A long-serving Black female detective for the New York Police Department who spent most of last year caring at home for her dying, cancer-ridden mother, with permission from her boss, is now fighting the department and the city’s police pension fund for retirement benefits and trying to stave off criminal charges.
In her complaint filed with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) in New York on Oct. 6, NYPD Detective Specialist Jaenice Smith, 51, says the department is wrongfully accusing her of “theft of time” for following the work-at-home arrangement authorized by her supervisor, former Assistant Chief Scott M. Henderson.
After three years of caregiving for her mother, who had stage 4 cervical cancer and was undergoing chemotherapy and radiation, while still working at the Patrol Bureau, Brooklyn North, in February 2024, Smith was worn out and went to Henderson, the bureau’s commanding officer, for help.
Henderson instructed her to “stay home with your mother and care for her,” the complaint says, and assured her that his directive constituted departmental approval. On that basis, Smith says she did not apply for family leave or other formal leave…