City of Abilene Settles Federal Discrimination Lawsuit Filed by Former Female Officer

ABILENE, TX – The City of Abilene has settled a federal sex discrimination lawsuit against the city accusing them of sex discrimination and retaliation filed by Officer Tracy Gates.

According to a local news source, in the lawsuit filed in July of 2018, Gates claimed she was a victim of discrimination and cited “specific examples of the alleged discrimination, including inappropriate comments and unfairly getting passed over for a promotion.” Officer Gates had been with the Abilene Police Department for 17 years.

The lawsuits stated that in 2010 Gates was transferred to Safety City, by choice, due to “discriminatory treatment at headquarters and she's wanted to leave that toxic environment."

Gates was transferred back to patrol after coming back from maternity leave. She alleged that at that time Assistant Police Chief Doug Wrenn "thought she would resign to stay home with her five children.

The lawsuit claimed that Gates chose the morning shift, but she was transferred to another shift because the “shift sergeant did not want her to have it.” It went on to state that it was “due to her family situation of having so many children that she would miss too much work."

In 2014 Gates began the Sergeant Academy and was questioned by a lieutenant that allegedly stated, “they already hired females from the previous sergeant promotions.”

Gates was not promoted to sergeant and the lawsuit claimed that the denial was due to negative comments given by the promotional board. Those comments included “negative references that she had five children and a husband that was on active duty in the Army."

In 2015 she filed a complaint with the EEOC for discrimination. Gates alleged that since she filed the charges, she had been retaliated against and received "sexist and inappropriate comments in the workplace."

Gates claimed she suffered “emotional pain, personal humiliation, mental anguish, loss of wages and benefits, and is seeking damages through the lawsuit.”

On September 12, 2019, the Abilene City Council voted 7-0 to settle the lawsuit.

No further information is known regarding the total amount of the settlement and Gates resigned from APD as part of the agreement. No further comment was available due to a confidentially agreement regarding specifics of the settlement.