GASTON COUNTY, N.C. — A new lawsuit filed this week claims Gaston County Police leaders discriminated against Black employees by keeping them out of leadership roles and not offering promotions.
The suit filed in Charlotte's federal court on Monday names current police chief Stephen Zill and county commissioner Chad Brown as defendants along with the Gaston County government. The plaintiffs, identified as Capt. Brent Roberts and Capt. Reginald E. Bloom Jr., claim they were denied opportunities to advance at the department and were violated of their civil rights under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The suit also claims Bloom faced retaliation for advocating for equal employment opportunities in the department.
The full 32-page lawsuit is embedded below:
Roberts claims since he joined GCPD in 1997, he has slowly progressed through the ranks despite often being listed as the top candidate for promotions and working in several different divisions. Roberts was promoted to the rank of captain in 2017, after 20 years of service, and had expressed interest in promotion to the assistant chief role the following year.
At the time, the department's policy stated the assistant chief could not have less than two years of experience as a captain -- a requirement that barred Roberts and another Black captain from applying. The position opened up again in 2020, but the suit claims Gaston County changed its eligibility requirements without notification and without placing them in writing, again barring Roberts and the other captain from the chance.
The lawsuit also said Roberts was a vocal advocate for Black officers and other officers who were minorities, including female officers. The suit said Roberts filed an internal complaint in 2016 while still a sergeant claiming then-police chief Joseph Ramey discriminated against Black sergeants and captains, passing over them to promote white officers who were less qualified. Other internal complaints were raised in 2019 and 2022, with the suit saying Roberts' 2022 complaint was followed by a warning letter for alleged insubordination.
Bloom, who joined GCPD in 2004, also similarly held different roles across GCPD throughout his career according to the suit while also leading civic engagement campaigns. He was promoted to captain in April 2023, and the suit claims like Roberts, Bloom's progression through the ranks was also slower than white counterparts. The suit also claims Bloom was told by several white peers to "distance himself" from Roberts because of Roberts' advocacy within the department.
Ramey announced in Sept. 2022 that he would step down from his position as GCPD chief once a replacement could be hired, and the county posted the role formally in November of that year. The suit claims Commissioner Brown directed the county to hire an internal white male candidate to fill the role and encouraged three white captains to apply -- including current chief Zill. However, Roberts and another Black captain who ended up retiring reportedly received no such encouragement by Brown or any other county commissioner.
The suit said Gaston County initially narrowed the original pool of chief applicants to six people. One applicant was an internal candidate the suit claims was a fully qualified female candidate from within GCPD who served as assistant chief since 2018, while two others were external candidates who were Black and had experience as police chiefs. The other three candidates were all internal white male candidates, only one of which the suit claims was fully qualified to meet a requirement of a minimum of five years of command staff-level experience. Zill was one of the two internal white candidates who reportedly did not meet the experience requirement, something the suit claims was confirmed by an internal human resources communication. He was made police chief in March 2023.
An assistant chief opened up again later in 2023. The suit claims Zill promoted a white male sergeant to captain shortly after being made chief in March 2023, only to promote the captain to assistant chief just five months later. Further, the position was reportedly not published with eligibility requirements as required by North Carolina law. At the time of the white captain's promotion, Capt. Roberts had reportedly been at the top of an eligibility list for promotion to the assistant chief role for several years and had more experience than his white colleague. The suit notes Capt. Bloom also had more experience than the colleague who was granted the assistant chief role.
The lawsuit also claims an assistant chief role was filled again in November 2023 by another white male officer picked by Zill and that the county did not properly post the position's vacancy. That officer had also announced he had planned to retire prior to being picked for the assistant chief role.
Roberts claimed in the suit that Zill falsely claimed Roberts was on a performance improvement plan and had treated him with hostility, including excluding him from a key meeting with other captains. Roberts also claims his complaints weren't taken seriously by the county's human resources team, eventually working with the U.S. Equal Opportunity Employment Commission (EEOC) to take action in July 2024.
The suit goes on to claim Roberts and Bloom were passed over for an assistant chief role a third time after the role was posted in August 2024. Gaston County reportedly changed the requirements again, this time saying any sworn employee was not qualified for the role if they faced sustained disciplinary action in the last two years. This new requirement would make Roberts ineligible because of the supposed performance improvement plan.
However, both Roberts and Bloom still applied. Neither were reportedly interviewed for the role by Chief Zill. The suit instead claims they were rejected and that a white applicant was selected in September 2024. That applicant, the suit claims, had only been promoted to captain in February 2024 and held the rank for less than a year. In September, Zill and the county told Roberts he would be transferred from his position in the communications division to a patrol position. It didn't affect his rank or hourly pay, but the suit says the new position made him less visible and was less prestigious, seeing him moved from running a division with oversight of a $5 million-plus budget to only managing just 12 police officers. A white captain, just promoted in 2023, was reportedly moved into Roberts' role.
Bloom also claims he was given lower evaluation scores than a white counterpart who was only made captain after he was, despite being told by his superior that he "did not give high scores to new captains". Bloom claims he has had his leadership undermined by that superior several times. Bloom has also filed a complaint with the EEOC. As of the filing of the suit, the EEOC hasn't finished its investigatory process with Bloom's case.
Bloom and Roberts are demanding a jury trial. If a ruling is found in their favor, they want the following from the court:
- A permanent injunction against Zill, Brown, and the county from engaging in unlawful employment practices
- An order against the defendants to provide Bloom and Roberts with equitable relief and monetary damages for present and future lost wages and benefits
- An order against the defendants to pay punitive damages
- For the defendants to pay for Bloom and Roberts' reasonable costs and attorney's fees
- For the court to grant any other relief deemed necessary
WCNC Charlotte reached out to GCPD multiple times this week for comment, offering a final deadline of 5 p.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 23, before this article would be published. As of publication, GCPD has not responded to our requests. WCNC Charlotte also asked Commissioner Brown for comment. Brown has also not responded as of publication. This article will be updated with responses should they be provided.