An LSU Police Department officer filed a lawsuit Thursday alleging she was denied promotion because of gender discrimination.Maj. Martha Helen Haire, who has worked with LSUPD for 21 years, claims in the suit she was passed over for LSU chief of police despite her sufficient qualifications because she is a woman.Haire applied in 2008 for chief of police — a position which specifically required a college degree — but the job went to Maj. Lawrence Rabalais, who didn’t have a degree, instead of Haire, who holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees, according to the suit.Both Haire and Rabalais were unavailable for comment by press time.The suit also makes allegations against Gary Durham, public safety director, who was named interim chief before Rabalais assumed the position. Haire claims Durham openly stated problems are “what happens when you have a bunch of women in charge,” and Durham told Haire during a performance review she was “using too much leave because she is a mother and has children.”LSUPD spokesman Blake Tabor declined to comment, as did Kristine Calongne, associate vice chancellor of Public Affairs. Commenting on impending litigation is against University policy, Calongne said.Haire approached LSU Human Resources to complain “to no avail” about the denial of a promotion, according to the suit.She then filed a charge of discrimination in September 2009 with the  Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and Louisiana Commission on Human Rights, the suit said.Haire claims Rabalais issued her the “lowest performance evaluation she had ever received” in her years at LSUPD in January, criticizing her “job knowledge and technical skills” on the position she held for several years.The suit claims Haire’s damages include “lost wages and benefits, loss of promotion and promotional opportunities, loss of earning capacity, severe and extreme emotional distress and mental anguish, humiliation and embarrassment, loss of reputation and standing in the community and all such other damages as will be more fully shown at trial.” Calongne said Haire still holds her position of major at LSUPD, and she had no knowledge of any changes to her employment.
 
 
 
—-Contact Ryan Buxton at [email protected]