A former Boston cop has won a $1 million lawsuit after claiming she was fired for calling out co-workers who made lewd comments about her sex life — despite jurors finding she was unfit for the job.
Enxhi Qirici, 32, was fired from the Boston Police Department during a year-long probationary period in 2019 following allegations that she erupted at fellow officers during two separate incidents, the Boston Globe reported.
In 2021, Qirici sued the department after her termination, claiming it was retaliatory and that she endured ongoing sexual harassment and discrimination in the workplace.
The city’s attorneys argued that she was simply unfit for the job, having allegedly lost control of her emotions with fellow officers on the force.
Jurors ruled Tuesday afternoon that Qirici had endured a hostile work environment within the department, but found it did not factor into her being fired.
During the week-long civil trial, Qirici’s attorney, Ilir Kavaja, claimed that leadership within the BPD allowed an environment where racism and sexism were permitted to thrive, the Boston Globe reported.
“This case is about fairness and equality,” Kavaja said.
Qirici — an Albanian immigrant who came to the US as a teenager — entered the department’s academy in 2017.
She testified that after graduating, she was assigned two field training officers and eventually began dating one of them, Eliot Telisnor.
Qirici said that after news spread that she was dating Telisnor, who is black, she faced a wave of lewd jokes and harassment about her sex life for dating a black man.
However, during this time, she was also involved in the two incidents, for both of which Telisnor was present, that ultimately led to her being fired. --->READ MORE HERE
An ex-Boston cop who claimed she was unfairly fired after her co-workers made raunchy remarks about her sex life was awarded $1 million in lawsuit damages.
But the jury was not convinced the harassment had anything to do with her being booted - and ruled that she was simply bad at her job.
Enxhi Qirici, 32, was fired from the Boston Police Department (BPD) in 2019 after allegedly flying off the handle and lashing out at other officers on two separate occasions, according to the department.
But Qirici sued the BPD in 2021, alleging that her termination was an act of retaliation and that she experienced unrelenting sexual harassment and discrimination on the job, according to the complaint filed in the US District Court of Massachusetts.
On Tuesday, the jury concluded that while Qirici did experience a hostile work environment, it was unrelated to her firing, according to The Boston Globe.
Within her first month on the job, Qirici, who is white and originally from Albania, started dating a fellow police officer, Eliot Telisnor, who is black.
Once news of their relationship spread through the department, Qirici said she was hit with a slew of crude jokes and jabs about her sex life.
Her co-workers had even said they wanted to sleep with her, according to the complaint.
Qirici claimed that she was targeted because she was dating a black man, and that leadership allowed for 'scurrilous, sexist and racist remarks' to be made against her, the filing states.
'This case is about fairness and equality,' Qirici's lawyer, Ilir Kavaja, said in court, as per The Boston Globe.
Amid uncomfortable interactions, Qirici - who was still in her one-year probationary period, which applies to all new officers - was involved in two incidents that ultimately led to her termination. --->READ MORE HERE
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