Former cop sues Tallahassee Police Department for age discrimination

A former Tallahassee Police officer claims in a lawsuit he was wrongfully forced to resign in an effort to rid the department of older employees nearing retirement.

Frank Arias was a TPD officer for 30 years before he resigned at age 51 in October 2017 following a reprimand he said did not follow protocol.

Arias alleges he was discriminated against because of his age.

Arias was in the Deferred Retirement Option Program (DROP) and planned to continue to work as a sergeant in the Property Crimes Task Force until 2019.

An internal investigation was launched in June 2017 when it was alleged he allowed the acting supervisor to utilize his computer to log-in to assign cases while he was out of the office.

The practice was long condoned across the department, he claimed in the lawsuit filed in Leon County Circuit Court Friday. The city attorney was not immediately available for comment Tuesday.

“This is not an unusual occurrence,” Arias' attorney Tiffany Cruz wrote. “For example, a younger, female sergeant engaged in this very same behavior, but she was not subject to an IA or any other form of discipline.”

Arias was issued a written reprimand and notified he was being placed back on patrol, the only shift available being an evening or midnight shift. He claims the move was a discriminatory tactic to force older officers out of the department.

The lawsuit cites at least three other older male employees who faced similar transfers.

“This appears to be a pattern of action by Chief (Michael) DeLeo in an effort to rid the department of older, near retirement employees,” the lawsuit reads. “In each of these circumstances, the chief has replaced the older employee with a substantially younger employee.”

DeLeo was out of town and unavailable for comment.

Contact Karl Etters at ketters@tallahassee.com or @KarlEtters on Twitter.