WARWICK, R.I. (WPRI) — Two former Warwick employees who have filed federal lawsuits against the city are speaking out publicly, accusing their former boss and coworkers of sexual harassment, discrimination and retaliation. Bree Boulais and Peter Broomfield, who both worked in the Warwick Water Division until last year, alleged the inappropriate behavior began in early 2022 when Boulais said several of her colleagues and her boss -- Director Terry DiPetrillo -- started sexually harassing her. One of DiPetrillo's comments, she said, will haunt her forever. "He thought it would be funny to ask my coworker if he would be willing to 'run a train on me,' and that is a form of gang rape," Boulais said in an exclusive interview with 12 News. "Peter had heard it," she added. "Multiple coworkers had heard it, and they laughed." Peter Broomfield and Bree Boulais, former Warwick employees, have filed federal lawsuits against the city are speaking out publicly, accusing their former boss and coworkers of sexual harassment, discrimination and retaliation. Broomfield, who joined the division in 2015, said he became the target of discrimination after deciding to stick up for Boulais and encouraging her to report the sexual harassment. Broomfield, who is Jewish, said it came to a head in August 2023 when DiPetrillo called him, Boulais and business manager Michael St. Pierre into his office to hear his "Nazi joke." "He had me stand up in front of them," Broomfield recalled. "He said, 'Knock, knock.'... Before I could even say, 'There...,' he slapped me across the face and said, 'We will be the ones asking the questions.'" Broomfield said he still feels the sting of DiPetrillo's slap, and it has affected him unexpectedly. "It opened up wounds that I didn't know I had, ancestral wounds that I didn't know were there," he said. Boulais's and Broomfield's stories were two of many examples of harassment and discrimination outlined in separate civil-rights lawsuits they have filed against Warwick in U.S. District Court in Providence. Boulais's lawsuit was filed in June; Broomfield's was filed in October. When contacted by phone, DiPetrillo declined to comment and deferred all questions to the Warwick solicitor's office. A city spokesperson declined to comment on the allegations, citing the ongoing litigation. City-hired attorneys denied several of Boulais's allegations in court documents; they hadn't yet responded to Broomfield's complaint as of Wednesday. 'You would look a lot prettier if you smiled' Boulais, who started working in the division in 2021, said agency leaders fostered a hostile work environment. "They were condoning it," she said. And DePetrillo, she said, wasn't the only person harassing her. She alleged that from March 2022 until she left in 2023, she was also sexually harassed by the division's business manager, St. Pierre, along with two other employees, Norman Metz and Jason Parmelee. The harassment happened in different ways, she said. "It was in-person comments, it was text messages, it was emails, it was banter," Boulais said. "Any type of communication where their wants and needs could be conveyed." According to her complaint, Metz approached Boulais at work and told her, "You would look a lot prettier if you smiled." Metz then told coworkers he dreamed that she "made out with him and took her clothes off," the lawsuit said. In an email Parmelee sent Boulais, he wrote, "I don't think I ever realized how attractive you are. Super cute," according to court documents. In an email from her boss shared with 12 News and outlined in court documents, DiPetrillo told Boulais, "You look stunning." In a text message from St. Pierre, he told Boulais she should wear her blue dress on a date with her fiancé, according to the lawsuit. "You look killer in that dress," he wrote. St. Pierre then told Boulais he had developed feelings for her, according to the messages outlined in the lawsuit. "I don't want to make you feel uncomfortable, but I simply can't hold it in any longer," he wrote. Contacted by phone this week, Parmalee acknowledged that he made a mistake by giving an unwanted compliment and said he apologized to Boulais. Paramalee, who no longer works for the city, said his incident was isolated and that "it would never happen again." "Everyone has something dirty on their hands," he said. Metz and St. Pierre did not respond to multiple requests for comment. Attorneys for Boulais gave 12 News an image of an email she allegedly received from Warwick Water Division Chief Terry DiPetrillo. Attorneys for Boulais gave 12 News an image of a message she allegedly received from Warwick Business Manager Michael St. Pierre. Attorneys for Boulais gave 12 News an image of a message she allegedly received from Warwick Business Manager Michael St. Pierre. Broomfield said hearing St. Pierre's last comment spurred him to stand up for Boulais, and he expressed remorse for not doing it sooner. "I was so disappointed in my own complacency, that I had allowed a work environment like that to continue," he told 12 News. According to Boulais and Broomfield, the situation started getting worse after an incident involving DiPetrillo's brother, Michael DiPetrillo, a Water Division program manager. In April 2022, after the alleged harassment had already been bubbling up, Boulais said she was walking to her car when a power tool fell and landed just a few feet from her. A photo of the power tool Boulais said Michael DiPetrillo allegedly threw on April 1, 2022. "Alarmed and quickly worried for her safety, [Boulais] looked up in the direction the tool came from and standing there was Mr. Michael DiPetrillo," according to her complaint. "Mr. Michael DiPetrillo glared at [her] without a word and left the tool where it fell." Boulais said she locked herself in her car, took a photo of the tool and called her boss, Terry DiPetrillo, to report the incident. Boulais said Terry DiPetrillo told her to keep quiet about his brother and advised her not to tell human resources. But Boulais and Broomfield said they decided to ignore his advice and reported the incident to their other supervisor, St. Pierre, along with human resources. As a result, they said the decision made them a target of retaliation. On the same day they reported the incident, the duo said Terry DiPetrillo came back to the office and berated them. "[He] told us that, 'We made a huge mistake,'" Boulais said. "That we were, 'Getting a good man fired.'" Michael DiPetrillo, who didn't respond to multiple requests for comment, wasn't fired. He received a 10-day suspension without pay and a verbal warning for the incident, according to the lawsuit. After the suspension, Broomfield said Terry DiPetrillo would tell road crews to avoid them, and he would repeatedly yell at them at work. "The work environment became more and more hostile," attorneys wrote in Broomfield's lawsuit. RELATED: Warwick employee charged with simple assault after coworker complaint 'I have become a recluse' On the day of the "Nazi joke," Broomfield alleged that he talked to St. Pierre in the parking lot afterward, according to the lawsuit. Broomfield said St. Pierre shared his thoughts on why nothing had been done about Terry DiPetrillo's behavior, despite reports being made to people higher up in city government. "[At] this point, I have to believe that the mayor is turning a blind eye," St. Pierre said, according to the complaint, referring to Mayor Frank Picozzi. City officials have pushed back. "Mayor Picozzi will not comment directly on pending litigation, but the insinuation that he was turning a blind eye is absurd and patently false," Piccozi spokesperson Elizabeth Tufts said in a statement. Terry DiPetrillo (Courtesy: Warwick Police Department) Broomfield ultimately reported the incident to police. Terry DiPetrillo was arrested and charged with simple assault. According to court documents provided to 12 News by Broomfield's attorneys, DiPetrillo pleaded no contest and was ordered to have no contact with Broomfield. He received a one-year filing, meaning he wouldn't be punished and could get the charge removed from his records if he stayed out of trouble for one year. The case is no longer visible in court records. After the assault, Broomfield said he went to human resources and asked to be transferred to another department. He said he was told a transfer wasn't possible, which made him feel unable to do his job. "I have an assault charge and a no-contact order with the director of the Water Division, whose desk is 30 feet away from mine," Broomfield said. "So, at that point, I felt as though I had been effectively terminated." That same month, Boulais said she started talking to a therapist. Fearing further retaliation, she said she called out sick from work and received a leave of absence note from her therapist that she provided to human resources. Boulais said she was never offered leave under the federal Family and Medical Leave Act, or a state equivalent, and instead was forced to use her sick time for her absences. She later started using leave without pay while receiving medical treatment, according to court documents. "Depression, it has a way of eating you up inside," Boulais said. "I was diagnosed with PTSD and depression as a result of what occurred at the Water Division." A month later, Boulais emailed the city's personnel department with a detailed resignation letter, outlining the "harassment and hostility she faced while employed by the Water Division." Similarly, Broomfield said he was forced to use 700 hours of his sick time and the city didn't resolve issues tied to a workers' compensation claim. Boulais and Broomfield said their experiences at the Warwick Water Division still affect them. "I have become a recluse, a bit of a hermit," Boulais said. "Don't really leave the house." Both Broomfield and Boulais are seeking back pay and compensation for lost benefits and earnings, along with damages for their "mental anguish and emotional pain and suffering." But they said the civil-rights lawsuits represent more than money to them. "We need to make sure that this never happens again," Broomfield said. "They need to right the wrongs that they've done." Terry DiPetrillo has been out on paid sick leave since June, and his "employment status is currently under review," according to Tufts. Daniel O'Rourke is serving as the Water Division acting director. "Mr. DiPetrillo was suspended without pay for two weeks for the joke incident," Tufts added. According to Tufts, Metz was transferred to sanitation and St. Pierre continues to work as a business manager and financial analyst for the city. "We've lost our jobs," Broomfield said. "We lost our pensions. We lost our benefits. We lost friends." Close Thanks for signing up! Watch for us in your inbox. Subscribe Now Daily Roundup SIGN UP NOW