Former diversity officer sues MSP, alleging abuse in hiring, promotions

• Sarah Krebs, former MSP superintendent and chief variety officer, retired in September and is now suing for harassment and retaliation.
• Krebs claims she was focused and demoted after talking out towards hiring and promotion practices she thought-about illegal.

LANSING – The previous chief variety officer for the Michigan State Police sued the company and Col. James Grady on Tuesday, Oct. 14, alleging that Grady decimated morale on the MSP by selling officers with out regard to their {qualifications} and “created and perpetuated a sample of office harassment” that the company pervaded and negatively influenced decision-making.

Insp. Sarah Krebs, who was named Chief Range, Fairness and Inclusion Officer on the MSP in December 2022, alleges within the lawsuit that Grady and different prime executives subjected her to retaliation and harassment when she opposed hiring insurance policies she seen as illegal, denied her entry to workers and different MSP sources, and moved her from her personal workplace to a cubicle and demanded her to return her state car.

Krebs, who retired in September after a 25-year MSP profession, additional alleges {that a} sexual harassment grievance filed on her behalf and with out her approval in late 2024 led to a retaliatory sexual harassment grievance towards her and the unwelcome resurfacing of a years-long incident of groping, all of which resulted in pointless psychological trauma and mock.

Shanon Banner, a spokeswoman for the MSP and Grady, didn’t instantly reply to an e-mail looking for touch upon Oct. 15.

Krebs’ 45-page grievance is the most recent in a collection of lawsuits, accusations, accusations and scandals which have rocked the MSP in recent times. Unions representing troopers and command officers have blamed Grady and his deputy director, Lt. Col. Aimee Brimacombe, for low morale, and a few Republican lawmakers have joined the unions in expressing mistrust of their management and calling for his or her resignations. Nevertheless, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and plenty of Democratic lawmakers have supported Grady and defended his management.

Extra: Suspended trooper sues Michigan State Police for sexual harassment and retaliation

Krebs, a white girl, alleges that Grady, a Black man who would lead the MSP in September 2023, promoted hiring and promotions primarily based on race and private friendships with out due regard to {qualifications}.

Particularly, the lawsuit alleges:

• In late 2023, Grady informed a senior MSP officer that he would “hand-pick” any captain place and that he “did not care” that he overruled the recruiting panel to pick out a much less certified officer for division captain coaching – a job Krebs had utilized for – as a result of he wished the chosen officer place vacated in order that this might be stuffed by an officer he wished to advertise – a black man.
• In late 2023 or early 2024, with out warning, Grady moved the division’s recruitment and choice division, with a workers of 27 individuals, out from underneath Krebs and positioned it underneath the Coaching Division, leaving Krebs’ alone within the position of Chief DEI Officer. with out help workers.’
• In June 2024, Grady was inexplicably hostile to Krebs when she requested him at a gathering a few delay in filling a primary lieutenant place within the recruiting and choice part, chatting with her in a raised, sharp voice and saying, “You need not know why I’m or am not filling spots.” Krebs informed Grady “it appeared he was holding positions for particular candidates” that had been his private selections and that “these actions had been an unfair hiring apply and opened the MSP to authorized legal responsibility.” The lawsuit alleges that Krebs beforehand raised the difficulty of bias in MSP promotions throughout a dialog with Grady in October 2023.
• In July and August 2024, Krebs was successfully demoted when her part was renamed “cultural enrichment and training” and she or he was informed to revise her job description, eradicating all references to recruitment and choice, and was a part of the HR management group. Krebs was moved from her personal workplace to a cubicle
• In August 2024, Krebs met with Poppy Sias-Hernandez, Whitmer’s chief DEI officer for the state of Michigan, who informed Krebs that Grady has the appropriate to govern the interior choice course of “as a result of relationships matter,” and that Whitmer had appointed Grady particularly to diversify the MSP. Whitmer’s workplace on Oct. 15 referred inquiries to the Division of Labor and Financial Alternative, the place Sias-Hernandez works. LEO spokesman Jason Moon stated that “all departments are required to observe civil service guidelines and federal legislation on the subject of hiring practices.” Moon declined additional remark, citing the lawsuit.
• In 2024, a black first lieutenant was promoted to captain answerable for business car enforcement, regardless of “complaints being filed towards him for homophobia.”
• In June 2025, Grady excluded Krebs from a steering committee to develop a brand new and fewer biased technique to deal with MSP promotions and hiring, although Krebs had the concept for the committee as early as 2024.

Krebs alleges within the lawsuit that an unnamed male lieutenant forcibly kissed her in entrance of different officers after eating at an MSP convention in Detroit in December 2024. Krebs claims she felt she had resolved the difficulty by means of conversations with the officer in regards to the inappropriateness of his actions, however realized in January 2025 {that a} senior officer had filed a sexual harassment grievance on her behalf filed in regards to the incident and that an inner affairs investigation had been opened. Krebs alleges within the lawsuit that the officer who forcibly kissed her subsequently filed a harassment grievance towards her, leading to a second investigation, and {that a} third investigation was opened, additionally with out her consent, into an incident during which she had been groped years earlier. Not one of the investigations led to findings that led to self-discipline, however all three contributed to her stress and trauma, the swimsuit alleges.

The lawsuit, which seeks unspecified damages, alleges retaliation, retaliatory harassment, a hostile work setting and intentional infliction of emotional misery.

Krebs is represented by Detroit attorneys Michael Weaver and Todd Flood.

This story has been up to date so as to add new info.

Contact Paul Egan: 517-372-8660 or pegan@freepress.com.