Ex-employee files complaint against school district

TORRINGTON — The school district’s former human resources director has filed a complaint with the Connecticut Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities, alleging wrongful termination and discrimination, according to court records.

Michelle Dumas Keuler, a human rights attorney with the CHRO, confirmed Tuesday a complaint bearing Joseph Campolieta’s name had been filed but declined to release the complaint or provide further information about the case, saying it remains under investigation.

As a generality, the investigatory process in such complaints typically takes between a year and a year-and-a-half, Dumas Keuler said.

Complaints are reviewed by a member of the commission’s legal department to determine whether it falls within its jurisdiction, she said. If it is retained, a mandatory mediation is scheduled within 60 days, which can be followed by an investigation.

Campolieta declined to comment Tuesday, citing

the advice of his legal representation.

Attorney Maria K. Tougas, who is representing Campolieta, declined to comment Wednesday, saying she does not comment on cases to the media as a matter of practice.

Superintendent Denise Clemons and Board of Education Chairman Fiona Cappabianca did not immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday.

Campolieta, the former director of human resources for Torrington Public Schools, was fired Aug. 21, according to documentation provided to the Board of Education in September, after having his contract renewed in July.

He was hired in July 2013 for the role, shifting into administration after

serving as a music teacher in the district for 13 years.

In response to another pending case, Tougas asked Campolieta receive a protective order to prevent him from being deposed in the case of Derek Bonnett vs. Torrington Board of Education and Eric Baim, because it could affect his CHRO filing, she said.

“Mr. Campolieta no longer works for the Torrington Board of Education and currently has a pending discrimination and wrongful termination case pending with the CHRO against the (board),” said Tougas in the March 2 motion. “It is anticipated that the testimony that he would be asked to provide in the above-referenced case will try to be used against him by the Torrington Board of Education in the CHRO complaint, thereby raising issues against self-incrimination under the Fifth Amendment.”

Bonnett filed suit against the Board

of Education and Baim in March 2017 after receiving a release of jurisdiction from the CHRO regarding his complaint, according to court records.

In the ongoing suit, Bonnett claims Baim harrased him “on the basis of Baim’s perception that Bonnett was homosexual and/or that Bonnett did not conform to Baim’s stereotypes of how males should behave” over the course of nearly three years, and the board failed to property supervise Baim or respond to the harassment, according to documentation.

Former Torrington Middle School Prinicipal Valerie Bruneau is alleging she was wrongfully terminated by the district, in a civil case filed in January.

The last activity in that case took place in February, according to U.S. District Court records.