Farmingdale State Police Officer Beth Malenovsky files gender discrimination lawsuit against college, documents show

Farmingdale State College in 2020. Credit: Newsday/J. Conrad Williams Jr.
Farmingdale State College officials accused a campus police officer of abusing or mistreating her three children just days after the school dismissed her gender discrimination complaint in 2022, according to a federal lawsuit filed recently.
The gender discrimination lawsuit filed by Farmingdale State Police Officer Beth Malenovsky on Jan. 23 in the Eastern District of New York alleged she was subjected to harassment and gender discrimination by supervisors and colleagues for years. The false allegations of child abuse or mistreatment are part of a wider campaign waged by the school against Malenovsky in retaliation for complaining about discrimination, the lawsuit said.
"The most disturbing part of this story is the lengths they would go to retaliate against her for making a complaint of discrimination," said Rick Ostrove, Malenovsky’s attorney. "Putting her family at risk is as outrageous as it can get," Ostrove added.
Farmingdale State College spokeswoman Chris Maio declined to comment, saying the school cannot discuss pending litigation. Farmingdale State Police Chief Daniel Daugherty, who is named as a defendant in the complaint, did not return a request for comment.
WHAT NEWSDAY FOUND
- A Farmingdale State College police officer filed a federal lawsuit alleging she was subjected to harassment and gender discrimination by supervisors and colleagues for years.
- Beth Malenovsky is also alleging college officials accused her of child abuse or mistreatment when she filed a gender discrimination complaint in 2022, the lawsuit says.
- Farmingdale State spokeswoman Chris Maio declined to comment, saying the school cannot discuss pending litigation.
It is not clear from court papers whether Daugherty and the other defendants — Assistant Chief Frank Capezza, Lt. Zachary Lee, Lt. Joseph Tringali and Insp. Andrew Kalos — have attorneys.
Malenovsky continues to be employed by the Farmingdale State College Police Department, Ostrove said. The lawsuit does not specify monetary damages.
According to the lawsuit, Lee and other male officers frequently made derogatory comments about Malenovsky and other female employees. She was also subjected to discipline, while male officers who engaged in the same conduct were not punished, the lawsuit argues.
Daugherty and other supervisors were aware of the abusive language but failed to intervene, the lawsuit said. Malenovsky and other women were passed over for promotions even though they were more qualified than male candidates, court papers say.
"In around Spring 2019, as Beth became eligible to take the Lieutenants’ exam, Lee told her she would never be promoted because women are emotional and indecisive," the lawsuit said.
In March 2022, Malenovsky brought a gender discrimination complaint to Farmingdale State College’s human resources department. Two months later, Malenovsky received a letter notifying her that she had been suspended with pay and prohibited from entering the campus, according to the lawsuit.
On May 27, 2022, school officials told Malenovsky there was evidence that she had endangered her children’s welfare by leaving them her gun and utility belt in a break room in August 2021 while her kids were sleeping. Malenovsky, according to the lawsuit, was told she may be subject to disciplinary action.
Malenovsky’s gender discrimination complaint was dismissed the following day, the lawsuit said. On June 1, 2022, Farmingdale State human resources officials Mary Beth McCloskey and Jessica Durso conducted a "retaliatory interrogation," the court papers said.
Malenovsky acknowledged that she brought her children to the station at the start of her shift because her husband, an NYPD officer, would return home late. Her husband picked up the children soon after, the lawsuit said.
"There is no allegation and certainly no proof that the children were conscious while in the room or that they had access to the duty belt," the complaint said. "Also, the duty belt has a double retention holster, which is designed to make the weapon exceptionally difficult to access, and even more difficult for a child to access. Further, as Beth and her husband are both officers, their children were meticulously taught not to touch any of their parents’ work-related equipment."
The school officials indicated that they would suspend Malenovsky without pay, the lawsuit said. A union representative argued that the college did not genuinely believe that Malenovsky put her children at risk because it is a mandatory reporting agency and did not report the incident to a child welfare department.
The college then reported Malenovsky to the New York Statewide Central Register of Child Abuse and Maltreatment, the papers said. School officials told Malenovsky on June 9, 2022, that she had been suspended without pay because she had left her children unattended with her weapon and belt, court papers say.
An arbitrator later ruled the suspension was unwarranted. The New York State Office of Children and Family Services conducted an investigation and told Malenovsky on July 21, 2022, that the allegations were "unfounded," the lawsuit said.