Two black Brookline police officers have filed complaints with the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination alleging that the town’s refusal to properly investigate their charges of racial discrimination on the force contributed to a hostile work environment.

The officers, Prentice Pilot and Estifanos Zerai-Misgun, cite instances in which they say racist remarks and slurs were directed at them by fellow officers. They also say that since first raising issues of racial discrimination with police Chief Daniel O’Leary in December 2014, they have been ostracized by colleagues, and that opportunities for career advancement have been denied.

The complaints seek damages for both officers and “injunctive relief,’’ which would require the town to change the hostile work environment.

The men said they turned to the MCAD after watching the “calamity of errors’’ that occurred when they made their complaints about racism in the department public.

“We decided this needs to be put into the hands of people outside Brookline who might take what we are saying seriously,’’ Pilot said Wednesday.

Brookline Town Counsel Joslin Ham Murphy said the town was taking the officers’ allegations “very seriously.’’

“We have taken several steps to address them, including launching an independent outside investigation of the allegations, as well as a separate review of the racial climate of the Police Department,’’ Ham Murphy wrote in an e-mail to the Globe. “We sincerely hope that we can work with their attorneys and find a way that these officers can continue to be valued and respected members of our Police Department.’’

The officers are being represented by Fair Work, P.C., and the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights and Economic Justice. They began working with the new attorneys after withdrawing their names from a federal lawsuit, filed by local attorney Brooks Ames, with firefighter Gerald Alston and five other town employees and residents who allege they have been damaged by the town’s “longstanding and well-established history’’ of racism.

The officers’ complaints with the MCAD describe racist comments and behavior within the predominantly white department that they say went unpunished, creating an atmosphere in which Pilot and Zerai-Misgun no longer felt safe.

The complaints also allege that the Board of Selectmen failed to address the issue and “appear to be more concerned with sweeping the allegations under the rug, closing ranks, and generally maintaining business as usual.’’

“There is a culture at the Town of Brookline Police Department, which is reinforced by the Chief and other Town officials, that employees should not complain about racial discrimination; that when such complaints are made, they are swept under the rug; and that individuals who complain about racial discrimination are ostracized and subjected to retaliation,’’ their complaints state.

The men have been off the job since Dec. 16, when they went public with the latest allegation of racial discrimination within the department.

“I stated that Officer Zerai-Misgun and I were in danger because we had crossed the ‘thin blue line,’ ’’ Pilot’s complaint states.

Zerai-Misgun’s complaint states that his supervising officer scrutinized him more closely than others, and criticized “minute aspects’’ of his performance after word of their first meeting with the chief was leaked within the department.

“As officers, we frequently depend on other officers for back-up, including in dangerous situations,’’ their complaints state. “Conduct by colleagues and superior officers that shows a lack of respect, particularly when it is racially discriminatory, is therefore not only offensive but fosters a work environment that is unsafe.’’

The complaints also take note of the department’s racial makeup, saying there are a half-dozen black officers in a department of about 130, and every superior officer is white.

“A number of the white officers are related to each other by blood or marriage and/or are longtime friends, making the culture of the police department very insular,’’ according to the complaints.

“The lack of diversity in the Brookline police force only exacerbates the problem,’’ Oren Sellstrom, litigation director at the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights and Economic Justice, said in a press release.

Attorney Hillary Schwab of Fair Work said that while the officers have filed with the state agency, they are reserving their option to withdraw their MCAD complaints and take their cases to court.

Ellen Ishkanian can be reached at eishkanian@ gmail.com.