Former IPD chief settles race discrimination claims against city, will return to work

ITHACA, N.Y. — Former Acting Police Chief John Joly is returning to the Ithaca Police Department (IPD) after settling his lawsuit against the city over allegations that he was passed over for the permanent chief position because he is a white man. Joly has spent the last 14 months on paid leave from IPD, and will additionally be paid $175,000 as part of the settlement.  

Joly will return to the department in the same position he held prior to his appointment as acting chief in 2021, Deputy Chief of Professional Standards.

For the full timeline of events surrounding Joly’s lawsuit, see the timeline at the bottom of this article.

Ithaca Police Department Chief Tom Kelly, who was ultimately picked as the permanent chief in 2023, confirmed last week that Joly had returned to work at the department after a lengthy leave of absence that preceded his lawsuit. Since April 2023, Joly has been on an indefinite leave from the department to “focus on maintaining my own personal wellness,” he told The Ithaca Voice at the time. 

The Ithaca Voice obtained the settlement agreement via a Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) request. The settlement, signed on June 10, calls for Joly to be paid $175,000, all of which will be paid by the city’s insurance carrier and “will be allocated to Mr. Joly’s emotional distress damages and physical manifestations thereof.” 

Ithaca Mayor Robert Cantelmo and City Manager Deborah Mohlenhoff both did not respond to requests for comment. 

Joly sued the city, several elected officials and the city’s director of human resources claiming racial discrimination, a hostile work environment and resulting damages and emotional distress from not being appointed to the permanent police chief position. The lawsuit came after a contentious police chief selection process in late 2022 that saw Joly’s short-lived appointment from acting chief to permanent chief first lambasted then hastily rescinded. 

In addition to the financial payment, Joly will also ostensibly recoup all the paid leave that he spent during his time away from the department, which started on April 25, 2023. 

Documents obtained by The Ithaca Voice show the city paid Joly $121,734.03 in gross pay between May 5, 2023 and April 4, 2024, while his leave was in effect. After deductions, Joly’s net pay during his leave was $43,648.22, according to a FOIL request detailing the weekly payments. 

The settlement statement states the city and other defendants “agree to take all necessary and reasonable steps to retroactively refund and credit any and all expenditures of accrued leave and/or taxes applied to Mr. Joly’s payroll for the period of his […] leave.” 

The settlement also releases the city and other defendants from any future lawsuit regarding any actions that took place up until the settlement was reached earlier this month. It states that the financial payment “should not in any way be construed as an admission of liability or wrongful conduct on the part of” the city, any of the defendants or Joly. The settlement also ends Joly’s claim with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission over the situation.

The saga began in December 2022, when then-Mayor Laura Lewis quietly chose Joly from a field of three finalists for the permanent police chief job. Joly, who was the acting chief of the department at the time, was picked over former Ithaca police lieutenant Scott Garin, who sources have told The Ithaca Voice was the near-unanimous choice of the selection committee. 

Common Council members immediately objected to Joly’s appointment, and before the decision could be put to an official vote Lewis rescinded the appointment. That led Joly to read a blistering statement at the following Common Council meeting, before taking  an extended paid leave of absence from the job and filing the aforementioned lawsuit. 

The City of Ithaca, former Mayor Laura Lewis, current and former Common Council members Jeffrey Barken, Jorge Defendini, Cynthia Brock, George McGonigal and Ducson Nguyen and former Human Resources Director Schelley Michell-Nunn were all named as defendants in the lawsuit. Joly accused Michell-Nunn of favoring Garin, the lone Black finalist, during the initial police chief search process in 2022. Kelly, a white man, was eventually hired after the second search process.

Joly rejoins the department with a somewhat different look than what he left behind last year. Without much resistance from Common Council, Kelly was hired from the Schenectady Police Department over one other finalist after the second police chief search, which concluded in November. Kelly has held the job since December.

Kelly said he did not have input in the terms of the settlement or the decision to bring Joly back, but thought his return would be beneficial. 

“I was not involved in the terms of settlement but I have had conversations with [Deputy Chief] Joly and appreciate the experience he has to offer,” Kelly said in a statement to The Ithaca Voice. “I am confident DC Joly will be an asset in enhancing community safety in Ithaca.” 

Joly was represented by attorney A.J. Bosman. Bosman also represented former Ithaca police officer Chris Miller, who sued the city in 2011 over similar 

 allegations of racial discrimination based on Miller’s identity as a white man. Though Miller’s claims were ultimately dismissed, his lawsuit over his dismissal from the department lasted nearly a decade and ended with Miller receiving XXXX from the City of Ithaca in a 2021 settlement. 

Requests for comment from Joly and Bosman were not returned.

Timeline of the John Joly saga

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The post Former IPD chief settles race discrimination claims against city, will return to work appeared first on The Ithaca Voice.