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Connecticut Judicial Branch v. Gilbert, 343 Conn. 90 (2022)

Citation
Connecticut Judicial Branch v. Gilbert, 343 Conn. 90 (2022)
Parent Document
Connecticut Judicial Branch v. Gilbert, 343 Conn. 90 (2022)
Jurisdiction
Connecticut (state)
Effective Date
2022-04-26

Other Sections in This Document (128)

Full Text

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seq. (2018) (Title VII), and (2) the state has waived its
          sovereign immunity with respect to prejudgment and
          postjudgment interest awards for civil rights violations,
          but also determined that (3) the award of emotional
          distress damages must be vacated because of the com-
          plainant’s failure to fully comply with the branch’s dis-
          covery requests in the administrative proceeding, and
          (4) the injunction reinstating the complainant to her
          former workplace must be vacated as overbroad and
          otherwise improper. The branch challenges the first two
          determinations on appeal; the commission challenges
          the latter two determinations on cross appeal. We affirm
          the judgment of the trial court with respect to the Title
          VII issue, reverse the judgment with respect to sover-
          eign immunity, and remand the case for the referee to
          conduct a new hearing in damages and, if appropriate,
          to revisit the injunction reinstating the complainant to
          her former workplace.
             The following background facts and procedural his-
          tory are relevant. In 2012, the complainant brought a
          claim with the commission alleging that another judicial
          marshal, Gordon Marco, subjected her to severe and
          pervasive sexual harassment and unwanted sexual con-
          tact, potentially rising to the level of sexual assault, at
          various times between 2006 and 2012, while she was
          stationed primarily at the Danielson courthouse. The
          complainant alleged that the branch discriminated against
          her on the basis of her gender by, among other things,
          subjecting her to a hostile work environment, failing to
          adequately investigate her allegations, and failing to
          take adequate remedial steps to protect her. The com-
          plainant also claimed that the branch had retaliated by
          altering the conditions of her employment in response
          to her complaint. Most prominently, she alleged that,
          beginning in mid-2012, her supervisor, Russell Downer,
          reassigned her from Danielson, where she had been
          assigned since 2006, to the Willimantic and Putnam
Page 38                        CONNECTICUT LAW JOURNAL                           April 26, 2022