THE NYPD is being sued by one of its own lawyers claiming she lost out on a promised promotion because she was pregnant. “Why should we promote her if she is going out on maternity leave,” Wechsler allegedly told Messner, according to the gender discrimination suit. “I was shocked and disheartened,” Russo-Lane told the Daily News. “It seemed like something that would have happened ages ago and we were long past that.” Lawyer Eric Sanders said that his client suffered not only loss of a pay increase, but humiliation and emotional distress.