[CREDIT: Rob Borkowski] The Warwick Water Division offices on Sandy Lane are the scene of a months-long pattern of Warwick sexual harassment by staff and supervisors, as told in a lawsuit by a former employee.

WARWICK, RI — Two City Councilors say Warwick sexual harassment demands consequences after a lawsuit detailed staff and management sexually harassed a Water Division employee for 18 months, as Human Resources and DPW chiefs ignored her complaints.

The harassment ended only when the employee, Water Project Supervisor Bree Boulais, resigned in October 2023, after what she described as more than a year of sexual harassment, ignored by, encouraged by and conducted by Warwick Water Division Chief Terry DiPetrillo.

Councilman Vinny Gebhart has called for DiPetrillo’s dismissal. Councilman Jeremy Rix, when reached for comment on the lawsuit, said supervisors sexually harassing employees must face “severe consequences”.

“The allegations in this matter are very serious and any allegations of this nature should be taken seriously,” Rix said. He said he could not comment further, since the matter is being decided in court and he doesn’t have first-hand knowledge of the allegations.

Council President Stephen McAllister and Council members Timothy Howe and Anthony Sinapi declined to comment on the lawsuit, each of them citing the active lawsuit as a reason not to comment. Council members Donna Travis, William Foley, Ed Lacouceur, and James McElroy did not respond.

Similarly, Liz Tufts, Picozzi’s media coordinator, replied to questions about the lawsuit, “This is a legal matter, and the city can’t comment on this at this time.”

When asked to clarify the city’s sexual harassment policy and training, Picozzi’s office did not respond. Warwickpost.com has filed a public records request for that information.

“While it is not unusual for lawyers to encourage their clients to withhold comment about a pending lawsuit, that should not be an excuse to also withhold general information that should be readily available to the public,” said Steven Brown, Executive Director of ACLU of Rhode Island.

“Since an open records act request would provide a copy of the city’s harassment and training policies to anybody who asked for them, coyness from public officials about sharing that type of information is unnecessary and unwarranted and disserves the public’s right to know,” Brown added.

Warwick Sexual Harassment by Supervisors, Staff in Two Departments

A copy of the 50-page complaint, originally reported by GoLocal Prov, has been attached at the end of this article.

The complaint details a year and seven months of harassment, by a Finance Department employee, multiple members and supervisors in the Water Division, and apathy toward the victim’s reports from the DPW and Human Resources directors.

A timeline summary of the events described in the lawsuit follows:

March 11, 2022:

Jason Parmelee, City Controller, Warwick Finance Department, emails Water Project Supervisor Bree Boulais, writing: “Hey there. I was just over there…I don’t think I ever realized how attractive you are. Super Cute… Well, have a great weekend haha!”
Boulais immediately responded, telling Parmelee his message was inappropriate. She also alerted her manager, Water Division Business Manager Michael St. Pierre and Water Division Director Terry DiPetrillo, in person. The supervisors assure her they will speak to Parmelee and his supervisor, Finance Director Peder Schaefer. They leave the door to the office open during the exchange. Parmelee has a history of harassing women, known to the supervisors.

March 14, 2022:

Boulais receives an email from Water Division Chief Terry DiPetrillo, reading, “You look stunning.” He then approached her desk and asked, “Did you get my email?”

March 15, 2022:

While Boulais and co-workers were in a co-worker’s office, Water Division Chief Terry DiPetrillo entered and said, in front of the group, “Bree, I believe I left my socks by your bedside.” He then turned to one of the coworkers and asked him, “[w]ant to come by Bree’s later and run a train on her?” using slang for multiple partners having sex serially with a person, according to The Urban Dictionary.
Boulais reports the comments to her immediate supervisor, St. Pierre, who led her to believe he would handle the complaint and that she didn’t have to go to Human Resources. Employees were encouraged to handle such complaints within the office chain of command before resorting to Human Resources.

April 1, 2022:

While Boulais was walking to her car, Michael DiPetrillo, another Water Department supervisor, Terry DiPetrillo’s brother, threw an angle grinder at her, hitting the pavement a few feet ahead of her. Boulais said the incident followed their disagreement after she moved a copy machine so she could use it. Michael had moved it as a prank on another employee.
Terry DiPetrillo told Boulais not to report the incident to Human Resources, that he wanted to handle it in-house. She did report it to St. Pierre, however. She later learned from Terry that Michael has a history of violence and had had a violent outburst in the office before.

April 5, 2022:

All Water Division employees involved in the angle grinder throwing incident, including a coworker, Operations Aid Peter Broomfield, who had investigated the complaint and Michael’s claim the grinder had fallen off his truck, were interviewed by Human Resources Director Steven Rotondo and DPW Director Eric Earls.
Upon learning his brother was being interviewed by HR, Terry DiPetrillo told Boulais and Broomfield, “You should have kept your mouth shut. You guys f***ed up.” He added, “Now you got the corner office involved.”
In June, the HR investigation ended, with Micael DiPetrillo receiving a 10-day suspension and verbal warning.

June 9, 2022

Terry DiPetrillo shouted at Broomfield for withholding the daily sheet showing where the road crew would be performing work and what work was being performed, from Michael DiPetrillo, who was not supposed to receive that information during his suspension. Terry DiPetrillo shouted something to the effect of “I’m the boss” and “I tell you who to send the daily sheets to” and that “I am telling you to send it to my brother”.
DiPetrillo began to miss weeks of work at a time. St. Pierre filled in for him during these absences. When he did return, DiPetrillo began impeding Boulais’ work, asking others to do her job. St. Pierre, when presented with this frustrating behavior, told Boulais, “Don’t make waves.” Shortly after, a co-worker also began skipping her and bringing work directly to St. Pierre.
Michael DiPetrillo informed the road crew to avoid Boulais, and placed a sign on her office door, stating that they were not to enter the office for any reason. Communicating with the road crew was an important aspect of Boulais’ and Mr. Broomfield’s jobs.

Warwick Sexual Harassment: DPW, HR Chiefs: ‘Move along’

Nov. 14, 2022

Earls and Rotondo returned to the Water Division office to conduct a “character investigation” into Terry DiPetrillo. The two interviewed Boulais, asking her to describe the office environment. She responded that the office environment hadn’t been created overnight, that it had developed with many previous inappropriate events and actions. As she described Terry DiPetrillo’s ongoing retaliation for her reports, Michael’s harassment and DiPetrillo’s harassment, Earls interrupted, telling her, “Please stay on topic.” Boulais continued, describing Terry’s comments insinuating they were having an affair and joking about inviting a coworker to “run a train,” on her. Rotondo appeared shocked and surprised. Earls said, “Bree, this is irrelevant. Move along, we all have places we need to be.”

Late November 2022

Near the end of November, Terry DiPetrillo called Boulais into his office and informed her she was being suspended for missing a deadline, and when she returned, her desk would be moved next to the restrooms. Boulais said she had met the deadline. Terry told her he would double check and sent her back to her desk.
Boulais returned to her desk and emailed the Chief of Staff for the Mayor, Susan Nahabedian, and included Rotondo on the email. The email read: “I was called into the Director’s office this morning with Michael St. Pierre at 8:15am. Upon entering, I was informed that I was going to be suspended today following the meeting. When I asked for the reasoning I was told that a certain bid (large diameter clamps, couplings & saddles) did not meet the council deadline, and that moving forward I would need to pay more attention to the deadlines set forth. Frankly concerned by this accusation I questioned his findings. Informing him that I am certain it was sent over in a timely manner well before the deadline. He then told me that he was going to look into it further, and that if he’s incorrect in dates he would then owe me an apology. The director then left the Water Department and I am unable to determine if he will be returning for the day. Attached is an email sent to the Director from purchasing where I was CC’d. Giving proof that I did meet the deadline for the bid in question. As you are aware, staff members of the Water Department were called down to personnel by a complaint filed on November 9, 2022 regarding a matter of violent behavior displayed by Terry DiPetrillo. On November 16, 2022 Peter Broomfield, Mike St. Pierre and Myself were called into Terry’s office for a meeting where we were given nothing but praise for our work ethic by the Director. Specifically directed towards me he stated that I am still learning different aspects of my job as well as himself and I shouldn’t worry myself with stress that we are here to help each other. Yet today, I’m blatantly accused without facts of not performing my job correctly and the result is me being suspended. Following the allegation placed on him I can’t help but feel as if this is by no stretch of the imagination a form of retaliation on his part.”

Boulais received no response to her email.

Christmas 2022

Terry DiPetrillo ordered business cards for office staff using his personal funds, except for Boulais and Broomfield. The two were also left out of planning for the annual Christmas commercial put together by Mayor Frank Picozzi, whereas everyone in the office had been very involved the previous year.

Warwick Sexual Harassment: Nowhere Left to Turn

Feb. 9 2023

Broomfield and Boulais discussed her plans for the evening, which St. Pierre overheard. He later texted Boulais at 2:25 p.m., writing, “I hope your lunch went well! Just an unsolicited opinion – you should wear your royal blue dress on your date. You look killer in that dress. Don’t let it go to your head! Lol.”
At 6:58 p.m., St. Pierre sent a second text that read, “Hey! No response from my last text to you. I hope I didn’t offend you. It was meant to be complimentary…” Boulais felt degraded and deflated to have yet another one of her bosses sexually harassing her. Further, she did not know who to report these texts to since the last time she had tried to report sexual harassment to Earls and Rotondo and she was told the sexual harassment by Terry DiPetrillo reported to them before was “not relevant.”

April 27, 2023

Following an attack on his brother outside the office, Michael, Terry DiPetrillo brought collapsible batons into the office and brandished them in front of Boulais and other employees, stating that he would use them on whomever had assaulted his brother. Boulais felt threatened by the display, given DiPetrillo’s history of aggressive outbursts.

April 28, 2023

While working alone in the office together St. Pierre asked Boulais if she wanted to, “Grab a quick drink. She declined St. Pierre’s offer and told him she had somewhere to be. She wrote in the complaint she felt extremely uncomfortable to be put in this position of St. Pierre asking her to have a drink alone without coworkers or St. Pierre’s wife.

St. Pierre followed up later that day with a text, reading, “Ok, so I’m going to drop a bombshell here. Before I say anything, I first want you to know that I’ve been conflicted about revealing / telling you this because I’m not sure what or how your reaction is going to be. Just as important, I don’t want to create additional awkwardness in the office, but I’ve got to get this off my chest… I find myself that I’ve developed some feelings for you. I sort of try not to reveal it that much, but I do. I don’t expect you to reciprocate at all, but I want you to know. I have to ask – did you ever get a gut feeling that I like you? Again, I don’t want to make you feel uncomfortable, but I simply can’t hold it in any longer… I can’t believe I told you, but it is what it is.”

May 1, 2023

When Boulais did not respond St. Pierre’s texts, he texted her again and wrote, “Bree, good morning. I want to sincerely apologize for sending you that text. I was completely out of line and I deeply regret it. I am truly sorry. I had no right to send that.”

May 2023

On May 2, since Boulais now feared retaliation from her direct boss if she did not reply, she responded “Forget it was ever mentioned.” Again, Boulais, now facing harassment from her direct manager, having had her prior complaints dismissed by Rotondo and Earls, did not know who to turn to.
Boulais was still forced to continue to report Terry DiPetrillo’s ongoing hostility and retaliation toward her to St. Pierre. St. Pierre often responded saying “cooler heads prevail,’ and, “I will look into this further. Don’t make waves till then.” and promise to alert Earls about the issues. But he took no action according to the lawsuit.
Also during this time, a new hire of Terry DiPetrillo, Norman Metz, began sexually harassing Boulais, telling her she would look prettier if she smiled. She replied, “I am not here for your entertainment.” From that point on, Metz would routinely tell her to smile. Metz would often stare at her from his car through an office window. Broomfield and another coworker also told her that he had told a story to coworkers about dreaming about her naked. He also once attempted to get her to step outside to “give her a gift,” which she refused to do. She also reported this to St. Pierre but no action was taken. The harassment from him only ended when a series of arguments with Terry DiPetrillo prompted his transfer to another department, according to the account.

Warwick sexual harassment: How do I look?, Nazi Joke Assault

July 2023

Sometime in July 2023, the Warwick sexual harassment continued as Terry DiPetrillo approached Boulais and showed her a picture of himself grilling outside, wearing nothing but an apron, asking her, “How do I look?”

Aug. 8, 2023

Terry DiPetrillo asked Boulais into Broomfield’s office to tell a joke. That turned out to be the “Nazi joke,” DiPetrillo punctuated by slapping Broomfield, which led to Terry’s arrest and assault charge, later disposed.
When interviewed by Rotondo and Earls interviewed her again later that day about the assault, which Broomfield, who is Jewish, considered a discriminatory attack, Boulais said, “Terry DiPetrillo thought it would be funny to use an anti-semitic joke on a person of Jewish faith.” She attempted again to address the hostile and harassing environment, but Rotondo responded, dismissively, “If they needed any further information they would contact [Boulais] directly.”

Aug. 10, 2023

Following her testimony about DiPetrillo’s assault of Broomfield, Boulais reported intensified retaliation, with still more of her coworkers refusing to speak with her or withholding information about her work for the day.
While he was arrested and charged for the assault, his only discipline for the attack was a 10-day suspension, according to Boulais.

Aug. 18, 2023

St. Pierre warned Boulais about DiPetrillo’s planned retaliation against her for testifying against him upon his return from suspension. St. Pierre said that, “she should “be careful of what [she] do[es],” when Terry DiPetrillo returned to work.

Aug. 28, 2023

Terry DiPetrillo returned to work, informing Boulais via a meeting with St. Pierre that he had a restraining order against her. St. Pierre told her that anything pertaining to her work would have go through him, and she was not to speak with Terry DiPetrillo.
Boulais later learned there was no such restraining order.

Aug. 31, 2023

Boulais received a note advising a leave of absence from her therapist, which she forwarded to Human Resources. She was not offered FMLA or the state equivalent.

Oct. 6, 2023

Boulais, her vacation and personal time expended, began leave with no pay.

Oct. 11, 2023

Facing the prospect of continuing harassment and a pervasively hostile work environment, Boulais resigned her position at the Water Division.

The Federal Warwick sexual harassment suit seeks an order declaring the actions in the complaint as unlawful; the awarding of back pay with interest, front pay, compensation for all other lost income and benefits, earning capacity, and all other relevant entitlements and emoluments; an amount of money which will fairly compensate her for mental anguish, emotional pain and suffering, damage to her reputation, loss of standing in the community, and other damages incurred; attorney fees, and that the Defendant pay pre-judgment interest, including interest for all damages awarded to Boulais from the date the cause of action accrued.

Boulais-vs.-Warwick-Water-Division-DePetrillo

Author: Rob Borkowski

Rob has worked as reporter and editor for several publications, including The Kent County Daily Times and Coventry Courier, before working for Gatehouse in MA then moving home with Patch Media. Now he's publisher and editor of WarwickPost.com. Contact him at [email protected] with tips, press releases, advertising inquiries, and concerns.

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Suit: Warwick Sexual Harassment By City Managers Lasted 18 Months