MIAMI — A Black 18-year police veteran alleges she was victimized by Miami Police Chief Manuel Morales when he made racist criticisms of her hair, a federal lawsuit reads. When she refused to conform to his supposed biased views, Morales is accused of derailing her promising career by using his power to target and undermine her.

Weslyne Lewis Francois and her attorney, Michael Pizzi, filed the lawsuit against the City of Miami in mid-October, seeking at least $1 million in damages and a jury trial for being retaliated against and discriminated based on her race, ethnicity and gender. She also filed a complaint with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

“...I’ve worked really hard, like many others before me, in order to obtain the position of police executive, and unfortunately...that was taken away from me due to the continued abuse of power and authority by [Morales] and his designee,” Lewis Francois, 40, told the Miami Herald. “It’s become very evident that all staff members are not held to the same standards.”

The Herald reached out to the City of Miami, and a spokesperson denied all the allegations raised by Lewis Francios.

“The City looks forward to its day in Court,” a City of Miami spokesperson said.

Promotion leads to racist remark

Lewis Francois, a Haitian-Bahamian American, has spent more than 18 years serving the Miami Police Department. Starting as a civilian in a temporary role after serving in the U.S. Army, she rose to the ranks of police commander in 2020.

Just a month after her latest in a series of promotions, she was confronted by Morales, the lawsuit read. At the time, he was the assistant chief of police operations — an authority figure to her.

After seeing a social media post, he criticized her hairstyle and claimed that she needed to “tone down” her look as residents of Coconut Grove would not accept her. She told him her look did not violate departmental policy and would not affect her job performance. She also noted he was violating anti-discrimination laws with his comment.

Morales pushed harder.

“Chief Morales was relentless on how my look was not acceptable,” the EEOC complaint read.

Lewis Francois and her attorney refused to provide a photo of the hairstyle, but she made the following social media posts around the same time.

Lewis Francois said Morales went as far as to compare her to another Black woman commander and deliberately call her by the other woman’s name in a derogatory manner. He pressed to know why she could not wear her hair in the “short, sleek, straight cut” her colleague had. She replied, saying she could only be herself.

“The clear implication of his comment was that her hairstyle was somehow too Black or ethnic, and he wanted her hair to look more European like other hair he preferred,” Pizzi said. “Unfortunately, that’s a very racist thing to say.”

This tense interaction ignited an alleged campaign of retaliation spearheaded by Morales and the creation of a hostile work environment against Lewis Francois that would last 290 days and end with a severe demotion and public embarrassment, she alleged.

A tarnished career

When Morales was promoted to interim police chief in late 2021, Lewis Francois said they maintained a professional relationship. However, that did not last as Morales gained more department control through his position.

A few days before going on a scheduled vacation, Morales sprung a Veteran’s Day event on Lewis Francois that would require her. She reminded him she’d be out of town, but she had people in place to take care of it.

Lewis Francois said in the lawsuit that what unfolded next was used as the first step in dismantling her career.

While on vacation, she was called by a subordinate of Morales to prepare an honor guard detail for the Veterans Day event that would take place in less than 24 hours. She emphasized that there would not be enough time to make it happen and was told, “Morales doesn’t care, make it happen.”

She found an alternative on her scheduled off-day, but even that was met with a text that read “Chief was not happy” by Morales’ subordinate. Morales would soon after revoke her role in honor guard duties and request a meeting for a later date.

A few days later, while attending an awards ceremony at the Miami Police College auditorium, Morales yelled at Lewis Francois across the packed room after the event concluded.

“Weslyne, meet me in my office, I got time for you now.”

In her lawsuit, she said she was publicly humiliated.

In that meeting, she said she was verbally harassed by Morales for about an hour. He allegedly used several tactics to discredit her without offering any evidence or justification.

Targeting by proxy?

A month later, she was told by high-ranking subordinates of Morales that she would receive an official reprimand for another incident, which was not described in the lawsuit, that she could not attend to because of an injury she had already reported to the department.

She was told directly by Assistant Chief Thomas Carroll, according to the lawsuit, “Wes, we know what this is about, let’s just make this go away. You know he [Morales] is not going to stop!”

Later on, while she was again approved not to be on duty, a staff change saw her now be given two new supervisors due to an alleged mismanaging of her resources. She believed Morales and the department took advantage of her time off to effect the change.

Not only did she take offense to the claim but also that one of her supervisors was Major Um Set Ramos, who was once heard on video using the “n-word” when referring to a Black man struck by a truck, as reported by the Miami New Times.

In the months that followed, Lewis Francois said she received a 90-day performance improvement plan and a performance evaluation investigation based on claims that had no documentation or proof, the lawsuit read.

Her career trajectory was documented in public records and social media posts. The police department did not immediately fulfill a request for her personnel record.

As part of those processes, she said she believes Major Ramos purposefully sought negative feedback from the community on Morales’ orders.

While his investigation found no evidence to support her “[job] performance deficiencies,” she should still be monitored. Ramos went on to tell Lewis Francois that Morales would not relent and that she should see him to clear the air.

Lewis Francois would see another 90-day performance improvement plan, another reprimand for an incident the reporting party could not remember occurring and a “first of its kind” written evaluation by a non-licensed therapist, the lawsuit read. She said she believes the intent of the scrutiny and embarrassment was to convince her to meet with Morales.

In a slight reprieve, a City of Miami Civil Service Hearing did find the newest reprimand was not warranted, the lawsuit read.

After months of perceived targeting and harassment through unnecessary oversight and reprimands, Lewis Francois was demoted to lieutenant in late 2022.

“She endured a period of persecution lasting 290 days, during which no other staff members of the opposite sex or race experienced similar treatment,” the lawsuit read.

No action taken

In January 2023, after her demotion, Lewis Francois spoke with Miami City Manager Art Noriega to blow the whistle on Morales’ alleged abuse of power, retaliation, harassment, and excessive discipline, the lawsuit read.

Noriega said he’d look into her concerns and return with his findings. To date, he has not given a response to Lewis Francois or confirmed an investigation took place, the lawsuit read.

In a deposition by her lawyer more than a year later, Morales revealed he does not know what the city manager has done and that he himself has done nothing regarding an investigation.

“Unfortunately, things will never get better in the City of Miami as long as people like Miss Lewis Francois are retaliated against, ostracized, demoted and humiliated because they oppose racism and because they are proud of themselves,” Pizzi said.

©2024 Miami Herald. Visit at miamiherald.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.