GROVELAND, Fla. — A Groveland police officer said he was passed up for a promotion because of his race.
Officer Marcio Cardoso is filing a federal discrimination complaint.
The police chief said it wasn’t race, but a missed test, that cost the officer the new position.
The officer also claims that the chief told him that being involved in the union cost him a promotion and that higher-ups punished him for being a part of the union.
The chief denies the allegations and said it’s all about testing, and if the officer had scored higher, he would have been promoted.
The officer recently filed the complaint, in which he claimed that when he took the test for sergeant in 2013, at least one of the applicants had been “leaked the questions” by a supervisor.
Cardoso claims that after testing, he was told he had missed five out of 10 questions.
When he pressed his supervisors about the missed questions, he claims they told him people giving the test said he was unable to communicate.
He claims he was later promoted, and then his promotion was taken away for union activity.
“We have not gotten anything officially from EEOC,” said Groveland Police Chief Melvin Tennyson.
Tennyson denies the allegations and he showed WFTV scores from Cardoso’s previous test in 2013, when he finished last.
The chief also provided the results from previous testing done in 2015 where he said the officer didn’t take the test.
“He didn’t test this go-around. Therefore, if you don’t test, I can’t promote you,” said Tennyson.
The complaint is the second filed by Cardoso, but nothing ever came of the first one.