LIHU‘E — County officials have confirmed that only three staff members of Kaua‘i Police Department have been placed on leave pending an investigation into an employee-generated complaint, which means the employee who filed the complaint may still be reporting for
LIHU‘E — County officials have confirmed that only three staff members of Kaua‘i Police Department have been placed on leave pending an investigation into an employee-generated complaint, which means the employee who filed the complaint may still be reporting for duty.
KPD Chief Darryl Perry and assistant chiefs Ale Quibilan and Roy Asher were placed on leave this week because of a hostile work environment complaint filed on Jan. 31 by KPD officer Darla Abbatiello-Higa, according to a source close to Abbatiello-Higa.
The mayor’s executive assistant, Beth Tokioka, on Thursday said the county follows the guidelines of the federal Whistleblower Protection Act. On Friday, she said the county policy on workplace harassment “leaves flexibility for the persons handling the investigation to use the appropriate measures based on the circumstances, but doesn’t dictate exactly how to do it because every case is different.”
The County of Kaua‘i’s Policy Against Discrimination and Harassment, 2010 edition, states, “Pending investigation, the investigator(s) shall take immediate and reasonable action to limit the work contact between employees where there has been a complaint of discrimination or harassment.”
In 2006, the county settled a lawsuit filed by Abbatiello-Higa for $980,000. She claimed she was wrongfully harassed and demoted while working at the department and that her civil rights and protections offered under federal Whistleblower Protection Act were violated.
Abbatiello-Higa currently works at KPD’s Administrative and Technical Bureau and runs the KPD Explorer program for youth. She could not be reached Friday for comment.
Tokioka did not confirm whether the chiefs’ leave is paid or unpaid “as that’s a personnel matter,” she said.
