The former Tisbury fire chief filed a lawsuit against the town last week, claiming the select board unlawfully fired him in October. 

Greg Leland sued the town and the board in Dukes County Superior Court on April 23, arguing the town did not give him a proper hearing to defend himself over charges of favoritism and creating an uncomfortable work environment connected to his relationship with the lead paramedic supervisor.

The improper proceedings culminated in a wrongful termination, depriving him of his $152,000 salary, his lawyer wrote in the 12-page complaint.

“The unlawful deprivation of Chief Leland’s property right in his continued employment as a public employee has harmed him by wrongfully depriving him of his right to the due process of law and of his expected wages as of the date of his wrongful termination and thorough the present day,” the suit reads. 

When reached Monday, Mr. Leland declined to comment on the case, which has yet to have a hearing scheduled. 

Select board chair John Cahill said he hadn’t seen the suit, and couldn’t comment anyway on pending litigation.

The town put Mr. Leland on administrative leave in July 2024, at the time for undisclosed reasons pending an investigation. An August report from the town’s law firm, obtained in a records request, found that the town had been asking Mr. Leland about rumors of a relationship with a coworker going on for more than a year. 

The town report claimed that both parties denied a relationship, but coworkers and staff in other town departments said it was widely known the two were dating. One employee said they had heard complaints from department staff who felt the chief was allowing the subordinate to make her own schedule and overlooked her coming in late. 

In his lawsuit, Mr. Leland said he and the paramedic supervisor, who is not named, had notified the town of the consensual relationship, and he had been sent an email about workplace relationships by town administrator John Grande. 

At the time, Mr. Leland said there were no indications that the relationship was in violation of any town policies, practices or terms of his contract, according to the suit. A little over a week after the workplace relationships email, Mr. Grande notified Mr. Leland that the relationship had become an employment issue, potentially violating the town’s sexual harassment policy, the lawsuit claims. 

After Mr. Leland, who disputed the allegations, was placed on leave, he and his attorney attempted to build his defense. Mr. Leland made several public records requests, asked the town for permission to speak to fire department employees and requested a list of witnesses that would appear at his hearing before the select board — not all of which were answered by the town, according to the lawsuit. 

“Chief Leland was not permitted to present the full defense that he would have had he had access to the evidence and witnesses requested,” the lawsuit states. 

The select board voted in October to terminate Mr. Leland and its investigation found that morale in the department had sunk, with “members of the Department believing that the Chief does not treat them well, that he belittles them and talks down to them,” according to one employee in the town report.

An August 2024 letter from Mr. Grande to the select board included in the lawsuit alluded to issues within the department, and said the town was working to overcome them. But Mr. Grande, who has since left the town for a job in the private sector, found no proof of favoritism and did not recommend that Mr. Leland be fired. 

“Setting aside whether a relationship exists or not, I find an allegation of favoritism, but no proof of favoritism,” Mr. Grande wrote. “However, the perception of favoritism needs to be resolved within the fire and paramedic service. I see this as an area of operation and management that Chief Leland needs to improve, in order to dispel this concern.” 

The town has not yet officially responded to the allegations in court, and a further hearing has not yet been set.