Waterbury City Hall. Photo: Google

Workers' compensation attorney Donna Convicer said her job within the Waterbury Corporation Counsel's Office was difficult from the get-go, but alleges she was fired in large part because she wouldn't say a police officer had suffered a heart attack on the job.

Convicer, who worked for the office from October 2017 through April 2018, alleges corporation counsel Linda Whibey "wanted me to find a heart attack where there was none."

"My refusal to find the heart attack put me in peril of losing my job, which ultimately happened," she said.

Convicer claimed in a Connecticut Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities complaint that Whibey belittled her in public. She said when she declined to find a heart attack in the case of Officer Stephen Monnerat, Whibey "put the watchdogs on me."

Those "watchdogs," Convicer said, were acting assistant corporation counsel Daniel Foster and Richard Scappini, another attorney in the office, who allegedly monitored her work.

Whibey, who runs the office, told the Connecticut Law Tribune she would not comment on Convicer's complaint and allegations. Foster also declined to comment.

Scappini said, "It would be inappropriate to comment on the Monnerat case." He added, "It would be inappropriate to comment on any aspect of a workers' compensation claim which clearly involves medical issues and some compensatory issues."

Scappini also said he was involved for nearly three weeks in trying to facilitate communications between Whibey and Convicer. "I made no decision on any directives or any work efforts that would be made by the staff attorney."

Meanwhile, all sides agree that Monnerat, the officer whose workers' compensation case allegedly started the conflict, had several health issues. But they reached different conclusions on his claim.

Monnerat suffered a possible heart attack in 2009 chasing a suspect. There were two other health scares in 2013 and October 2017. In the 2013 incident, Monnerat tested negative for a heart attack but was found to have an adrenaline rush, Convicer said. About four years later, he went to the emergency room after a tussle with a suspect. According to Convicer, Monnerat had "an elevated blood level for a heart event, but it was not a heart attack."

That, Convicer said, is where things took a wrong turn.

 

'It remains a mystery'

Even though listing Monnerat as having a heart attack would have cost the city more money in workers' compensation clams, Convicer alleges that's how the top people in the office wanted it.

In December 2017, Convicer said Jan Dryden, the adjuster for the city and an employee with workers' compensation company PMA, contacted her.

"She told me she would have to fight the Monnerat claim because he did not have a heart attack and there was no medical evidence of it," Convicer said.

Dryden declined to comment Tuesday.

But Convicer, who has been an attorney since 1981, said the incident was at the crux of her firing.

"Why would they do it, if it would cost the city money?" Convicer said, adding that the finding would have cost the city several hundred thousands of dollars in workers' compensation payouts. "It remains a mystery to me on why it happened."

Convicer said she doesn't know what became of the Monnerat case. But Maryann Laspina, an employee with the city's Workers' Compensation Office, said the case was "still outstanding" and remained unresolved.

The city responded to Convicer's CHRO complaint by saying she refused to follow Whibey's directive in the Monnerat case, among other issues.

"On at least two occasions while speaking to me between April 6 and April 10 2018, she recounted refusing to follow directives given to her by attorney Whibey concerning the redacted name workers' compensation claims," Foster wrote.

Foster said Whibey never directed attorneys to accept Monnerat's claim or any other. Instead, he suggested Convicer was insubordinate and "has also undermined attorney Whibey's authority in other ways."

The most notable example, Foster wrote, regarded allegations by Convicer, who claimed Whibey had gone on a tirade against employees, including "out of control screaming" at Convicer.

Foster said that never happened.

"I have never heard Attorney Whibey scream at her or at anyone else," he wrote.

Foster also described what he called "very troubling" statements by Convicer. He wrote the attorney reported seeing a drone outside her window.

"She said that she did not believe that the drone was spying on her, but it made her fear for her safety because it could break the window," he wrote.

The 63-year-old Convicer is seeking about $50,000, and wants the city to say both sides agreed that her separation from the office was mutual and that she was not fired for cause. She said that agreement would help her find jobs in the future.

"This has ruined my professional life and my financial life," she said.

A fact-finding conference on Convicer's complaint is set for May 15.