Former Chicago Police Deputy Chief Michael Barz has taken his fight with the city to federal court, claiming he was quietly slapped onto Chicago’s do-not-hire list and left to deal with the fallout. In an April 24, 2026 defamation suit, Barz, who reached the rank of deputy chief but ultimately retired as a captain in May 2025, says the designation wrecked his reputation. He is asking for compensatory damages and a court order fixing his personnel file so it shows he retired in good standing.
The complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, names Police Superintendent Larry Snelling, Joy A. Brown and Human Resources Commissioner Sandra Blakemore as defendants. The case, Michael J. Barz v. City of Chicago, is docketed as No. 1:26-cv-04707, according to DocketAlarm.
How Barz Says He Was Flagged
Barz’s lawsuit centers on a memo sent to Snelling on April 26, 2025, by Joy Brown, the human resources director for the Office of Public Safety Administration. In that memo, Brown recommended putting Barz on the do-not-hire list based on two disciplinary investigations that the suit says ended with no sustained findings. The complaint alleges Snelling signed off on the recommendation on April 30, 2025, while also signing a form the same day stating that Barz was eligible for retirement credentials, which Barz’s lawyers call “irreconcilable.” By May 27, 2025, according to the filing, the Department of Human Resources had formally barred Barz from being rehired, an account detailed by the Chicago Sun-Times.
Appeal and Administrative Reversal
The complaint states that Barz appealed his do-not-hire status in September 2025, only to have that appeal initially denied. Court documents indicate the decision was later reversed on April 15, after Barz’s attorney stepped in. Even so, the lawsuit followed shortly after on April 24, 2026. The federal docket reflects the filing and lists the defendants, according to records available via DocketAlarm.
Barz’s Response and Past Controversies
Barz has told reporters the allegations behind his do-not-hire label “were never proven true,” and his legal team is asking a judge to clear his record and block the city from sending out the do-not-hire memo when someone files a public-records request. The lawsuit also notes that Barz was moved from deputy chief to commander, then retired as a captain in May 2025, after the events at issue in the case, as reported by the Chicago Sun-Times.
Context: Quotas, Settlements and Scrutiny
The Barz suit lands amid a broader wave of legal fights over Chicago Police Department practices, including a whistleblower case alleging supervisors pushed illegal traffic-stop quotas, which led city lawyers to recommend a roughly $950,000 settlement last year. Reporting by WTTW and WBEZ has tracked how those disputes, along with a high-profile traffic-stop death, have pushed CPD oversight back under the microscope.
Legal Claims and What Comes Next…