Lesbian Police Officer Awarded $750,000 in Lawsuit Settlement
Lt. Constance Crea agreed to drop a sexual harassment lawsuit she filed alleging mistreatment on the job in exchange for $750,000.
A lesbian police officer will receive $750,000 as part of an agreement to settle a lawsuit she filed in 2022 alleging that she was sexually harassed, discriminated against, and subjected to a hostile work environment.
Constance Crea, who was hired as a police officer for the Township of Piscataway, New Jersey, in 1996, alleged that former Police Chief Thomas Mosier and other officers made repeated sexist and homophobic remarks toward her and other female colleagues.
In her lawsuit, Crea, who was promoted to lieutenant in 2019, claimed Mosier had “engaged in a pattern and practice of behavior of sexual harassment, discrimination, hostile work environment, preferential treatment and failing to comply with his own policies.” In 2011, when she was promoted to sergeant, Mosier was her direct supervisor and allegedly told her that he didn’t want to see her promoted.
Crea contended that the township failed to ensure that the work environment at the police department was “free from sexual orientation discrimination, sexual discrimination and harassment.”
Crea also claimed that Mosier and other officers made repeated sexist and homophobic remarks, which were primarily directed at her and her female colleagues. However, other officers were also targets of his derision.
For example, Crea claimed that, from 2016 to December 2019, before becoming chief, Mosier would grab his genitals and moan in a sexually gratifying way daily, usually when a female employee caught his line of sight.
In 2016, another lesbian police officer told Crea that Mosier had called her a “dumb dyke.”
Until his ascension to chief, Mosier reportedly told Crea on a weekly basis that she was “too pretty” for certain job assignments he doled out to male police officers.
In December 2019, when the township hired a female police officer, Mosier allegedly disparaged her physical appearance and said, “We don’t have to worry about sexual harassment lawsuit with her.”
From 2016 to June 2020, Mosier allegedly told Crea repeatedly, “You have lesbian money,” a reference to the fact that she and her wife do not have any children.
During that same period, he would routinely ask her, “Whose [sic] mowing the grass?” a reference to whether Crea had sex with her wife in a dominant or top position.
Crea said the repeated mistreatment at the hands of Mosier and others caused her undue stress and embarrassment and created a hostile work environment. But she declined to file a subsequent complaint — despite feeling “humiliated, belittled, and offended” each time she was denigrated — because a previous harassment complaint she filed against Mosier led him to “ramp up” his mistreatment of her.
Mosier ultimately retired in 2022.
As part of the settlement, Crea has agreed to “irrevocably retire” and to never seek employment with the township again.
In exchange for dropping the lawsuit, she has agreed to accept the $750,000 payment and will receive a letter from the Township of Piscataway stating that she retired from the department in good standing.
The settlement dictates that Crea agrees not to voluntarily assist with any legal actions or future lawsuits filed against the department or the township. However, she may testify truthfully about what happened to her if subpoenaed by another plaintiff’s lawyers.
According to My Central Jersey, Crea’s lawsuit was one of six complaints lodged by department staff against the now-retired police chief. Three of those lawsuits allege racial discrimination.
Another lawsuit, which has since been dismissed, claimed an officer was a victim of age and sex discrimination because he was passed over for a promotion by Mosier for a younger woman.
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