LANSING — A federal judge has rejected claims from two high-ranking Michigan State Police officials that they were subjected to reverse discrimination when one was fired and the other demoted over their handling of a personnel matter.
In March 2020, Insp. R. Michael Hahn was fired and Capt. Michael Caldwell was demoted to inspector after the MSP determined they improperly interfered in the handling of a transfer request in Michigan's northern Lower Peninsula.
Both claimed that was only a pretext and they were really singled out for discipline because they spoke out against the agency's diversity initiatives, which they see as discriminatory, unlawful and unfair to white males such as themselves.
Hahn and Caldwell, who at the time of the discipline each had more than 30 years with the state agency, sued the MSP and its director, Col. Joseph Gasper, in federal court in Grand Rapids, alleging discrimination and retaliation.
On Monday, Chief U.S. District Judge Robert Jonker granted summary judgment to the defendants and dismissed the case, saying there was "scant evidence" that Gasper had any involvement in their discipline and they had not shown they were subjected to reverse discrimination based on their gender or race, or that they were retaliated against.
Hahn and Caldwell "plainly disagree as a policy matter with the priorities of the Michigan State Police," Jonker wrote in a 35-page opinion. "And at bottom, this is all they have shown."
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