A reinstated Philly cop fired over domestic abuse allegations is suing the city for $100,000 in unpaid overtime

A Philadelphia police sergeant who was fired after he was accused of strangling his wife, but later reinstated after pleading no contest to lesser charges is suing the city for nearly $100,000 in overtime pay he says he’s owed for the time he was off the force.

Joseph Stevenson, 41, was fired in January 2020 after he was charged with assaulting his wife in Lower Southampton Township in December 2019. Stevenson later pleaded no contest to two counts of disorderly conduct, court records show. Prosecutors withdrew a felony charge of strangulation and a misdemeanor charge of simple assault.

Stevenson later filed a grievance appealing his firing, and last year, an arbitrator ordered him reinstated with back pay, saying the department had relied on hearsay evidence to justify his dismissal and had not met the burden of proof required to terminate him.

In his lawsuit, Stevenson says the city still owes him $98,975 of the $120,920 in overtime he says he would have been paid during the more than three year-period in which he was not working after his termination.

Before he was fired, Stevenson was paid a base salary of $83,714, records show. According to the lawsuit, he was also paid an average of $36,000 a year in overtime. But in calculating what Stevenson was due in back pay, his lawyer Steve Feinstein said, the city gave him just under $22,000 in overtime.

“The arbitrator awarded Sgt. Stevenson his job back and the city was instructed to make him whole,” the lawyer said.

Stevenson’s lawsuit was first reported by Axios Philadelphia.

A city spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment, and police department officials declined to comment because of the pending litigation.

Representatives of the Fraternal Order of Police declined to comment Monday.

Stevenson’s firing stemmed from a domestic violence incident in Lower Southampton Township in late 2019.

A responding officer said Stevenson’s wife told him her husband put his hands around her neck and squeezed and pushed her head against a door three times before letting go. The officer said he saw red marks on her neck when he arrived at the scene.

Stevenson was initially charged with strangulation, simple assault, and harassment.

But when the case went to court, Stevenson’s wife was not called to testify, and there was no testimony from any of the responding officers and no body-worn camera footage was produced, the arbitrator said.

The city’s decision to fire Stevenson, arbitrator Thomas Leonard said, was based on hearsay evidence and was not grounds for termination.