BOSTON (Legal Newsline) — A Justice Resource Institute Haitian-American worker in Massachusetts alleges she faced discrimination.
Helen Joseph filed a complaint June 22, 2023 in Suffolk County Superior Court against Justice Resource Institute (JRI) Inc., John Gatto, Jenese Brownhill and Mark Schueppert, alleging race/national origin, sex discrimination and other claims.
Joseph, a Haitian-American, began working for JRI as a program director of the Boston Trauma Response Team in July of 2019, according to her complaint. She alleges that she was kept from being involved in JRI's emergency alert system, despite her role as program director and that one of her supervisors referred to himself as "Charlie" and the women in the office as "his angels."
She also alleges the supervisor told her that "Black women think you are not on their side and have a chip on their shoulders." Joseph further alleges the same supervisor raised his voice and banged the table after being told during a meeting she had "made him angry." She claims her authority was defied and challenged on a regular basis and that her treatment caused her to seek medical treatment for panic attacks.
Joseph alleges that she requested a third party be involved in any meetings with the supervisor because she did not feel safe meeting with him alone but was denied the request, suspended in July of 2020 and then terminated.
Joseph seeks monetary relief, interest, trial by jury and all other just relief. She is represented by Patrick Banfield and Alejandra Hung of Banfield Law in West Roxbury, Massachusetts and Chetan Tiwari of Tiwari Law in West Roxbury.