By Debbie Kelley
The Gazette
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — Colorado Springs police officers will not be required to take a physical fitness test this year, and those who failed it last year will no longer face penalties, pending the outcome of a discrimination lawsuit 12 female officers have filed.
The city of Colorado Springs and its police department agreed on Friday to all conditions the plaintiffs sought in a preliminary injunction, and on Monday, U.S. District Court Judge Richard Matsch ordered the demands be met.
That means the 12 policewomen also can wear their uniforms again and return to full patrol duty instead of the light-duty, plainclothes desk work they had been relegated to for not passing the annual Physical Abilities Test.
“We are very happy that the women have been put back to their full duties and the discipline is going to be rescinded,” said Colorado Springs attorney Donna Dell’Olio, who is representing the women along with attorney Ian Kalmanowitz.
The female officers filed the lawsuit on April 30 and the preliminary injunction in October. The agreement from the city came 12 days before a hearing was to begin.
“The Colorado Springs Police Department had imposed a number of consequences on our clients, taking away their uniforms, their duties, their pay increases,” Dell’Olio said. “They agreed to everything we were asking for.”
The dozen policewomen, all decorated officers over the age of 40, claim the test is unfair for older women because it’s not normed for age or gender and is not related to job-essential duties.
According to the lawsuit, 35 percent of the department’s women in that demographic and less than 2 percent of the male officers failed the test in September 2014, the first time it was administered. They then were subject to punitive measures.
Colorado Springs Police did not respond to a request for an interview on Monday.
According to a news release from January, after the first stage of the new testing program was completed, the test was created to help CSPD establish a “culture of fitness,” set a “minimum physical fitness level necessary to perform the duties of a police officer” and reduce costs related to injuries, lost wages and workers compensation claims.
A new round of testing, which includes push-ups, sit-ups and two running exams, started in October, Dell’Olio said.
“Everybody had to re-test, and this meant people were obviously worried about the disciplinary consequences of failing the test and of losing their jobs,” she said.
The plaintiffs submitted to the district court in Denver an assessment of the test by Colorado State University industrial organizational psychology professor Kurt Kraiger. He determined that physical performance “constitutes only a fraction of overall job performance” and found “gender bias” in the criteria, with the “absence of steps to safeguard against this.”
The police chief and others will give depositions in upcoming weeks, Dell’Olio said, and work will continue to prepare the case for a jury trial. That could take as long as one year, she said.
The lawsuit seeks to bar the police department from enforcing the physical testing protocols and monetary damages for earning opportunities from which the women were banned while on a performance improvement plan after failing the test, such as overtime.
“The purpose of the trial is to obtain damages for the women who we believe were illegally discriminated against,” Dell’Olio said.
The policewomen suing the city are Officer Rebecca Arndt, Stetson Hills patrol Officer Nicole Baldwin, CSPD spokeswoman Lt. Catherine Buckley, Sand Creek Det. Stacey Clark, Crimes Against Children Unit Det. Donya Davis, Gold Hill patrol Officer Julie Garrett, Stetson Hills Lt. Carolyn Graves, Crimes Against Children Unit Det. Samantha Lembergs, Sand Creek patrol Sgt. Jennifer Lewis, patrol Officer Geraldine Pring, head of Internal Affairs Lt. Magdalena Santos and Crimes Against Children Unit Det. Terry Thrumston.
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