DRACUT – Police Chief Peter Bartlett faced an “ongoing refusal to let him come back to work” during what became a seven-month absence due to an on-duty injury, according to his lawyer Beth Myers of the Boston law firm Burns & Levinson.
That conduct represents both discrimination and retaliation, according to Myers. And that is what is alleged in the complaint filed with the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination.
Bartlett slipped on ice while fueling his police cruiser in the winter of 2019-2020, injuring a shoulder, arm and hip. It was originally reported that the injury occurred in February 2020, but the MCAD complaint reports that it happened in December 2019.
He worked for several months in a modified capacity while under the care of his physician and while doing physical therapy.
Bartlett continued working through much of May. However, on May 26, his physician, dissatisfied with his progress, “pulled him out of work” to have his shoulder assessed by a surgeon.
The announcement that he was taking a leave coincided with a vote of no-confidence from 90% of the police force, and a decision by the Board of Selectmen to put on hold discussing a new contract with the chief. But Bartlett was under doctor’s orders to take a leave before those events occurred, Myers said.
Bartlett said he would take the leave under the guidelines of a state law that guarantees police, firefighters and emergency personnel full pay without any withholdings while recovering from an injury.
In early July, his physician cleared him to return to work in a restricted, or light duty, capacity. He contacted Town Manager Ann Vandal to let her know he could come back with accommodation for light duty.
“She said, ‘Nope. We don’t have a policy on light duty capacity,’” Myers quoted Vandal as saying.
“But under state and federal law, it doesn’t matter whether the town has a policy. An employer should engage in an interactive process with the employee” to determine when and how an employee returns to work, the attorney said.
The town failed to engage in such a process with Bartlett, she charged. “Requesting accommodation is a protected activity. So after making the request for accommodation, refusing to let him come back to work is discriminatory and retaliatory, according to the law.
He was told he could not return to work until he was 100%, as demonstrated by passing a functional capacity test. “But she (Vandal) didn’t schedule one for him,” Myers said.
Myers told The Sun that Bartlett continued to communicate with the town throughout the fall.
That is at odds with what Vandal has said in the past. The town manager has said Bartlett was told to contact her on Oct. 2 with a return-to-work-date. She did not hear from him. In fact, it was several days before she heard from him.
In a subsequent email to the Sun, however, Myers said, “There was never any date or deadline in October by which Chief Bartlett was supposed to give a return-to-work date to Ann Vandal, the selectmen must have misunderstood communications between Ann and Chief Bartlett.”
The statement from Myers continued, “He remained willing and able to return to work with accommodation from July 7, 2021, until he was cleared by his physician to return without restrictions in late November. It was the town that refused to permit him to return before December 2020, and insisted he could not do so until he was medically cleared to return without restriction.
“Chief Bartlett’s physician did not clear him to return at full duty until November. Thereafter, the Town delayed scheduling a functional capacity exam for another week or two and then placed Chief Bartlett on Admin leave until December 10th.”
By placing Bartlett on administrative leave, he lost the benefit of not have any tax withholdings from his checks, a benefit afforded to him through state law for public safety personnel injured in the line of duty.
The town approached Bartlett in late November to see if he was open to negotiating a retirement package. Bartlett made an offer that selectmen rejected as too expensive for the town. It included a severance payment of $262,000, representing 18 months of salary and town contributions to a COBRA health insurance package for 18 months.
Myers email statement concluded, “What should have been a month and a half medical leave (late May to July 7, 2020) was enlarged unnecessarily to more than six months by the town, against Chief Bartlett’s express wishes. He was able — and wanted to — come back to work five months before he was ultimately allowed to.”
Regardless of the outcome of his MCAD complaint, Bartlett plans “to perform his duties as chief of police.” He is working under a contract that continues in force and he has civil service protection.
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