KC Police wins jury’s favor in religious discrimination suit

A Jehovah’s Witness supervisor lost his religious discrimination and retaliation claim against the Kansas City Police Department, his employer.

Damion Ragsdale has maintained police vehicles in the Fleet Operations Unit (FOU) since 1998. On March 31, 2020, he filed a discrimination claim with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) alleging religious discrimination and retaliation for this EEOC charge.

Ragsdale’s attorney, Robert Bruce of Doyle & Associates, said that the jury could not get over that Ragsdale did not need religious accommodation unless he worked nights.

“I think they just sort of struggled with connecting the past damage that had been corrected by more recent actions,” Bruce said.

An attorney for KCPD, Paula L. Brown of Scharnhorst Ast Kennard Griffin in Kansas City, Missouri, said that Ragsdale’s lack of a “smoking gun” left an impression on the jury.

“I think what ended up carrying the day largely was the lack of evidence the plaintiff had of any discrimination or retaliation,” Brown said.

Ragsdale’s first personnel incident report (PIR) was the result of a technician’s written complaint in September 2018. The technician noted that before Ragsdale’s promotion, Ragsdale called the technician an “Uncle Tom” who “clicked his heels” for white supervisors.

This spurred a 15-month Internal Affairs investigation into Ragsdale’s conduct as a supervisor, during which the department transferred him to a unit outside the FOU, and an 800-page report detailing years of alleged misconduct, insubordination, abuse and discrimination, including a 7-month suspension in 2003 after he assaulted the mother of his children.

When he returned to the FOU at the investigation’s end in December 2019, he did not want to return to the night shift, since it conflicted with his Thursday Kingdom Hall meetings required to be promoted within his religion. He requested to work split night shifts to attend these meetings, which he had done four times in 2018. A deputy chief disagreed and ordered Ragsdale to use his paid time off to attend the meetings.

The department completed a PIR on Ragsdale based on the investigation a month after Ragsdale filed his March EEOC claim. The police chief ordered a 14-day suspension. In June 2020, Ragsdale received another PIR without formal discipline.

Ragsdale claimed these PIRs and his suspension were retaliation against his EEOC charge. He claimed that denying him split shifts to attend religious meetings was religious discrimination.

After four days of reviewing evidence and under 2-and-a-half hours of deliberation, the 12-person jury returned verdicts in favor of KCPD on June 7, 2024.

RELATED: Click to search for and submit your Verdicts & Settlements

Verdict for defendant(s) 

Retaliation 

Breakdown and distribution of Total Value: Plaintiff requested $45,000 in past economic damages, non-economic damages and future non-economic damages for alleged retaliation 

Plaintiff requested $650,602 for alleged religious discrimination 

Allocation of Fault: N/A 

Verdict/Settlement Date: 6/7/2024 

Type of Action: Employment 

Type of Action Description: Religious discrimination 

Court: Jackson County Circuit Court (MO) 

Caption: 2216-CV00196 Damion Ragsdale v. Board of Police Commissioners of Kansas City, Missouri 

Injuries Alleged: Emotional, psychological 

Injuries Detail: Inability to advance in religious hierarchy 

Special Damages: Plaintiff requested $25,000 in punitive damages for retaliation and $150,000 in punitive damages for religious discrimination 

Trial 

Tried Before: Jury 

Person Presiding: Kevin Harrell 

Attorneys for Plaintiff: Robert A. Bruce, Daniel L. Doyle, Noah Ballard, Doyle & Associates (Kansas City, Kansas) 

Attorney(s) for Defendant:Brent N. Coverdale, Andrew J. Lewis, Paula L. Brown, Scharnhorst Ast Kennard Griffin, PC (Kansas City, Missouri)