Ex-N.J. cops claim age, race discrimination in lawsuit

Three former Camden City officers are suing.

CAMDEN -- Three former Camden City police officers are suing the Camden County Police Department (CCPD) over allegations of age and race discrimination.

In this May 2013 file photo, former Camden City police officers and supporters protest the Camden County Police Department Metro Division before the installation of the new chief at Malandra Hall. (Lori M. Nichols | For NJ.com)file photo 

In the lawsuit filed late last month in U.S. District Court, ex-officers Tyrone McEady, Robert Babnew, and Steven L. Fritz claim they've been harmed by the CCPD's failure to hire them and cite the Civil Rights Act of 1964 in their suit.

"Camden County Police Department hired a slew of younger, Caucasian, police officers while overlooking [McEady, Babnew and Fritz], all of whom are in a protected class with respect to age, and one of whom is in the additional protected class with respect to race," the suit reads.

Under U.S. federal anti-discrimination law, a "protected class" encompasses someone's age, race, sex, national origin, citizenship and more.

McEady, 52, of Pine Hill, who is black; Babnew, 45, of Cherry Hill, and Fritz, 48, of Camden, whose races aren't noted in the suit, all applied for employment with the CCPD prior to the 2013 switch from a city force to the county one.

All 153 CCPD applicants eventually hired were younger and less qualified than McEady, Babnew and Fritz, they claim in their lawsuit, which adds that the "vast majority" of them "still needed to attend the police academy and did not have any certified police experience."

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According to previous reports, McEady, Babnew and Fritz joined 10 other ex-city officers in a suit filed late last year in Camden County Superior Court making many of the same allegations. Philadelphia-based attorney James A. Bell filed both suits. He did not return a request for comment Tuesday.

In response to the filing, Camden County spokesman Dan Keashen said Tuesday that officials are "fully confident" that the filing will be dismissed in federal court, as well.

"This is nothing more than a veiled attempt by a number of former disgruntled employees of the city to try to litigate baseless claims that have already been dismissed in several other venues," Keashen said.

"This issue was already thrown out of Superior Court two years ago and then in the Appellate Division after that, furthermore, this claim was filed in front of the Public Employee Relations Commission and dismissed forthright. This frivolous lawsuit is a waste of taxpayer money and more fiction being peddled by a group trying to take a fourth bite at the apple by venue jumping," he continued.

The lawsuit filed on Feb. 26 seeks front pay, benefits and compensation for damages.

"The purported non-discriminatory reason for not hiring [McEady, Babnew and Fritz]..., that the Camden County Police Department had received an 'overwhelming response from qualified individuals interested in being a part of this exciting endeavor,' was false," the suit claims.

"To the contrary," the suit continues, the "relevant candidates chosen over [McEady, Babnew and Fritz] had neither training, nor experience, as police officers."