Kevin Bethel
PHILADELPHIA – Its first DEI officer says problems in the Philadelphia Police Department are so bad that she was just another victim of discrimination there.
Leslie Marant sued the City on Oct. 13 in federal court, three years after she was appointed as the police department’s chief Diversity, Equality and Inclusion officer.
“Rather than support her efforts, the Department subjected her to the very sex discrimination she was hired to dismantle,” says her complaint, filed by Lane Schiff of Console Mattiacci Law.
Marant is a lawyer and former chief counsel to the state Human Relations Commission who was hired by then-PPD commissioner Danielle Outlaw, the first female to hold that post. Marant was brought on to address a history of alleged discrimination, retaliation and inappropriate sexual behavior that has cost the City millions of dollars in litigation.
Marant says she was excluded from meetings, denied executive benefits, criticized and undermined until she was fired on Jan. 2, 2024 – two months after Outlaw’s resignation.
“Throughout her tenure, Plaintiff witnessed firsthand the pervasive sexual discrimination that permeated the department,” the lawsuit says.
“During a sexual harassment training session, Plaintiff observed male commanders comment that it is only harassment if you look like Forrest Gump, but if you are cute then it is a date.”
Her attempts to address male behavior were rebuffed, she says, like being stopped from responding to a complaint of sexual harassment by an incoming member of PPD’s executive team.
She complained that she was criticized and challenge more because she was a Black woman, the suit says. She was fired the day Kevin Bethel became the new commissioner as part of a “restructuring of the incoming administration.”
“Plaintiff was the only employee terminated on Jan. 2, 2024, as part of this restructuring,” the suit says. “Defendant’s stated reason for terminating Plaintiff is a pretext for discrimination and retaliation.”
Her complaint with the city Commission on Human Relations says other employees called her a racist and that every member of the executive team was given a Christmas cake in 2023 except her.
Marant seeks back and front pay, as well as damages for pain and suffering, mental anguish and loss of life’s pleasures. She also seeks punitive damages.
