Five peace officers who work at the City University of New York filed a class-action lawsuit late last month in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. The lawsuit alleges that peace officers who are people of color earn tens of thousands of dollars less than SUNY police officers despite their job duties being virtually identical. In fact, SUNY officers were called peace officers before the 2000s, when their title was changed, while their duties remained the same. In 2022, 89% of CUNY peace officers were people of color, while at SUNY, 89% are white. The actual salary numbers are quite shocking. CUNY peace officers started at $36,614, while starting salaries for SUNY police officers were $82,928.
Read the full story by Crystal Lewis for The Chief-Leader, published February 6, 2024, here: https://thechiefleader.com/stories/cuny-peace-officers-claim-racial-pay-gap-sue-state,51886
