Fired conductor charges discrimination in lawsuit

By John Curran Associated Press BURLINGTON, Vt. (AP) -- The former conductor of the Vermont Youth Orchestra, fired after seven months in the job, says he was the victim of a smear campaign alleging he had engaged in sexual harassment and that the orchestra's board discriminated against him by failing to accommodate his bipolar disorder. In a civil lawsuit against the Vermont Youth Orchestra Association and founder Carolyn Long, Ronald Braunstein is seeking reinstatement to his job -- which has since been filled -- and compensation for what his lawyer says was emotional distress and damage to his reputation. Braunstein, 55, of South Burlington says he suffers from bipolar disorder and needed some accommodation to function in the job but didn't get it. His lawsuit, filed Feb. 14 in Chittenden County Superior Court, alleges libel, slander and discrimination on the basis of a disability. "We, of course, disagree entirely with those sentiments," said Eileen Blackwood, an attorney for the orchestra association. She said Braunstein was terminated over performance issues and that the organization neither knew about his disability before the firing decision nor was ever asked to accommodate it. Long, an honorary board member and the organization's music librarian, told orchestra board members and others that Braunstein had committed sexual harassment during an August camp session for students, according to the lawsuit. "You should look out for your daughter," Long told some parents, according to the lawsuit. Long declined to comment Thursday when reached at her home. Her lawyer, Amy McLaughlin, also declined to comment. Braunstein's lawyer, James Dumont, said the sexual harassment allegations were fabricated. The orchestra, based in a former cavalry drill hall in Colchester, serves 600 students from Vermont, New York and New Hampshire annually, offering orchestral programs, choruses, music camps, master classes and music theory instruction. Braunstein, a Juilliard School graduate, was hired July 1 as music director and conductor for the Vermont group. He previously served as music director for the National Orchestra of Taiwan and as a guest conductor with the Tokyo Symphony, his website said. Long, who wasn't consulted about his hiring, began telling people after an August camp involving 150 students and 15 orchestra organization faculty members that he had committed sexual harassment during the camp session, which she knew wasn't true, the lawsuit said. The lawsuit says that in October, orchestra association staff members told the executive director they didn't want to work with Braunstein, one sending an e-mail to the group's executive director that said: "Everyone feels like they are working with a man who has a mental illness and we don't know how to work with that." Braunstein says that in a Nov. 11 meeting with the group's executive director and two board members, he told them he'd been diagnosed with bipolar disorder and was having trouble functioning at work because of complications in adjusting the levels of lithium he was prescribed to treat it. The executive director, Caroline Whiddon, told the board that she was willing to help Braunstein, but board members told Whiddon and Braunstein he was being terminated, the lawsuit said. The orchestra association's lawyer said the decision was based on his job performance. "They were not aware of his disability, and he had never requested any accommodations to say, 'Because I have this disability, I need this or that or other assistance,'" Blackwood said. She said that board members had initially focused on his performance after learning from staff that he was having serious problems with it and with his conduct. "And when they learned about that, (a subcommittee of the board) immediately confronted him, talked to him about it and he admitted some of the most serious things. The board met, looked at the information and decided to terminate him," Blackwood said. She wouldn't comment on settlement talks that preceded the filing of Braunstein's lawsuit or on the sexual harassment allegations leveled against Braunstein, saying Long would have to address those. "The board feels as if they did what they needed for the best interest of the organization, the students in VYOA and their responsibility as board members," Blackwood said. Published: Mon, Mar 21, 2011