VINDICATION

ESSEX COUNTY — A veteran State Police trooper who said he was retaliated against after complaining the division failed to appropriately investigate claims such as racial discrimination and sexual harassment was awarded $1.06 million Wednesday by an Essex County jury.

Michael Reimer, a lawyer for retired Detective Sgt. 1st Class Brian Royster, said the jury found the State Police and Superintendent Col. Rick Fuentes violated the state Conscientious Employee Protection Act, intended to protect whistle-blowers from retribution for speaking out.

The jury awarded Royster $200,000 for emotional distress, $305,000 in lost pension and $55,000 in back pay, Reimer said. Royster was also awarded $500,000 because the State Police failed to accommodate his disability, as required under the federal Americans with Disabilities Act. Royster said he suffers from ulcerative colitis, a type of inflammatory bowel disease.

"I was vindicated by a jury of my peers and that’s what this was about," said Royster, who retired last year after 25 years on the force. He now works as an assistant professor in the criminal justice department at St. Peter’s University in Jersey City.

Reimer said Royster’s request for punitive damages was denied. A spokesman for the Attorney General’s Office, Paul Loriquet, said the civil verdict was under review and a decision on whether to appeal had not yet been made.

In the lawsuit, filed in 2005 in Superior Court in Essex County, Royster, 48, of Bloomfield, alleged cases pending with the Equal Employment Opportunity and Affirmative Action unit were stalled without reason and those troopers accused of misconduct were allowed to retire rather than be disciplined.

Royster, who was assigned to the unit from 2002 to 2004, said claims of discrimination that might result in civil lawsuits would not be investigated. He said the State Police and state Attorney General’s Office worried about creating a paper trail that might be used against them.

Royster, who is African American, also raised concerns with superiors that white troopers found guilty of offenses such as sexual harassment were disciplined less severely than black troopers, according to the lawsuit. The Attorney General’s Office discouraged him from reporting the disparate treatment, he alleged.

Claims of racial discrimination were nothing new at the time. The State Police were under federal oversight for racial profiling from 1999 to 2009. The division was previously under watch by the federal government from 1975 to 1992 for discriminatory hiring practices.

In December 2003, Royster met with Fuentes and then-Capt. Gayle Cameron to complain about the stalled EEO/AA cases, discrimination and disparate treatment, as well a bowel condition that he had developed because of a hostile and stressful work environment.

Cameron said the allegations would be investigated, and both she and Fuentes’ office asked Royster to accept a position with the State Police academy, the lawsuit said. Royster declined the promotion and said he later learned it was offered because officials feared he might sue.

Royster alleged that despite Cameron’s assurances, his allegations of stalled cases and disparate treatment were never investigated. Cameron retired as a lieutenant colonel in 2008 and was appointed earlier this year as the Massachusetts gaming commissioner.

As a result of his complaints, Royster said, he was passed over for promotions and targeted with an unfounded internal complaint intended to hold up his career. The internal investigation concluded in 2005 because there was insufficient evidence, the lawsuit said.

Royster said that despite his health condition, he was transferred to a task force in Union County that did not provide him easy access to any facilities, which he said was done out of retaliation for his previous complaints.

Royster was eventually promoted in 2009.