An Army National Guard member who accused Pima Community College of twice denying him promotion because of his military service will receive the promotion and $9,000 in back pay in an out-of-court settlement.
The U.S. Justice Department announced Thursday that it had reached a settlement with the college in the case of Sgt. 1st Class Timothy Stoner, a campus police officer since 2001.
As part of the settlement, Stoner is being promoted to police corporal, the job he said PCC wrongly denied him twice — first in 2010 near the end of a yearlong tour in Afghanistan and again in 2013.
With the promotion, Stoner’s pay will increase from $23.30 to $25 an hour.
The Justice Department’s civil-rights branch launched a lawsuit against PCC on Stoner’s behalf in November, saying college officials displayed “anti-military bias” against him that broke the law.
The Uniformed Services Employment and Re-employment Rights Act makes it illegal for employers to deny jobs or promotions to workers because of their military service obligations.
While the college agreed to give Stoner back pay and a promotion, it did not admit fault as part of the settlement.
“Pima Community College denies that it discriminated against (Stoner) on the basis of his military service,” the 11-page settlement agreement said.
The settlement also requires PCC to amend its personnel policies to highlight the federal law that protects employees who are military reservists.
The Justice Department’s lawsuit named two PCC officials — retired police Chief Stella Bay and David Bea, the school’s executive vice chancellor for finance and administration — as those responsible for denying Stoner’s promotions.
The suit claimed Bay repeatedly made negative comments about Stoner’s military service to Bea and other college employees.
In the 2013 case, “Chief Bay expressed her opinion that military service members are so used to taking orders that they cannot think for themselves and do not do well in stressful situations,” the lawsuit said.
In 2010, when Stoner applied for promotion as he was about to return from Afghanistan, “Chief Bay commented to another PCC police officer that Stoner was selfish to apply for promotion while volunteering for active military duty,” the lawsuit said.
PCC’s initial court filing in response to the lawsuit said Stoner wasn’t promoted because he failed a required examination and didn’t do well in interviews.
PCC Chancellor Lee Lambert couldn’t be reached for comment Thursday.
