Greenwich Settles with Police Captain Over Sex Harassment Allegations

Editor's note: We previously shared this article, here it is again in case you missed it.

GREENWICH, CT—The Board of Selectman voted 3-0 to approve a settlement to resolve complaints brought by Police Capt. Pamela Gustovich.

Gustovich will receive a lump sum payment of $143,000 to cover salary and legal fees and the town will purchase an annuity of no more than $135,000 to equal the amount of retirement payments that she would have received if she remained with the town.

Gustovich filed her first formal complaint against the town on August 27, 2014 and has filed complaints beforehand with the town human resource department.
She alleged that she was disobeyed by subordinate officers when she was promoted to captain in 2012 and was subject to verbal harassment and vulgar conduct as part of a campaign to remove her from the position due to her gender and sexual orientation, according to a summary of the settlement provided by the First Selectman's office.
She was in charge of the patrol division and was moved to the operations division, which didn't result in a reduction in rank or pay, but she viewed it as a reduction in role and authority.
Gustovich also alleged that she received unwarranted negative performance evaluations and that Capt. Mark Kordick's behavior toward her was harassing and threatening.
The town contends that Gustovich was reassigned due to a toxic environment that she created and that negative ratings weren't based on her gender or sexual orientation.
The town also contends that while Kordick's behavior, "has not always been a model of decorum, a number of the instances of his behavior cited in the complaint were either not true or presented inaccurately and out of context."

Town counsel debated trying a potential case, but decided that due to its complexity and number of witnesses involved it would be prohibitively expensive. It wasn't clear whether all of Gustovich's charges could be disposed and airing them in public could hurt the police department and town.
The Police Commissioner, First Selectman Peter Tesei and Chief James Heavey plan to secure the services of a consultant to conduct an independent organizational assessment of the department.