
Boston Water and Sewer Commission parts ways with its $200K HR director amid civil fraud allegations
The Boston Water and Sewer Commission’s embattled human resources director, embroiled in several civil lawsuits that include fraud allegations and investigated on three separate occasions by the quasi-public agency, is out of a job.
Marie Theodat, chief human resource officer of the Water and Sewer Commission, is no longer employed at the agency, where she was paid $202,873 and promoted last year but had been on paid leave since at least this past February.
“Effective April 18, 2025, Ms. Theodat no longer works for the Commission,” Dolores Randolph, a Commission spokesperson, said in a Wednesday statement.
Randolph declined to comment on the reason behind the departure, which became effective last Friday, “as it is a personnel matter.”
While she responded to a Herald inquiry seeking confirmation that Theodat was dismissed from her role, Randolph did not respond to further inquiries about whether the departure was initiated by the Commission and when the agency’s top human resources executive was placed on paid administrative leave.
The Water and Sewer Commission said in early February that Theodat was on paid administrative leave, after a Herald public records request and appeal to the Secretary of State’s office.
Theodat did not respond to a request for comment.
The Water and Sewer Commission held an 8 a.m. executive session-only meeting last Tuesday to discuss “litigation and legal advice.”
The meeting was convened two days after the Herald published a report based on public records from the Commission that revealed the agency spent tens of thousands of dollars investigating Theodat but continued to give her raises, promote her and then pay her $202,873 salary while she stayed home on paid leave.
The public records, which showed Theodat had been investigated three times, were released to the Herald on April 9 by the Commission, after it was compelled to do so following an appeal to the Secretary of State’s office.
Nearly $30,000 was billed to the Commission by two outside law firms in August and December 2024 for two investigations of an undisclosed nature. One internal investigation into Theodat was also conducted by the Commission staff, at a cost that was not disclosed by the quasi-public agency, records show.
Although the Commission was paying for investigations into “allegations of misconduct against” Theodat, it continued to give her a series of raises. Her pay has been hiked by 61% since 2019, and the Commission promoted Theodat from human resources director to chief human resource officer last September.
City and Commission payroll records show Theodat was the highest paid human resources director in the City of Boston last year, and was tied with five other department chiefs as the sixth-highest paid employee at the Commission.
The Commission chose to withhold the “three internal investigation reports related to Marie Theodat’s employment” with the agency, Randolph wrote in the April 9 records response. She cited a privacy exemption for doing so, but commented generally on what the investigations entailed.
“The Commission investigated allegations of misconduct against Ms. Theodat and issued these investigation reports to determine whether any disciplinary action, up to and including termination, was required,” Randolph wrote. “The investigation reports are highly likely to create personal embarrassment for Ms. Theodat because disclosure would make public, at the very least, the allegations of misconduct raised against her.”
The first commissioned investigation took place in the month that preceded the filing of a civil lawsuit in Suffolk Superior Court that alleged Theodat worked with relatives to swindle her elderly and dementia-ridden uncle out of his home.
It was conducted between July 16 and July 30 last year, according to an Aug. 5 invoice from ADR Research. The invoice was sent to Michael Flaherty, a former Boston city councilor who was general counsel of the Water and Sewer Commission at the time.
Flaherty was later fired by the Commission, this past Jan. 10, due to what the quasi-public agency said was a “breakdown in the working relationship” between Flaherty and the Commission’s Executive Director Henry Vitale.
At the time, two other lawsuits were pending against Theodat in Suffolk Superior Court, including one that involved some of the same parties and the same Dorchester home as the August 2024 lawsuit and one that alleges Theodat stiffed a woman on a $75,000 mortgage loan.
The August 2024 civil lawsuit that alleges Theodat “fraudulently induced” her uncle to sign over the deed to his $1.1 million home for “less than $100,” under the “guise” that he was signing documents related to his medical care, first came to light in an October 2024 Herald report.
Weeks later, per Commission records, Serino Law was retained by the agency to conduct an investigation into Theodat, that per the invoices, extended from Oct. 29 to Dec. 20. The law firm was paid nearly $25,000.
Two invoices for that work were sent last December to Nixon Peabody, an outside law firm that appears to now be handling the bulk of the Commission’s legal responsibilities.
Related Articles
Battenfeld: Trump supporter super PAC donation more ammo for Wu
Boston working group recommends health care reuse of Dorchester’s shuttered Carney Hospital site
Trump administration’s visit to Boston to probe college antisemitism is off
Don’t diss Tania, Dianne Wilkerson warns candidates vying to replace disgraced Boston city councilor
Pols & Politics: Betrayal in Boston; Galvin looks to fix city election flaws
Per Commission records, Nixon Peabody was hired on a contractual basis in late October of last year for $350,000, and was retained again this past January for a $500,000 contract that extends throughout the end of this year.
At the time, the Commission was being pressured by a trio of unions representing Water and Sewer Commission employees to investigate and suspend Theodat while the “severe” allegations leveled against her in civil lawsuits played out in court.
The unions, SEIU Local 888, IAM Local 100 and OPEIU Local 6, sent a letter to Vitale, the executive director, raising concerns about Theodat’s “personal access to sensitive information such as banking numbers, routing information” and social security numbers.
After obtaining records revealing the existence of three prior internal investigations, the Herald inquired about how long city taxpayers would be paying Theodat’s $202,873 salary.
The Commission did not respond at the time, but provided an answer — until April 18 — on Wednesday.
Headquarters of the Boston Water and Sewer Commission. (Nancy Lane/Boston Herald)