Kauai County will pay a police sergeant $100,000 in damages under a conciliation agreement that settles a case in which the sergeant said she suffered retaliation after alleging sexual harassment by an assistant chief.
The agreement comes a year after the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission found reasonable cause that the Police Department retaliated against Sgt. Darla Abbatiello. The EEOC has made no finding as to whether she was subjected to sexual discrimination and sexual harassment.
The agreement was signed Monday by Director Glory Gervacio Saure of the EEOC’s Honolulu office. County officials and Abbatiello signed the agreement June 8.
The commission had investigated charges of harassment, discrimination and retaliation in response to complaints Abbatiello made to the EEOC in November 2012 and June 2013.
Abbatiello, who has worked at the Police Department for 26 years and was selected as Hawaii’s police officer of the year in 1999, had taken her harassment claim to the department, the Police Commission, the EEOC and the mayor.
The case led to a controversial move by Mayor Bernard Carvalho to suspend Police Chief Darryl Perry in 2012 as the county investigated Abbatiello’s allegations of a hostile work environment.
Under the agreement, the county and Police Department will dismiss all charges brought against Abbatiello through internal affairs investigations and notices of disciplinary action between February 2012 and the date of the agreement. Abbatiello and the Police Department agreed that the charges will not be revisited and/or refiled.
The Police Department also agreed to expunge any and all references to the charges against Abbatiello from her personnel files.
Abbatiello agreed not to sue the county or the Police Department.
She had cited acts of retaliation, including an administrative investigation in which the assistant chief alleged that she filed a malicious false complaint against him.
"This case wasn’t so much about the money as it was about clearing her name and having these (retaliatory) investigations removed from her file," Abbatiello’s attorney, Dan Hempey, said.
"She is apprehensive and excited to return to her normal work routine."
Police Chief Darryl Perry and other county officials were unavailable for comment.
Under the agreement, the county agreed to hire a consultant approved by the EEOC to implement provisions of the agreement and to conduct anti-discrimination training for all managers, supervisors and employees.
