Boston agrees to pay $2.4 million in police gender discrimination case

A former high-ranking member of the Boston Police Department who sued the city because of alleged gender discrimination, a hostile work environment, and retaliation agreed to settle with the city last week. 

Beth Donovan initially filed a lawsuit in 2020, and a $2.4 million settlement was reached last Thursday. The case was set to go to trial in U.S. District Court in Boston this week, The Boston Globe reported. 

“Beth Donovan took on the Boston Police Department simply to demand fair treatment as a woman leader there,” her lawyer, Nick Carter of Todd & Weld, said in a statement to the Globe Tuesday. “She is pleased with the result and hopes this helps women who remain at the BPD and those who come after. Hopefully with Donovan’s case and some of the other women who have recently been successful in suing for discrimination, like Donna Gavin, the BPD will start to change and women won’t be punished for demanding fair and equal treatment.”

Here are the basics of Donovan’s case. 

Donovan, who was deputy superintendent of the Bureau of Field Services for the BPD, called 911 on the night of June 4, 2017, after attending a high school graduation party at the home of Lt. Richard Driscoll, her neighbor and coworker, according to court documents. 

Donovan said she left the party around 10 p.m. but later complained to Driscoll about kids urinating on her lawn and the music being too loud. Donovan alleged that Driscoll was visibly intoxicated and threw his beer at her while screaming profanities. 

Donovan returned to her home, and Driscoll allegedly followed. He pushed against the door, rang the doorbell, and continued screaming, according to a complaint filed in U.S. District Court. This is when Donovan called 911. 

Donovan said in the complaint that Driscoll sent her multiple texts afterward apologizing for his behavior. An Internal Affairs investigation followed.

During the investigation, the city discriminated against her because of her gender and created a hostile work environment, Donovan alleged.

In the complaint, she described a meeting with Frank Mancini, head of the department’s Internal Affairs Division, in August 2017. The meeting was to talk about another internal investigation that stemmed from an incident in 2013 when Donovan was allegedly sexually assaulted by a man at a restaurant who was in the company of two BPD officers. Donovan alleged that Mancini lied to her about there not being an open investigation into that incident. She complained to then-Commissioner William Evans about Mancini’s alleged bias.

Soon after, “Mancini and Evans began a campaign to ruin Donovan’s career and to sideline her professionally,” she alleged in other court documents. 

“The plan that Evans and Mancini concocted in September 2017 to sideline Donovan hinged on their false assessment that Donovan had an alcohol abuse problem, even though they personally had never seen her abuse alcohol on or off duty, and Evans considered her to be performing at a high level as Deputy Superintendent,” according to Donovan’s summary of the evidence in a pre-trial memo.  

Evans and Mancini engaged in additional “hostile and retaliatory action,” Donovan alleged, including “belittling” her when she was not present, spreading rumors about alcohol abuse, “ostracizing” her from colleagues, and removing her authority to fulfill her job requirements. 

“Donovan palpably felt this erosion of her standing with the Commissioner and Mancini and others on the Command Staff, and it took an enormous physical and emotional toll on her,” Donovan’s summary reads. 

Donovan was placed on administrative leave in May 2018. She was demoted that September and ordered to clean out her office. Donovan “suffered a stress and anxiety-induced attack, fainted and injured herself” while doing so, according to her summary. 

The city acknowledged that Driscoll “engaged in inappropriate conduct” at the party. It denied the allegations of discrimination, retaliation, and a hostile work environment.

The city also claimed that Donovan was placed on administrative leave due to the alleged drinking problem and an instance where Donovan allegedly used a racial slur. City officials said they hired an outside law firm to investigate Donovan’s complaint against Mancini. The subsequent investigation found that he did not act in a hostile or discriminatory way toward her, according to the city’s summary of evidence in the memo. Donovan has not worked since May 2018 and has been fully paid, the city said. 

“Donovan has a documented history of untruthfulness and mis-use of her position,” the city said later in the memo. 

Donovan sought more than $1 million for emotional distress and between $700,000 and $2,250,000 in lost wages. She also sought an undisclosed amount of money for punitive damages.

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