A Black longtime Los Angeles County sheriff’s lieutenant who is suing his employer, alleging he has repeatedly been denied a promotion to captain because of his race, is seeking information on the backgrounds and qualifications of those candidates promoted ahead of him.
Lt. Michael A. White’s Los Angeles Superior Court lawsuit alleges age and race discrimination as well as retaliation.
“The racial and age glass ceiling that blocks the promotability of plaintiff and other African American deputies must be broken now,” the suit filed in November 2024 states. “Plaintiff isn’t getting any whiter and he isn’t getting any younger.”
White, who was 61 years old when he filed his suit, was hired in 1987. He was promoted to sergeant in 2007 and to lieutenant four years later, but he has been denied an elevation to captain eight times over a dozen or so years, the suit states.
On Wednesday, White’s attorneys filed court papers with Judge Jon R. Takasugi in advance of a Feb. 5 hearing stating that during discovery they learned that 18 candidates were promoted ahead of the plaintiff.
“In order to prove at trial that plaintiff was more qualified than the numerous applicants who were promoted instead of plaintiff, plaintiff must put on evidence of their qualifications in order to refute the position that the county has taken (that the other candidates were more qualified or a better fit),” White’s lawyers write in their pleadings.
White is not interested in personal details about the other contestants, but just their length of service, tenure in each rank, their experience during service, their commendations and awards and any disciplinary actions taken against them, according to White’s attorneys’ court papers.
“The persons promoted ahead of Michael A. White have been less qualified and not African American,” the White attorneys state in their court papers while also alleging that the “clear explanation for this unfair result is race and age discrimination.”
According to White’s lawsuit, he was a candidate for captain in 2016 and was made an acting captain at the Lomita Station, but a non-Black candidate was given the open captain position. The plaintiff was similarly passed over for a captain promotion at three stations in 2019 and all of those slots also were given to competitors who are not Black, the complaint further states.
Numerous other deputies sworn with less tenure than White have been promoted or appointed to captain, commander, chief, assistant sheriff and undersheriff, according to the suit.
The LASD previously issued a statement regarding the suit, saying the department takes any allegations of discrimination “with the utmost seriousness” and that the LASD enforces strict policies and procedures regarding discrimination and does not tolerate any violations.
Undersheriff April Tardy is only the second Black person to hold her position in the department’s history.