Boston City Hall sexual harassment lawsuit goes to trial Wednesday
A six-year-old sexual harassment lawsuit against the the city’s former health chief Felix G. Arroyo finally goes to trial Wednesday, with heavy-hitters in Boston’s political and legal circles, including then-Mayor Marty Walsh, expected to take the stand.
The case of Hilani Morales versus her former supervisor Arroyo and the City of Boston, in which Morales accuses the then-health cabinet chief of sexually harassing her and the city of retaliating against her with a demotion after she complained, has been working its way through the courts since March 2018.
Arroyo, who was fired by Walsh following an internal investigation, and the city, deny the accusations. Arroyo says he never harassed Morales and that she was a bad employee, while the city refutes claims that it retaliated against Morales and says that it took action against Arroyo after she complained to human resources.
Both Arroyo and Morales are seeking damages in the case, which begins with jury selection Wednesday in Suffolk Superior Court in what is expected to be a two- to three-week trial presided by Judge Adam Sisitsky, according to court documents.
Morales is seeking $95,000 for back pay, attorneys’ fees, and medical bills, and “damages attributable to emotional distress,” including hospitalizations and treatments she underwent and attributes to the actions of Arroyo and the city.
Arroyo filed a counterclaim against Morales in court, saying that she defamed him when making assault claims to their coworkers, and is seeking damages “attributable to emotional distress and loss of good reputation.”
He has also filed a wrongful termination lawsuit against the city, which didn’t conclude in its internal investigation that led to his firing that he assaulted or had sex with his employee, Morales, although it did find that “Morales’ allegations could expose the city to liability,” an outside attorney for the city wrote at the time.
Morales alleges that she ultimately succumbed to Arroyo’s repeated advances, which she says often occurred in City Hall and other work-related settings, engaging in a sexual relationship with him during a difficult time in her marriage — when she was separated from her husband and had commenced divorce proceedings in 2016 and was undergoing psychiatric treatment.
She alleges that Arroyo began criticizing her work performance after she chose to reconcile with her husband and break off their relationship in January 2017, and that there was an instance of physical assault, when Arroyo grabbed the back of her neck after he learned of a meeting she had scheduled with human resources.
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Morales further claims that she was demoted to a position with no clear responsibilities by the city after complaining about the alleged harassment and assault to human resources, and ultimately, after using sick time for related medical treatment, chose not to return to work.
Arroyo claims in court documents that Morales was a subpar employee who did not take valid criticism of her work performance well, and that she made false accusations against him only when she felt her job was in jeopardy.
He further states that Morales suffers from a psychiatric condition called borderline personality disorder, that her husband threatened to kill him when he was out with his pregnant wife, and his political career and reputation were destroyed by her allegations.
Arroyo, a former city councilor who ran for mayor in 2013, has a legal team that features his brother Ricardo Arroyo, a former city councilor who was defeated in last fall’s election cycle after a string of scandals that included being slapped with a $3,000 ethics fine for continuing to represent his brother legally in this case after joining the City Council.
His father, Felix D. Arroyo, is also known for being a former city councilor, School Committee member, and Suffolk registrar of probate and family court.
Heavy hitters expected to testify throughout the trial include former Mayor Walsh, who was in office at the time and now heads the NHL Players Association after a stint as President Biden’s labor secretary; Daniel Koh, Walsh’s former chief of staff in Boston City Hall and then in labor who’s now a deputy cabinet secretary in the White House; and federal Senior Judge Mark Wolf, a well-known justice at the John Joseph Moakley U.S. Courthouse.