A lawyer representing the city and police department said the allegations of sex discrimination made by a female lieutenant who says she was passed over for promotions and was denied equal access to training and resources are without merit and have already been investigated and dismissed after a review by city administration.
Lawyer Jeff Kasle said all of the claims made by Lt. Karen Guilbeault in a recent filing before the city's Claims Committee were raised with the administration in 2011. At that time, the city found no "substantive merit" in the allegations.
"We have communicated that to the lieutenant and her attorney in regard to each item," Kasle said. "We showed them why the items don't have substantive merit and they continue to raise the same claims over and over again."
The determination that the claims were invalid came after a review by the city's administration, which appears to have concluded that Guilbealt was making the whole thing up, since "each and every instance" was considered without merit.
Undeterred, Guilbeault, who is actively working her job with the department, filed a claim and demand with the Claims Committee on March 22, asking for payment for damages.
According to the claim, Guilbeault was hired in Dec. 1998 and during her employment, "suffered injury as a result of gender-base discriminatory conduct by her superiors and co-workers within the Cranston Police Department."
The actions "created a hostile work environment" and "resulted in her being harassed within the workplace and elsewhere" and allegedly held back her career, according to the claim.
(A copy of the claim summary is attached to this article.)
Though she has not filed a lawsuit against the city, Guilbealt has filed a grievance against the department and that is "winding [its] way through the contractual process," Kasle said.
"The reality is that in any big organization, you get disgruntled employees that have to take out their disgruntlement on somebody, and usually that's the guy or gal in charge," Kasle said.
The new claim is due to be addressed at the Claims Committee's April 1 meeting.