Two NYPD sergeants get into shoving match over salary gap: sources

Larry Celona, Steve Janoski
·2 min read
A sign for the Central Park police precinct.
Two NYPD sergeants got into a physical fight over pay discrepancies in their union contract, police sources told The Post.

Two NYPD sergeants got into a shoving match after one of them made a snarky comment about a quirk in the union contract that lets new sergeants make much more than their more senior counterparts.

The officers — Ronnie Fernandez and Abel Lopez, both of the Central Park precinct — got into the scrum at about 7:45 a.m. on Monday after Lopez made a few cutting comments about the difference in pay between senior sergeants and the newly-promoted sergeants, according to a police report obtained by The Post.

Two NYPD sergeants got into a physical fight over pay discrepancies in their union contract, police sources told The Post. J.C.Rice
Two NYPD sergeants got into a physical fight over pay discrepancies in their union contract, police sources told The Post. J.C.Rice

It’s not clear what Lopez said specifically, but it allegedly set off Fernandez, who sources say shoved Lopez before the two were separated by another officer.

Fernandez said Lopez made verbal threats about being to take any sergeant who hadn’t hit the top of the pay scale — then slammed his shoulder into Fernandez’s, precipitating Fernandez’s shove.

Lopez claimed Fernandez approached him as he talked to other officers, pushed him, then slapped him in the face.

And he denied slapping Lopez, sources said.

Neither was injured, or faced any immediate discipline, sources added.

The department’s Internal Affairs Bureau is investigating, an NYPD spokesperson confirmed.

The brief skirmish appears to be an outgrowth of a contract technicality that’s left newly-promoted sergeants making more than those who were promoted earlier, sources said.

Neither officer was hurt during the donnybrook. J.C.Rice
Neither officer was hurt during the donnybrook. J.C.Rice

The new sergeants are going right to their top pay, which is about $120,000 a year.

But sergeants who got the nod at any other time in the last three years or so are mired in a step program that makes them wait five years to collect the same pay — even though they got higher marks on the sergeant’s test and were promoted sooner, sources said.

This is costing the city millions, since they’re paying new sergeants at a higher rate — and doing it much more quickly, they added.

Approximately 600 sergeants went immediately to top pay, sources said. Meanwhile, about 1,400 are on the five-year step program.

The contract was structured in such a way to make sure the sergeants would still make more money than the rank-and-file, who settled their own contract in 2023.