Former Peterborough Deputy Town Clerk Gayle Bohl has filed a lawsuit against the town of Peterborough for wrongful discharge and a violation of whistleblower protections. Bohl’s lawyer, Chuck Douglas, filed a request for a jury trial on Tuesday after Bohl resigned from her position at the end of September, alleging an unsafe and hostile work environment under her supervisor, Town Clerk Linda Guyette.
According to the complaint, Bohl claims her involuntary resignation on Sept. 29 amounts to a constructive, or wrongful, discharge, which means the employer’s actions make working conditions so difficult and intolerable that a reasonable person would be forced to resign. She is seeking damages related to lost wages, earning capacity and employment benefits as well as compensation for the “emotional distress, humiliation, inconvenience, and loss of enjoyment of life” endured in the process.
Bohl and her husband both have conditions that put them at high risk for COVID-19, and she initially expressed concern about Guyette’s alleged cavalier attitude towards COVID-19 prevention to Town Administrator Rodney Bartlett on June 23, while Guyette was out of the office after testing positive for the virus earlier in the month. When Guyette returned to the office, she allegedly declined to move Bohl’s desk away from her own, wear a mask, or disinfect the shared workspace, according to the complaint. The town staged a third-party investigation in response to Bohl’s complaints, and its findings largely supported her claims that Guyette was cavalier about protecting herself, staff, and the public from COVID-19, had failed to train Bohl to fulfill her role, and had treated Bohl and other employees with hostility. Bohl was subsequently moved to the basement of the Town House and worked at different hours than Guyette. The complaint alleges that the physical and emotional toll of the work environment caused Bohl to have panic attacks, feel exhausted, lose weight, and led to a need for anti-anxiety medication. Bohl started working for Guyette in September 2019.
The filed lawsuit included excerpts from a second complaint Bohl wrote to Bartlett in early July. “Here’s the thing, she is so concerned with having PPE, hand sanitizer and wipes for the election, but she doesn’t care about my health or safety, literally the person who works with her every day, sharing space,” Bohl wrote, and that Guyette didn’t wear a mask or sanitize any surfaces while working with her, including their shared phone. Bohl said she was once asked to retrieve voicemails from a phone she had just watched Guyette take into the bathroom with her. “I am not sure what else I can do. She makes it impossible for me to keep myself safe… My desk was supposed to be moved to the back of the office and she continually pushes back about that. She wants a piece of plexiglass between us. How that going to help me when she cannot keep herself out of my space,” Bohl said.
Guyette’s lawyer Anne Rice did not respond for a request for comment, and Deputy Town Administrator Nicole MacStay said the town was not able to comment on Friday because they hadn’t had a chance to review the complaint.
The shakeup’s potential effect on election materials drew the attention of Deputy Secretary of State David Scanlan in September, and he warned the town that absentee ballot records and requests needed to be in the sole possession and control of elected official Guyette. The town corrected the situation to Guyette’s satisfaction, according to MacStay and a letter from Select Board Chair Tyler Ward.
Although Bohl’s initial complaints included Guyette’s alleged unprofessional attitude towards residents, the town’s third party investigation was inconclusive on that point, according to the complaint filed Tuesday.