Watertown attorney doubles down after jury awards detective $4M in gender discrimination lawsuit

The day after a jury awarded $4 million to the Watertown’s first female detective in her gender discrimination lawsuit, the attorney for the city and the Watertown Police Department doubled down on their defense.

Doug Louison told GBH News that the city did not agree with the jury's finding that the incidents relayed by former detective Kathleen E. Donohue “constituted a hostile workplace for women.” He also said Donohue’s claims of discrimination were negated by her having multiple opportunities to “grow and flourish” in her career while working there. Louison said the city will file post-verdict motions within a week, as part of the process of considering an appeal.

Donohue alleged in her complaint, filed in 2019, that she had experienced sexism and harassment for the entirety of her 20-plus years on the force.

“Detective Donohue worked in an environment where sexually charged jokes — sometimes graphic and gross — were the norm,” Ellen Zucker, Donohue's attorney, told GBH News.

Zucker said Donohue initially tried to ignore the issue, but that eventually she decided something needed to change.

“She asked for an investigation,” Zucker said. “Watertown Police Department completely shrugged off that request. They did a one-hour training they knew would be handled with an eye-roll from the force, and they did nothing more.”

The jury awarded the funds on Thursday after more than two weeks of trial.

The total amount included $1 million in punitive damages and more than $3 million in backpay, as previously reported. Her attorney said she had to take a leave of absence in the fall of 2016 for her mental health, and that she has been off the active payroll since spring 2017.

The greatest source of stress, Zucker said, was the lack of support she experienced after the Boston Marathon bombing. Donohue was on the scene the night that bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was discovered hiding in a boat, and said that bullets fired by other officers came close to hitting her. But she said the worst part was what came next.

“There was a lot of post-traumatic stress among a lot of the officers. But instead of getting services, she got ugly harassment and discrimination,” Zucker said. This included, Zucker said, the circulation of false rumors that her job responsibilities increased to include communication with the press because she was sleeping with then-Chief Ed Deveau.

“What the jury said in its punitive damages award was that the conduct of the town was outrageous,” Zucker said. “And we hope [it] sends a message — not just to the town of Watertown, but to police departments all over the commonwealth."