Former police officer accuses Michigan State Police of sexual discrimination and retaliation
A former police officer has filed a lawsuit against the Michigan State Police, claiming officers denied her career opportunities because of her gender, refused to investigate her allegations of physical and sexual assault, and filed unfounded criminal charges against her.
The lawsuit, filed Thursday in Eaton County’s 56th District Court, also accuses MSP officials of allowing a hostile work environment to exist.
Megan Valerie Moryc, the former police officer who made the allegations, is demanding a jury trial and more than $25,000 in damages, plus legal costs, including interest, and attorney and witness fees.
In her complaint, Moryc, who joined the state police in 2016 and worked in Lakeview, said she was denied a promotion three times even though she had selected better candidates for the promotion than others.
According to the lawsuit, Moryc was verbally attacked by male supervisors, one of whom allegedly told her “women shouldn’t be in the police force.” She was excluded from meetings and prevented from performing her duties because of her gender, the lawsuit says. Moryc claimed her reports of discrimination were belittled and ignored.
The lawsuit alleges that state police brought several baseless charges against her. Other officers had accused her of hitting them in the genitals in 2020 during “an incident that can only be described as a scuffle”; she later faced a 30-day jail sentence after pleading guilty to assault, the lawsuit says.
After Moryc reported sexual discrimination allegations by MSP to the Labor Relations Department, she was fired during a meeting in August 2021, the lawsuit says.
Lori Dougovito, a spokeswoman for the Michigan State Police, said Monday that Moryc’s lawsuit had not yet been served on the department.
According to the lawsuit, Moryc claims she was physically and sexually assaulted on several occasions by her boyfriend, another police officer.
The lawsuit alleged that Moryc reported the domestic violence incidents to MSP in 2023, but officers failed to adequately treat her as a victim, claimed the allegations were unfounded, and failed to inform Moryc of the reasons for their decision.
During that time, according to the complaint, the MSP sought to prosecute Moryc for alleged perjury in her boyfriend’s divorce proceedings years earlier.
The lawsuit states that Moryc filed a complaint against MSP officers for retaliating against her domestic violence allegations by seeking perjury charges. The request for an arrest warrant was denied by a prosecutor, the lawsuit states.
MSP officials also denied Moryc access to funds from her 401k retirement plan by claiming she was still an employee even though she had been terminated several years ago, her lawyers wrote in the complaint.
The complaint alleges that the MSP’s actions violated Moryc’s civil rights under the Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act, which requires equal treatment and protection from discrimination in the workplace, according to a statement released Monday by her attorney.
“We want to send a clear message to the Michigan State Police Administration that their pattern of sexual discrimination against women within their own department will not be tolerated,” said Patrick William O’Keefe, Moryc’s attorney.
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