Belleville promotes police officer who filed a sex discrimination lawsuit against the city
A female Belleville police sergeant who filed a sex discrimination lawsuit in 2020 alleging she was denied advancement because of her gender was promoted Monday, establishing her as the city’s first female police lieutenant.
Kimberly Fulkerson received the promotion from sergeant to lieutenant in a unanimous vote by the Belleville City Council. The promotion took effect at 12:01 a.m. Tuesday.
Fulkerson, who joined the police force in 1994, was the city’s first female police sergeant when she was appointed to that position in 2007.
The lawsuit ended last year when a federal judge issued a summary judgment in favor of the city’s motion, which denied there was gender discrimination against Fulkerson.
Police Chief Matt Eiskant, who praised Fulkerson for her experience as a police officer and detective, said the lawsuit wouldn’t affect Fulkerson’s ability to serve as lieutenant.
Her first assignment as lieutenant will be as the day shift commander of the patrol officers.
“She has a really good working relationship with the officers,” Eiskant said in an interview after the council voted to approve Fulkerson’s promotion. “They respect her as a leader and I think they’ll follow her and do what’s best for the citizens.”
Mayor Patty Gregory agreed with Eiskant that the lawsuit would not affect Fulkerson’s work.
“I believe she’s a good police officer,” Gregory said.
When asked about the barrier Fulkerson broke as the city’s first female police lieutenant, Gregory said it was an example of the “girl power” at City Hall. It was Gregory who also made city history when she was elected the city’s first female mayor in 2021.
Lawsuit allegations
Fulkerson’s lawsuit was filed in 2020 against the city, former Police Chief Bill Clay and the city’s Board of Fire and Police Commissioners.
Eiskant, who was named police chief last year when Clay was became director of human resources for the city, said he could not comment on the litigation.
U.S. District Judge Staci M. Yandle approved the city’s motion for summary judgment on Aug. 25.
Fulkerson’s amended complaint in 2021 alleged the defendants “continually refused to promote (Fulkerson) in rank even though she was qualified, because of her gender.
“To do so, Defendants created discriminatory qualification procedures preventing female officers from qualifying and ranking high enough on the eligibility list for promotions to advance their careers. In contrast, Defendants actively created opportunities for promotion and bent policy and procedure to promote lesser-qualified male officers instead,” the complaint alleged.
Yandle, however, wrote that she did not see evidence of gender discrimination.
“While she contends that her performance was excellent and that Defendants have ‘used their unfettered discretion to go out of their way to not promote her to the rank of Lieutenant or Master Sergeant,’ significantly, there is no evidence that any candidate who scored lower than her was promoted to these positions or that any officer promoted to Master Sergeant during the relevant time period was otherwise treated more favorably,” Yandle wrote.
Police promotions
Along with Fulkerson, three other police officers also were promoted by the council on Monday night:
Master Sgt. Shane Brown was promoted to lieutenant effective July 27. He will lead the patrol officers on the night shift.
Detective Clayton Green was promoted to sergeant effective at 12:01 a.m. Tuesday.
Detective Aaron Spargur was promoted to sergeant effective at 12:01 a.m. Tuesday.
Fulkerson, Brown and Spargur attended the council meeting and Green was unable to attend.
