Officer claims DePaul ignored racist threats and a gun at work

The complaint describes an incident in August 2025. After he complained to HR about his manager, the officer alleges he was singled out over a shift report – made to clock back in and work overtime to finish it, while white colleagues were routinely allowed to wrap up reports the next day. HR, the filing states, told him there was no evidence of retaliation or a hostile work environment.

The complaint also centers on a coworker who, the filing alleges, repeatedly made threatening and racially offensive comments. According to the complaint, the coworker said he wanted “race wars” to begin and made further racist remarks about Black people and public benefits. The filing further alleges the same coworker brought a firearm to work despite a policy banning weapons, leaving the officer afraid for his safety. He says he reported the coworker to HR in late November 2025 and heard nothing back. Weeks later, the complaint states, another officer filed an anonymous complaint about the same person.

After he raised concerns, the officer alleges, the university retaliated by writing him up for turning down an overtime shift that, he says, was never mandatory. The write-up was later dismissed, according to the complaint. He resigned on December 14, 2025.

For HR leaders, the allegations read less as a courtroom story than as a checklist of what can go wrong in complaint handling. The filing describes an employee who says he escalated concerns repeatedly over many months – and a response that, as he tells it, closed the file rather than investigated it. It also raises a workplace-safety question that HR functions increasingly own, with the complaint alleging a weapon was brought on-site against policy amid concerns that went unaddressed. Whatever the facts turn out to be, the case is a reminder that how a complaint is received, documented, and followed up can matter as much as the underlying conduct.

The former officer is seeking back pay, front pay, lost benefits, and compensatory and punitive damages, along with attorneys’ fees. He has demanded a jury trial.