Diaz assigned her to a newly-promoted white male captain with less experience, training, and accomplishments, in an allegedly “less-than-comparable” job, according to the lawsuit.

As part of the settlement, Nollette will be reinstated as assistant chief, but only for a short time. She is expected to use the 1,020 hours of additional paid administrative leave granted to her, and then retire from the department.

Neither the city nor Diaz admits any wrongdoing in the deal, per the agreement.

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