‘It’s a lawsuit and these are allegations. We will have our day in court’”

Warwick Mayor Frank Picozzi

A second former Warwick Water Division employee has filed a federal lawsuit against the city, its Water Division and Mayor Frank Picozzi over events in the department between March 2022 and August 2023.

The civil-rights suit was filed by Peter Broomfield, a former administrative employee in the Water Division.

Broomfield, who is Jewish, was the target of what was referred to as a “Nazi joke” delivered by Water Division Director Terry DiPetrillo in August 2023. DiPetrillo was arrested shortly afterward and pleaded no contest to a simple assault charge.

It contains four counts accusing the defendants of discriminatory termination, retaliatory termination, gender and sex retaliation and physical assault by a state actor. The first three counts each claim a violation of the Civil Rights Act.

The suit says the Water Division’s work environment started turning toxic in early 2022.

“For the first seven (7) years, Plaintiff did his job well and there were no offensive events,” the suit says. “In fact, Plaintiff regularly received accolades from the mayor’s office throughout his employment. However, as time went on, and after an employee named Bree Boulais started working in Plaintiff’s department, it became apparent that the leadership of the Water Department fostered an unlawful, hostile work environment; the hostility quickly escalated to retaliation against those who opposed the unlawful behavior in the office.”

Boulais filed a separate lawsuit in June against the same three defendants in federal court alleging that DiPetrillo, with other Water Division employees, sexually harassed her throughout her time in the department. DiPetrillo has been on leave since Boulais’ lawsuit was filed in late June.

Broomfield, the suit claims, was a confidant of Boulais and reported her claims of sexual harassment to the city’s Human Resources Department. Because he defended Boulais, the suit claims, Broomfield became a target of DiPetrillo.

An inciting incident, also mentioned in the Boulais lawsuit, was DiPetrillo’s brother Michael allegedly throwing a power tool at Boulais in June 2022. According to Broomfield’s suit, Broomfield disproved Michael DiPetrillo’s claim that the tool dropped from his truck and wasn’t tossed at Boulais.

From there, he confronted Michael DiPetrillo, and the two, along with Boulais, argued about the events that transpired. Michael St. Pierre, the Water Division’s financial manager and Broomfield’s direct supervisor, reported the issue to Human Resources against the wishes of Terry DiPetrillo.

The lawsuit claims that despite Terry DiPetrillo’s telling Boulais and Broomfield “Good job, you got a good man fired,” Michael DiPetrillo was not fired but given a 10-day suspension for the incident. As a result, however, the suit claims St. Pierre took no future matters to Human Resources.

“After he spoke to HR and based on how Mr. Terry DiPetrillo reacted, Mr. St. Pierre said to Plaintiff ‘I will never go to HR again,’” the suit reads. “After that, Mr. St. Pierre did not step in on Plaintiff’s behalf, nor on Ms. Boulais’ behalf, despite both of them complaining to Mr. St. Pierre about Mr. Terry DiPetrillo and Mr. Michael DiPetrillo.”

Over the next year, according to the lawsuit, the DiPetrillo brothers continued to target Boulais and Broomfield, and told other coworkers not to talk to them. The two were reportedly(??) not given new business cards with the rest of the Water Division employees, and were excluded from an annual Christmas commercial that featured the rest of the Water Division.

“Mr. Michael DiPetrillo informed the road crew to avoid both Ms. Boulais and Plaintiff, and even placed a sign on the door, stating ‘EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATLY (sic). OFFICE STAFF AND FOREMAN ONLY,’ the suit reads. “Plaintiff and Ms. Boulais were instructed, differentially from other coworkers, not to enter the office for any reason. Communicating with the road crew was an important aspect of Plaintiff and Ms. Boulais’ jobs. Blocking access to the office complicated the communications and had no job or business related purpose, other than to retaliate against Plaintiff and Ms. Boulais.”

According to the suit, Broomfield was stressed upon entering work on Aug. 8, 2023, the date of the Nazi joke, as he had taken the previous day off and was trying to catch up on work. At around 8:30, DiPetrillo walked into Broomfield’s office, directing Boulais and St. Pierre to enter as well, and delivered the joke, which included slapping Broomfield in the face.

“Mr. Terry DiPetrillo burst out laughing hysterically as Ms. Boulais and Mr. St. Pierre looked on in utter shock,” Broomfield’s suit reads. “Plaintiff was mortified, humiliated, and offended, as well as in pain and shock from the physical assault. This ‘joke’ was subjectively and objectively offensive. Moreover, slapping Plaintiff was an assault in the workplace.”

Boulais’s lawsuit, filed in June, also claims DiPetrillo’s punishment for the incident was a 10-day suspension.

Following the incident, Broomfield continued working for the rest of the day, though he did not return to the Water Division afterwards and spoke with Boulais and St. Pierre at the end of the work day. According to the lawsuit, St. Pierre questioned whether Picozzi was “turning a blind eye” to DiPetrillo’s actions, and mentioned a past incident where Michael DiPetrillo reportedly screamed “I’m going to f****** pound you” at a former employee after a disagreement.

Following the “Nazi joke,” Broomfield asked to be transferred to another department, saying that he felt unsafe working under DiPetrillo, Human Resources Director Steven Rotondo, according to the suit, said an immediate transfer would be impossible, which Broomfield disbelieved because of a previous employee’s experiences.

Broomfield took that as a termination of his employment, since he had at that point obtained a no-contact order against DiPetrillo.

“Notably, during these conversations, Mr. Rotondo also stated that [the city] would be conducting an investigation and that Plaintiff would hear about a resolution,” the suit reads. “Plaintiff never heard from the City of Warwick on that matter either. Plaintiff now believes that he was effectively terminated that day and has never been asked to return to work.”

Since that time, according to the suit, Broomfield received worker’s compensation through March 2024, when his sick-time hours ran out.

According to the suit, Broomfield is looking for "appropriate back pay with interest, front pay, compensation with all other lost incomes and benefits, earning capacity, and all other relevant entitlements and emoluments...[and] an amount of money which will fairly compensate the Plaintiff for his mental anguish, emotional pain and suffering, damage to his reputation, loss of standing in the community, and other damages incurred."

Broomfield and Boulais’s suits were filed in the U.S. District Court for Rhode Island. When reached for comment, Picozzi’s office said “It’s a lawsuit and these are allegations. We will have our day in court.”