Claiming that she was sexually harassed by a female supervisor, a former Wethersfield police records clerk is suing the town and calling the police department a hostile workplace.
Helga Dupont claims she was the victim of a pattern of gender discrimination, and says the town retaliated against her when she complained.
Dupont’s lawsuit accuses her female supervisor of “openly discussing and sharing passages from the explicit romance novels she wrote under the pseudonym, Taryn Steele,” and claims that she was singled out for micromanagement and extra work assignments.
Dupont also claims that both the town’s human resources department and the police chief investigated her complaints but didn’t intervene to help her.
Attorneys representing Wethersfield have filed court documents denying the accusations.
Dupont sued last spring, and Hartford Superior Court Judge Lisa Morgan recently ordered that witnesses for both side must give depositions this fall to keep the case on track for a possible 2027 trial.
The suit comes several years after a series of female Wethersfield police sued the town complaining of favoritism or job-related harassment. They arose during the tenure of a previous police chief and a previous town manager, and the lawsuits were later dismissed.
In Dupont’s case, neither attorney Town Manager Fred Presley nor Police Chief Rafael Medina returned messages seeking comment. Municipal officials typically won’t discuss pending cases.
Attorney Dennis Durao of the Rocky Hill firm of Karsten & Tallberg, LLC, which is representing Wethersfield, also did not respond to a message.
Dupont’s attorney, Ronald Pugliese, also could not be reached to discuss when her employment with the town ended.
Dupont was classified as a Clerk III, the top seniority level in that job category, when she worked in the police records office in 2023 and early 2024, according to the lawsuit.
“From the start of her employment and continuing, the plaintiff’s supervisor, Heather Joly, subjected her to ongoing sexual harassment, harassment, and unequal terms and conditions of employment based on her female gender,” according to the lawsuit.
Dupont contends that in March of 2023, she gave a written complaint to Nancy Mullaney, the town’s human resources manager at the time, detailing discriminatory conduct against her.
Dupont claimed Joly openly discussed “past sexual escapades and ‘woman problems’ ” at the workplace, and made inappropriate sexual comments to her. At one point, Joly told a sergeant about a 17-year-old “Oh, that’s in Helga’s age range. She likes them young like that,” Dupont contends.
After the complaint, Joly began retaliation by increasing Dupont’s workload while reducing duties of coworkers, the suit contends. A male colleague was assigned to monitor her, and Joly issued Dupont a write-up about poor job performance that Dupont contends was motivated by retaliation.
The human relations department ended its investigation without sustaining Dupont’s original allegations, and a subsequent complaint to her union ended with “no effective action,” Dupont said.
In the spring of 2024, Dupont complained to Sgt. Jennie Rivera after reportedly finding a pubic hair on her desk, but later Chief Rafael Medina closed the investigation citing insufficient evidence, the suit contends.
Dupont complained she was unfairly blamed for mistakes and was required to inform her supervisor whenever she left the records room, even though other employees didn’t have to do that. She contends she was banned from taking breaks or lunch when the rest of the staff was away, but claims Joly “often left me alone to do everything.”
The suit claims Dupont suffered anxiety, emotional stress and exhaustion, and that her professional reputation was damaged by false accusations.