28/05/2025
Courtesy of .com
Trooper fired after failed drug test sues State Police to get job back
ALBANY — A former state trooper who was fired after testing positive last year for amphetamines has filed a lawsuit against the State Police seeking to get her job back.
The petition filed in state Supreme Court in Albany on behalf of Jamie R. Kasper alleges State Police relied on an unauthorized urine test that her attorneys say may have returned a false positive due to her use of over-the-counter dietary supplements.
An earlier complaint filed with the inspector general's office accused the State Police of applying different standards in the case because the trooper, Jamie R. Kasper, is a woman.
Former New York State Trooper Jamie Kasper alleges she was wrongly terminated from her job after testing positive for amphetamine. A second test, including a hair sample, was negative and her attorney said the first test should have been discarded. Kasper has asked the state inspector general's office to investigate her case.
Former New York State Trooper Jamie Kasper alleges she was wrongly terminated from her job after testing positive for amphetamine. A second test, including a hair sample, was negative and her attorney said the first test should have been discarded. Kasper has asked the state inspector general's office to investigate her case.
Former state trooper who was fired after testing positive last year for amphetamines has filed a lawsuit against the State Police seeking to get her job back.
The petition filed in state Supreme Court in Albany on behalf of Jamie R. Kasper alleges State Police relied on an unauthorized urine test that her attorneys say may have returned a false positive due to her use of over-the-counter dietary supplements.
An expert witness hired by her attorneys testified during an arbitration proceeding that the test lacked the specificity to distinguish “amphetamine from structurally similar isomers found in many unregulated supplements,” and that the supplements are a well-known cause of false-positive drug tests.
ALBANY — A former state trooper who was fired after testing positive last year for amphetamines has filed a lawsuit against the State Police seeking to get her job back.
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Trooper fired after failed drug test sues State Police to get job back
An earlier complaint filed with the inspector general's office accused the State Police of applying different standards in the case because the trooper, Jamie R. Kasper, is a woman.
By Brendan J. Lyons,
Managing Editor
Updated May 27, 2025 2:18 p.m.
Former New York State Trooper Jamie Kasper alleges she was wrongly terminated from her job after testing positive for amphetamine. A second test, including a hair sample, was negative and her attorney said the first test should have been discarded. Kasper has asked the state inspector general's office to investigate her case.
Former New York State Trooper Jamie Kasper alleges she was wrongly terminated from her job after testing positive for amphetamine. A second test, including a hair sample, was negative and her attorney said the first test should have been discarded. Kasper has asked the state inspector general's office to investigate her case.
Photo provided by Jamie Kasper
ALBANY — A former state trooper who was fired after testing positive last year for amphetamines has filed a lawsuit against the State Police seeking to get her job back.
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The petition filed in state Supreme Court in Albany on behalf of Jamie R. Kasper alleges State Police relied on an unauthorized urine test that her attorneys say may have returned a false positive due to her use of over-the-counter dietary supplements.
“Women in law enforcement face an uphill battle to succeed and advance in what has for far too long been a male-dominated profession,” said Kasper, a U.S. Army veteran. “For nearly two decades, I worked hard to demonstrate my ability to do the job, and more than performed the duties expected of me. All I’m asking for is fair, equal treatment and to be able to return to the work that I love — protecting and serving the people of New York.”
Earlier this year, Kasper’s attorneys filed a formal complaint asking the state inspector general’s office to investigate the handling of her case, but the office declined to do so. That complaint had accused the agency of applying different standards in the case because Kasper is a woman.
That complaint also accused State Police hierarchy of targeting her for a random drug screening last year as retribution for a lawsuit that her husband — also a former trooper — had filed against the agency weeks earlier in an effort to have his law enforcement certification credentials reinstated. The court petition filed by Kasper's attorneys focuses on the allegedly flawed arbitration and drug testing processes, and does not invoke arguments about her husband's case or gender bias.
“The facts are clear that in this case, State Police leaders manipulated due process and disregarded their own internal policies to take vindictive and targeted actions against a veteran, mother, and dedicated public servant,” said Charles W. Murphy, president of the New York State Troopers PBA. “This flies in the face of the high standards New Yorkers rightfully expect our agency to uphold. At a time when we face serious recruitment and retention challenges, the treatment of Trooper Kasper sends the absolute wrong message to individuals whose service this state desperately needs.”
Kasper is a former National Guard member who was deployed to Iraq in 2003 and 2004 as part of Operation Iraqi Freedom — and later became a state correction officer. She was sworn in as a trooper in October 2016.
In an interview last month, Kasper said that she had a spotless record as a trooper assigned to Troop F in the Hudson Valley before the agency conducted a random drug test on her at a Kingston barracks in January 2024.
She and her attorney had said the sample was then tested in a procedure that violated the agency’s policies and that State Police also later improperly sought access to her personal medical records as part of an alleged vendetta to punish her for her husband’s litigation. Her husband, Christopher Collins, joined the State Police at the same time as Kasper. He resigned in October 2022 after he had been investigated for a drug test that showed results for amphetamine, which he attributed to a prescription for Adderall, which treats attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, and THC — which he had attributed to an over-the-counter CBD gummy he had ingested. dietary supplements.
An expert witness hired by her attorneys testified during an arbitration proceeding that the test lacked the specificity to distinguish “amphetamine from structurally similar isomers found in many unregulated supplements,” and that the supplements are a well-known cause of false-positive drug tests.
“Women in law enforcement face an uphill battle to succeed and advance in what has for far too long been a male-dominated profession,” said Kasper, a U.S. Army veteran. “For nearly two decades, I worked hard to demonstrate my ability to do the job, and more than performed the duties expected of me. All I’m asking for is fair, equal treatment and to be able to return to the work that I love — protecting and serving the people of New York.”
Earlier this year, Kasper’s attorneys filed a formal complaint asking the state inspector general’s office to investigate the handling of her case, but the office declined to do so. That complaint had accused the agency of applying different standards in the case because Kasper is a woman.
That complaint also accused State Police hierarchy of targeting her for a random drug screening last year as retribution for a lawsuit that her husband — also a former trooper — had filed against the agency weeks earlier in an effort to have his law enforcement certification credentials reinstated. The court petition filed by Kasper's attorneys focuses on the allegedly flawed arbitration and drug testing processes, and does not invoke arguments about her husband's case or gender bias.
An expert witness hired by her attorneys testified during an arbitration proceeding that the test lacked the specificity to distinguish “amphetamine from structurally similar isomers found in many unregulated supplements,” and that the supplements are a well-known cause of false-positive drug tests.
“Women in law enforcement face an uphill battle to succeed and advance in what has for far too long been a male-dominated profession,” said Kasper, a U.S. Army veteran. “For nearly two decades, I worked hard to demonstrate my ability to do the job, and more than performed the duties expected of me. All I’m asking for is fair, equal treatment and to be able to return to the work that I love — protecting and serving the people of New York.”
Earlier this year, Kasper’s attorneys filed a formal complaint asking the state inspector general’s office to investigate the handling of her case, but the office declined to do so. That complaint had accused the agency of applying different standards in the case because Kasper is a woman.
That complaint also accused State Police hierarchy of targeting her for a random drug screening last year as retribution for a lawsuit that her husband — also a former trooper — had filed against the agency weeks earlier in an effort to have his law enforcement certification credentials reinstated. The court petition filed by Kasper's attorneys focuses on the allegedly flawed arbitration and drug testing processes, and does not invoke arguments about her husband's case or gender bias.
“The facts are clear that in this case, State Police leaders manipulated due process and disregarded their own internal policies to take vindictive and targeted actions against a veteran, mother, and dedicated public servant,” said Charles W. Murphy, president of the New York State Troopers PBA. “This flies in the face of the high standards New Yorkers rightfully expect our agency to uphold. At a time when we face serious recruitment and retention challenges, the treatment of Trooper Kasper sends the absolute wrong message to individuals whose service this state desperately needs.”
Kasper is a former National Guard member who was deployed to Iraq in 2003 and 2004 as part of Operation Iraqi Freedom — and later became a state correction officer. She was sworn in as a trooper in October 2016.
In an interview last month, Kasper said that she had a spotless record as a trooper assigned to Troop F in the Hudson Valley before the agency conducted a random drug test on her at a Kingston barracks in January 2024.
(Former New York State Trooper Jamie Kasper alleges she was wrongly terminated from her job after testing positive for amphetamine. A second test, including a hair sample, was negative and her attorney said the first test should have been discarded. Kasper has asked the state inspector general's office to investigate her case.)
