New London ― The city will pay $400,000 to end a harassment and sexual discrimination lawsuit filed by New London police detective Melissa Schafranski-Broadbent.

She had sued the city and two former officers at the police department.

The settlement includes a lump sum of $140,000 to Schafranski-Broadbent for compensation of “physical injury and emotional distress,” and more than $140,000 spread out over five years for “non-economic compensatory damages.”

Schafranski-Broadbent’s attorney, Jacques Parenteau, will receive $120,000 of the settlement. Terms of the settlement, which were approved by the City Council on July 14, were released to The Day on Friday after the newspaper filed a Freedom of Information Act request.

“While I am not permitted to discuss the terms of the settlement agreement, as I noted recently, the resolution of these gender and race discrimination cases signals a new approach to assuring equality in the terms and conditions of employment at the New London Police Department,” Parenteau said in a statement on Friday.

The city and its insurer, the Connecticut Interlocal Risk Management Agency, agreed to settle the suit and halt an expected trial “to avoid the uncertainty, expense, and burden of litigation or other proceeding ...” according to the language contained in the settlement.

The city and two officers targeted in Schafranski-Broadbent’s suit – retired Officer Charles Flynn and Lt. Jeffrey Kalolo – deny they treated Schafranski-Broadbent wrongly or “engaged any wrongdoing or has any liability to Schafranski-Broadbent,” according to the suit.

Kalolo was disciplined and temporarily demoted for multiple violations of department policy cited in an internal investigation prompted by Schafranski-Broadbent’s complaints.

The settlement includes a “nondisparagement” agreement, barring any of the people involved in the suit from making disparaging statement about each other. Schafranski-Broadbent is similarly barred from discussing the settlement.

Complaints about mistreatment by Schafranski-Broadbent, 43, date back to an internal complaint she filed in 2019 alleging she was being harassed and treated differently than her male counterparts. She followed the complaint with a lawsuit naming Kalolo and Flynn, citing examples of mistreatment, unwarranted reprimands and demeaning comments and criticisms.

She claims she was reprimanded after being falsely accused of eating lunch with other officers while clocked in. She alleges Kalolo told her in November 2017 she was getting a “bad reputation” while taking medication for postpartum depression. In 2019 she said Kalolo pulled her into a meeting about a rumor she was having an extramarital affair with another officer. She was on the top of the list for promotion to detective in 2020 and said Kalolo and others attempted to intimidate her into withdrawing and delayed the promotion in an attempt to run out the two-year promotional list.

The complaint, she alleged, led to retaliation against her and a follow-up complaint to the Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities.

City has paid almost $1 million to settle two officer suits

Schafranski-Broadbent did not immediately return calls Friday for comment on the settlement. Parenteau has previously said he has seen a shift in culture in the time since this case and the racial discrimination complaint by Lt. Cornelius Rodgers were filed. The city settled Rodgers’ federal discrimination suit earlier this year at a cost of $570,000. Schafranski-Broadbent’s lawsuit appears to be the last in a series of complaints and lawsuits from officers at the police department.

Mayor Michael Passero and Johanna Zelman, the attorney representing the city, declined comment Friday.

Parenteau, in his statement, said “the battle to secure civil rights is one that must be fought every day.”

“We will be watching as the days and weeks go by with the hope, and expectation, that the NLPD will continue to faithfully apply laws mandating equality in the workplace which will no doubt be to the benefit all persons who reside in the City of New London,” he said.

g.smith@theday.com