FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Retired NYPD Lieutenant Quathisha Epps to File Civil Rights Lawsuit Against City of New York and NYPD Leadership Over Retaliatory Pension Clawback and Wage Theft—Calls for Immediate Rescission, Oversight, and Criminal Investigation

NEW YORK, NY — May 13, 2025 — Today, civil rights attorney Eric Sanders, Esq., of The Sanders Firm, P.C., announced that retired NYPD Lieutenant Quathisha Epps will initiate litigation in New York State Supreme Court against the City of New York, the NYPD, and Police Commissioner Jessica S. Tisch, following the Department’s unlawful and retaliatory clawback of her overtime wages and pensionable earnings. This latest escalation of retaliation, executed on May 12, 2025, resulted in an immediate pension reduction of more than $60,000 annually, reflecting an actuarially projected direct loss of at least $1.5 million over her 25-year retirement.

In addition to seeking immediate rescission of the clawback and restoration of her pensionable earnings, Ms. Epps will assert claims for unpaid wages related to off-hours, overnight postings, vacation assignments, and other periods she was forced to work without proper documentation or compensation. These claims, Sanders emphasized, will significantly expand the Department’s financial and legal exposure for violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act, the New York Labor Law, Title VII, and the New York State and City Human Rights Laws.

Retaliation Masquerading as Oversight: A Pattern of Abuse Centered on Maddrey’s Misconduct

According to Sanders, this clawback is not an isolated administrative decision but the culmination of a years-long campaign of gender- and race-based retaliation, financial manipulation, and public humiliation, designed to erase Ms. Epps as a credible whistleblower against the Department’s most senior officials. This pattern, Sanders argued, was orchestrated under the direction of Police Commissioner Jessica S. Tisch, who personally authorized the weaponization of wage and pension systems to retaliate against Ms. Epps for engaging in protected activity, including reporting that former Chief of Department Jeffrey B. Maddrey sexually assaulted her inside NYPD Headquarters and the Police Academy between July 2023 and October 2024.

Despite the severity of these allegations, Maddrey publicly dismissed his conduct as an “office fling”—a statement Sanders characterizes as “an explicit admission of unlawful quid pro quo harassment under federal, state, and local civil rights law.” Under longstanding U.S. Supreme Court precedent—including Burlington Industries, Inc. v. Ellerth and Faragher v. City of Boca Raton—employers are strictly liable when supervisors misuse their authority to extract sexual favors in exchange for employment benefits. In this case, Sanders argued that any misuse of overtime by Maddrey is the city’s legal liability, not Ms. Epps’s.

Systemic Abuse of Payroll and Retaliatory Weaponization Against Ms. Epps

In addition to the unlawful clawback of her pensionable earnings, Ms. Epps is also preparing to assert expanded legal claims for unpaid wages covering periods when she was required to work off-hours, during vacation time, and overnight postings at NYPD Headquarters. These claims, Sanders confirms, are currently being reconstructed from digital records, further illustrating the NYPD’s longstanding payroll dysfunction and abuse of authority. The Department’s failure to properly document or compensate Ms. Epps for this time is not an employee violation—it is a managerial failure that the Department is now weaponizing against her in retaliation for her protected disclosures.

Sanders underscores that the Department’s claim that Ms. Epps’s overtime was “tainted” by alleged quid pro quo harassment is a factual distortion and a legally unsupportable affront to basic labor and civil rights law. Under the Fair Labor Standards Act, the New York Labor Law, and Title VII, any managerial abuse of authority—including the quid pro quo harassment inflicted by Maddrey—does not negate the employer’s obligation to pay wages. Instead, it compounds liability. The employer cannot erase its misconduct by retroactively punishing the victim. As Sanders put it, “The Department’s argument is not only absurd—it is a grotesque distortion of wage protections and an assault on the rights of sexual assault survivors. Any benefit the NYPD received from Ms. Epps’s labor—no matter the conditions—remains their legal responsibility. The attempt to now criminalize her work is not oversight—it is retaliation designed to punish the victim while absolving the predator.”

Sanders warned that these continuing claims for unpaid wages will only deepen the Department’s financial and legal exposure. They will compound the liability arising from the retaliatory clawback and expose the City to additional wage theft, civil rights, and due process violations.

A Pattern of Selective Enforcement and Institutional Betrayal

Sanders’s letter further lays out how the Department’s retaliatory actions against Ms. Epps starkly contrast with its historical tolerance of incomplete, reconstructed, and retroactively approved overtime slips—a practice explicitly admitted under oath by Senior Payroll Supervisor Kenya Coger to have been routine and tolerated for over fourteen years, benefiting thousands of officers, including the Department’s top 400 overtime earners. Yet, Ms. Epps remains the only officer to have been subjected to this extraordinary and punitive clawback, underscoring the Department’s retaliatory and discriminatory targeting of a Black woman whistleblower.

Sanders notes that the department’s records reveal that in Fiscal Year 2024 alone, the NYPD overspent its uniformed overtime budget by 93%, ballooning from $1.46 billion in FY 2013 to $2.22 billion. Despite this financial mismanagement, no other officer, let alone one of the Department’s many top overtime earners, has ever faced a clawback. Only Ms. Epps was targeted, and only after she exposed Maddrey’s abuse and the Department’s complicity.

The NYPD’s Conduct Meets the Muldrow Standard for Retaliation and Constitutes Criminal Exposure

Sanders emphasized that the Department’s conduct constitutes textbook unlawful retaliation under the U.S. Supreme Court’s April 2024 decision in Muldrow v. City of St. Louis, Missouri, 601 U.S. 338 (2024). Under Muldrow, any employment action that imposes “some harm”—whether economic, reputational, or professional—is sufficient to trigger retaliation protections under Title VII. The NYPD’s clawback of Ms. Epps’s pension and wages, public smearing of her integrity, and manipulation of payroll and pension systems inflict such harm beyond dispute.

“The NYPD’s conduct meets the Muldrow standard squarely,” Sanders stated. “This is not only retaliation in the classic sense—it is retaliation wrapped in fiscal manipulation, bureaucratic deceit, and racial and gender oppression. It is not only unlawful; it is glaringly obvious.”

Sanders further demanded that the Department’s conduct be immediately referred to the New York State Attorney General and the New York State Department of Labor for criminal investigation and prosecution under NYLL § 198-a and applicable anti-fraud, public corruption, and official misconduct statutes. By attempting to launder Maddrey’s admitted misuse of overtime through retaliatory clawbacks targeting Ms. Epps, the Department is not only obstructing justice but defrauding taxpayers and abusing public funds for personal and institutional gain.

“For any authority to suggest Ms. Epps is criminally liable is legally asinine,” Sanders declared. “Maddrey, Tisch, and the NYPD leadership misused public funds, manipulated overtime systems, and exploited Ms. Epps’s labor for their benefit. The City cannot now criminalize the victim to shield the perpetrators.”

Demand for Immediate Rescission, Accountability, and Public Disclosure

In light of these gross abuses, Sanders demanded the immediate rescission of the May 12, 2025, clawback, the complete restoration of Ms. Epps’s pensionable earnings and unpaid wages, and written assurances that no further retaliatory actions will be taken against her. All records, emails, and data associated with these retaliatory acts must be fully preserved.

Sanders placed the City on notice that if it fails to comply within ten business days, his firm will initiate civil rights litigation in New York State Supreme Court, asserting claims for quid pro quo harassment, hostile work environment, retaliation, constructive discharge, wage theft, due process violations, and retaliatory abuse of authority.

Sanders also vowed to pursue full public disclosure to the City Council, the media, and oversight agencies, ensuring that the Department’s systemic misconduct, institutional betrayal of whistleblowers, and misuse of taxpayer funds are placed squarely before the public eye.

“This is not a payroll discrepancy,” Sanders concluded. “It is the latest, most flagrant act of institutional betrayal by the NYPD’s leadership against a Black woman whistleblower. The law does not tolerate it. Neither will we.”

About The Sanders Firm, P.C.

Fighting for Justice and Reform to Promote Equal Opportunity

Led by Eric Sanders, Esq., The Sanders Firm, P.C. has a proven track record in civil rights litigation, representing clients in complex cases involving law enforcement misconduct and employment discrimination. Mr. Sanders, a former police officer, leverages deep insight into systemic issues facing law enforcement agencies. The firm has successfully recovered millions in damages and remains committed to promoting fairness, integrity, and meaningful reform within public institutions.

Contact: Eric Sanders, Esq.
President and Owner, The Sanders Firm, P.C.
30 Wall Street, 8th Floor
New York, NY 10005
Phone: (212) 652-2782

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Read the Clawback Response