K-9 Pup Fired In Retaliation For Partner's Sexism Complaint: Suit

NEW YORK CITY — The city's Department of Corrections stands accused of discriminating against a German Shepherd and the woman whose lifelong goal was to be his partner, court records show.

Rikers Island correction officer Donna Schnirring filed a lawsuit Tuesday claiming she and her canine partner Bullet were yanked from the DOC's K-9 unit in retaliation for complaints she made about sexism in the department, Queens Supreme Court records show.

"I lost everything overnight because I made a complaint about a coworker," Schnirring told Patch in a telephone interview. "I'm fighting to actually work, I just want my job back."

The Department of Corrections referred Patch's request for comment to the Law Department, which typically does not comment on cases before a summons has been delivered and did not respond.

Schnirring's battle with the DOC began in 2012 when she became the lone woman to join the department's K-9 unit, according to the complaint.

She served as a Unit Patrol Trainer and New York State Examiner for police canine handlers working with drug- and explosive-sniffing dogs, according to the complaint.

But the fantasy job turned sour when a married co-worker repeatedly propositioned Schnirring, who eventually decided to file a sexual harassment complaint in 2017, the lawsuit states.

Tensions mounted and a violent fight broke out in a Rikers Island trailer among colleagues and the coworker Schnirring accused of harassment, according to records from the city's Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings.

Bullet and Schnirring — who was not involved in wrongdoing or named in the OATH report — were yanked from the unit, the complaint says.

"They're basically shutting her out for petty reasons, unlawful reasons," said her attorney John Scola. "It's spite, that's the purpose of it."

In 2018, Schnirring sued the DOC and agreed to a settlement in 2019 with the understanding she would be able to return to the K-9 unit, according to the lawsuit.

Schnirring fought because she wanted her job back and she knew Bullet did too, she said.

"When we got removed from the unit, the adjustment period for him was very hard," Schnirring said. "He would try to jump out of windows."

The Emergency Service Canine Unit has hired more than 23 handlers since the 2018 settlement yet Schnirring and Bullet have yet to secure positions on the team, the complaint states.

The Emergency Service Canine Unit is entirely made up of men, some of whom never received formal transfers and all of whom had less experience than Schnirring, the suit claims.

"They basically keep putting men in there and not her," Scola said. "Even though she holds more licenses than they do."

During this time, a K-9 unit trainee dog named Bingo died after he was left unattended and ate a bar of soap left by a "careless" employee, a source told the Daily News.

"The handlers there now are under experienced, they need more trainers," Schnirring said. "That something that should have never have happened. You took a dog's life."

Schnirring applied with little success for several other positions and when she took the captains' exam in 2020, she never even received a score, the suit contends.

Despite a risky job that once saw her chasing and capturing an inmate who'd just attacked an officer, Schnirring never received a response to her request for a ballistic vest that would protect her from stab and slash wounds, according to the complaint.

Schnirring said she suffered a panic attack when a warden summoned her to a Rikers Island office and told her she wasn't getting ahead in the department because, "you look sloppy," the complaint states.

"You want to call the chief, go ahead I don’t give a s---," the warden allegedly said. "I don’t care about [Equal Employment Opportunity complaints] either so go file another one.”

Three days after she filed a complaint about this encounter, and before her knee and ankle had recovered from tackling an inmate, Schnirring was reassigned to full active duty, Scola said.

Schnirring's complaint comes months after she filed a notice of claim with the city's Comptroller's office demanding $5 million for retaliation and discrimination, as the Daily News reported in March.

Bullet — whose purchase and training typically would cost the city $20,000 — has spent the past four years living in Schnirring's home and unable to do his job, she said.

"They just have him sitting home because I got sexually harassed and I came forward about it," Schnirring said. "Maybe I shouldn't made the complaint. If I got sexually harassed again, I don't know what I'd do."

This story was updated at 11:45 a.m. Aug. 25 to include a telephone interview with, and photos courtesy of, Donna Schnirring .