'Let a jury decide ... consequences': Westminster police sergeant sues for discrimination

A sergeant in the Westminster Police Department is suing the town and the former chief of police for discrimination.

According to the lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court of Massachusetts, Sgt. Amy Nelson is alleging that her employer, the Town of Westminster, and Ralph LeBlanc, who was fired as police chief in 2022, violated her rights under the Family and Medical Leave Act.

LeBlanc was terminated by a unanimous vote of the Select Board after an external investigation concluded that he had created a hostile work environment and violated several town and department policies including those covering workplace harassment, sexual harassment, and equal employment and nondiscrimination.

Prior to being fired, LeBlanc had been on administrative leave for several months following complaints and allegations from police department employees.

In an amended, 10-count complaint, Nelson, who is currently assigned to the position of Administrative Sergeant in the absence of a lieutenant, alleges that the town and its employees, including but not limited to LeBlanc, have engaged in a long standing practice of discrimination against female officers, and that she was denied promotional opportunities, was treated in a disparate manner due to her gender and her decision to have multiple children, and was denied a request for family leave to deal with a complicated pregnancy and her daughter’s cancer diagnosis.

More: Westminster police chief fired for sexual harassment: His action 'was unconscionable'

Investigator hired by the town determined there was discrimination against complainant

“As you might expect, the fear of losing your job as a police officer while your child was seriously ill was an extremely disturbing and ongoing issue that Amy was confronted with,” said Timothy Burke, Nelson’s attorney. “It has adversely affected most aspects of her family life as well as her career in law enforcement, including her opportunities for promotion within the Department. Amy has always been, and continues to be, an outstanding police officer and a recognized asset to the Town of Westminster.”

The independent investigator hired by the town had found that there was clear discrimination and interference by LeBlanc over a lengthy period of time in regards to Nelson’s rights, Burke added.

Nelson, who became a full-time employee of the department in 2005, further alleges that actions taken by the defendants, individually and collectively, constitute sex and gender identity discrimination and retaliation in violation of state and federal law.

Some of the charges against the former chief

Specifically, Nelson alleges that when her daughter was diagnosed leukemia in 2021, and she was running out of family leave time, Chief LeBlanc purposefully failed to inform her that her colleagues had offered to donate vacation time for her to use. Instead, Nelson claims that she was told by LeBlanc that if she ran out of leave time, she would be terminated and required to reapply for her job. Nelson claims LeBlanc said he could not guarantee her position.

Nelson, who lives in West Boylston, also alleges that: she was not allowed to apply for a promotion to a lieutenant’s position, and that LeBlanc changed the department’s promotion guidelines to diminish the effect of her academic accomplishments; she was treated in a disparate manner by LeBlanc when he requested that she move her locker into an office which was occupied by two male officers; when she challenged LeBlanc on changes made to the forced overtime policy, he retaliated against her by removing her from specialty assignments.

More: Westminster police chief is put on administrative leave; reason not known

Nelson’s lawsuit contains 159 factual allegations that were taken from the substance and conclusions reached in the investigative report completed by Attorney Regina Ryan in response to the complaints made about LeBlanc.

More allegations

Among the allegations in the report, which concluded that Nelson had been subjected to ongoing acts of gender and pregnancy discrimination and retaliation throughout her employment with the town: during a conversation about a female officer who resigned to take a position in another department, LeBlanc said the officer’s husband was “controlling” and asked, “What business does she have, popping more kids out if she can’t handle her schedule with the ones she has” – Nelson was pregnant at the time of these comments; and that in the Fall of 2021, LeBlanc began referring to the younger female officers in the department as “His Ladies.”

According to the lawsuit, the conduct of the defendants had resulted in Nelson suffering injuries and damages, including economic losses and emotional distress, loss of promotional opportunities and career advancement, and other ongoing mental, physical and emotional harm.

According to the lawsuit, Nelson is suing for compensatory damages, punitive damages, and lost past and future earnings.

“We will let a jury decide what the consequences are in this case in terms of monetary damages,” Burke said.

This article originally appeared on Gardner News: Westminster sued for Police Chief LeBlanc's action, FMLA violations