Former Bristol CC police chief Wayne Wood settles lawsuit with the school for $600,000

FALL RIVER — Wayne Wood loved his job as the police chief at Bristol Community College where he’d worked for 20 years, with the then-60-year-old public safety officer planning to put in another 10 years at the job.

But after testifying in another police officer’s sexual discrimination lawsuit in 2016, which eventually resulted in a $1 million judgment against Bristol, Wood was fired less than a year later, in October 2017, on the pretense of poor job performance.

Wood sued Bristol the following May, alleging the firing was in retaliation for his testimony. The suit named Bristol President Laura Douglas, Vice President of Administration and Finance Steven Kenyon and Gina Yarbrough, a staff attorney for the Massachusetts Association of Community Colleges.

Wood’s lawsuit was ready to go to trial in February. But before the case went to court, Bristol, being defended by the state’s Office of the Attorney General, settled with the former chief for $600,000.

“He was literally the only person at BCC in the leadership team that supported the truth there,” said Wood’s attorney, Adrienne Catherine Beauregard-Rheaume. “He refused to tell the company lie and got fired for it.”

Beauregard-Rheaume claimed Wood was aware at the time that going against what the leadership team at the community college wanted him to say at the sexual discrimination lawsuit “would possibly be a career-ending thing for him.”

“He did it anyway. He knows right from wrong and wasn’t about to go against his integrity,” said his attorney.

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Experience 'didn't change me'

While Wood said he had planned to be chief at Bristol CC for 10 more years, he said the experience “didn’t change me,” despite the fact he never got a job in law enforcement again and his pension was impacted.

“I love life, I love my grandkids, I love my family. I don’t have any animosity toward a lot of the people involved, but there are some that I do,” said Wood. “I just wanted to work longer, that’s all.”

Both Wood and Beauregard-Rheaume said they were ready to go to trial with the nearly five-year-old lawsuit if an appropriate settlement hadn’t been reached.

Wood was diagnosed with an incurable, but treatable, form of cancer last April and said it was also time to move on from the legal challenge.

“But I wish I was still there. I wish I was still working,” said Wood. “It was a great job, and we had a great department.”

“But we didn’t give up,” said Wood. “Now I want to move on and close this chapter and start enjoying my family.”

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Claims he was pressed to lie

Former Bristol Sgt. Susan Ledoux had claimed she suffered years of harassment by fellow officers going back to 2003. She eventually went on disability leave in early 2010 after she collapsed at work due to stress. When she tried to return to work after a doctor cleared her, Bristol fired Ledoux, an action upheld by arbitration.

The jury that heard Ledoux’s civil case awarded her $2.45 million, which was later reduced to $1 million after the college appealed the ruling.

In Wood’s lawsuit, he alleged college administrators and lawyers representing the college in the Ledoux lawsuit applied “intense pressure” on him to change his testimony so it would favor BCC in the legal proceedings.

Lawyers for Douglas, Kenyon and Yarbrough requested a summary judgment against Wood arguing that they had no knowledge of what he said at Ledoux’s trial.

That backfired when it was discovered that Kenyon admitted in a deposition that Wood had kept him informed on what was happening at trial.

Beauregard-Rheaume said information found in discovery includes communications by administrators after the Ledoux civil trial.

“You see the emails start percolating between Kenyon and HR in February of 2017 where you can just tell they were laying the groundwork to terminate him,” said Beauregard-Rheaume.

Discussions to start the termination process came when Bristol had hired an outside party to look at issues brought out in the Ledoux trial. But while Wood requested to meet with the consultant, he was denied and never participated in the public safety office review.

“They learned from Ledoux, I suppose, and I guess they had the wherewithal to lay the groundwork for a legal reason to effectuate his termination, but it was clear pretext,” said Beauregard-Rheaume.

A Bristol representative indicated the school may comment on this story but was unable to provide it immediately.

This article originally appeared on The Herald News: Former Bristol Community College employee settles lawsuit for $600,000