EXETER, N.H. (AP) – A former police prosecutor is suing Police Chief Richard Kane and the town of Exeter, alleging sexual discrimination and breach of contract.
Elyssa Slater filed her lawsuit Dec. 19 in U.S. District Court after first filing complaints with the state human rights commission and U.S. Equal Opportunity Commission last spring. In November, Slater was issued a notice of right to sue by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Her lawsuit seeks back pay, attorney’s fees and expenses, pay in lieu of reinstatement and other damages.
Slater, of Londonderry, worked as Exeter’s police prosecutor from May 2006 to February 2007, during which she received a positive performance review and a raise, according to the lawsuit. She claims that though a salaried employee, she was required to use a time card to show her attendance for at least 40 hours a week. Subsequently, she learned from the town’s human resources representative that male salaried employees did not face the same requirement, the lawsuit said.
The lawsuit also alleges Slater was told to park her car in an offsite lot with the police department’s non-salaried all-female secretarial staff, instead of with similarly employed male staffers. Though Slater’s male predecessor was given access to a police cruiser to use for work, she was offered a used and damaged car for business travel, the lawsuit says.
Court documents state that after Slater raised these issues with her immediate supervisor, Lt. Christopher Fenerty, she was confronted by Kane, who spoke to her in a “loud voice and aggressive manner,” asking repeatedly whether she would pursue a grievance and calling her a “petty woman.”
Slater’s lawsuits allege the actions of her supervisors, Kane and Fenerty, in response to her questions about different treatment, “were intended to discourage, coerce and intimidate her and to threaten her continued employment and these were actions taken in retaliation for her opposition to and complaints of gender discrimination.”
Kane declined to comment Wednesday to the Portsmouth Herald. He and Fenerty were not immediately available to comment on Thursday.
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Information from: Portsmouth Herald, http://www.seacoastonline.com
AP-ES-12-27-07 1247EST
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