Former shelter employee files suit claiming workplace discrimination

NORWALK — A former employee of the Open Door Shelter has filed a complaint with the Connecticut Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities, siting workplace discrimination and harassment.

Veola Kelly, 63, of Darien, who served as the front desk receptionist for seven years, filed the complaint in June, roughly one month after she was fired from the shelter.

In her complaint, Kelly alleges she was discriminated against based on her religion — she is a Jehovah’s Witness — and “bullied” by the shelter’s executive director, Jeannette Archer-Simons.

In an August response to Kelly’s complaint, the shelter formally denied the allegations. Reached by phone Friday, Archer-Simons declined to comment, citing the matter as a personnel issue.

Kelly, who spoke at length about her complaint, said the “harassment” started in 2015 when she refused to coordinate birthday cards for staff and clients because of her religious beliefs.

“It goes against my religion of being a Jehovah’s Witness,” Kelly said. “A week after that, all the disrespect started.”

Kelly filed an initial grievance in September 2015 with a letter to the shelter’s board of directors, stating she had “continuous ongoing issues with Open Door Shelter’s Executive Director: Jeannette A. Simon.” She filed a second grievance on Feb. 7, 2017.

A letter dated March 4, 2017 and signed “staff members” was written to board director Corky Stewart, addressing the lack of an independent Human Resources Department and alleging similar complaints as Kelly.

Kelly wrote a third letter to the board, dated March 10, 2017, and stated “Mrs. Simon from the last year and some months, for some reason of her own, she has singled me out to ongoing bullying and harassment.”

“On multiple occasion she has managed to find some fault with me, even if there are none,” Kelly wrote. “I am constantly accused of not completing my daily work despite me meeting all my daily targets.”

Kelly was fired May 12 for “legitimate, non-discriminatory, performance reasons,” according to the shelter’s formal response to Kelly’s complaints.

In its response, the Open Door Shelter denied all of Kelly’s allegations of harassment and discrimination, but confirmed her recollections of being asked to coordinate birthday cards as well as the timeline of Kelly’s complaints.

“The decision to terminate Ms. Kelly’s employment in May 2017 is temporally remote from the April, 2015 conversation about her religion or the two ‘grievances’ of September, 2015 and February, 2017,” an attorney representing the shelter wrote in response to the complaint.

The state Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities now has 60 days to conduct a case assessment review. If the case is dismissed after review, Kelly will be issued a Release of Jurisdiction, and will have the option to bring a civil action in court.

If the complaint is not dismissed after review, it will be retained by the commission, though that does not mean the commission believes discrimination occurred. The next step is mandatory mediation as an attempt to resolve the case, but if the case is not settled, the commission will determine if a full investigation is necessary.

In her most recent letter to the commission, dated Aug. 23, Kelly requested an investigation and mediation with the shelter.

“I have done nothing wrong,” she said. “I felt bad because I put my all into the agency, and to be treated and sat outside, I was so humiliated by it. I don’t have an issue. I’m professional and I have so many years under my belt as an administrative assistant.”

kkrasselt@hearstmediact.com; 203-842-2563; @kaitlynkrasselt