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NEW BEDFORD — A recently filed lawsuit by a former top manager at the MassHire Greater New Bedford Workforce Investment Board includes two allegations of sexual harassment against Joe Lopes, the current Ward 5 city councilor.
Abigail Despres, the former CFO and former acting CEO of the local Workforce Investment Board, is accusing the organization and several of its board members of sex discrimination, parental leave discrimination, and retaliation for opposing sexual harassment within the organization.
Lopes, who served as the CEO of the Greater New Bedford Workforce Investment Board until June 2024, is not named as a defendant in the lawsuit. But the lawsuit describes allegations against Lopes, including “abusive behavior” and unwanted “sexual advances” toward employees, during his tenure as CEO.
The allegations against Lopes, Despres claims, led to his resignation as CEO and her instatement as acting CEO. Once in that position, Despres said she faced a series of discriminatory actions from the organization’s board of directors. These included being the subject of a false rumor about a sexual affair, being discriminated against for taking parental leave, and being asked to fire the victim of Lopes’ alleged sexual harassment.
Lopes provided the following statement to The Light: “I am disappointed that the plaintiff and her counsel chose to include me in their attempt to obtain a settlement or judgment against the defendants. It is important to note that I am not a defendant in the legal action.”
The statement continues, “To be clear, at no point while working at MassHire was I made aware of allegations against me in the nature of those stated in the complaint and I was unaware of this case until contacted by a reporter regarding the court filing.”
Lopes is a veteran city councilor, having been first elected in 2009 as the Ward 6 councilor and having served multiple times as council president. He lost the Ward 6 election in 2021, and ran for and won the Ward 5 seat in 2023.
Lopes is up for reelection this November. His competitor in that race, Renee Fernandes, has called on Lopes to explain his actions or step down. “If the allegations … are remotely true then Joe Lopes should withdraw from the Ward 5 City Council race and immediately resign from the New Bedford City Council,” Fernandes said in a statement.
The allegations specifically state that Lopes made unwanted sexual advances towards two employees and engaged in abusive behavior. Despres, acting as a grievance officer of the company at the time, became aware that “Lopes had engaged in a sexual relationship with [an employee], and when that employee rejected additional advances by Mr. Lopes, he became abusive toward her,” the lawsuit states.
A second employee also filed a grievance, stating that “Lopes made sexual advances towards [the second employee] and that after she rejected his advances, his interactions with her became more frequent and more physical,” according to the lawsuit.
Despres said she made the board of directors aware of these grievances, and “within a day or two, Mr. Lopes resigned as CEO.”
However, these allegations against a sitting city councilor are not the main focus of Despres’ lawsuit. Instead, it’s the tip of the iceberg for the discrimination that she says she personally faced after Lopes was ousted and she took the reins of the Workforce Investment Board.
Less than a month into Despres’ term as acting CEO, in July 2024, she said she faced “hostile questions” during an executive board meeting. Board members asked Despres, a mother of two children under 5 years old, whether she planned to have more children and “how long it would be until her husband wanted her to return home to take care of her children,” the lawsuit claims.
In that same meeting, Despres said she was asked to fire one of the employees who reported sexual harassment claims against Lopes — a request Despres said she denied.
Over the next few months, Despres claims she experienced clear bias with the board’s micromanagement over her decisions and dealt with the board’s claims that she was “too immature and emotional” to handle the CEO position.
Then Despres said she learned that Margarita Graham, one of the executive board members, was falsely stating that she was having an affair with one of Despres’ allies on the board.
Despres filed a complaint against Graham for making these claims with the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination (MCAD). Shortly after, Despres began the interview process for the permanent CEO position. That position was awarded to someone else in December 2024, and the title of acting CEO was taken away from Despres. Still, Despres said she was asked to assist the new acting CEO in his duties — which she refused.
In February, Despres said she filed for paid family and medical leave after experiencing “severe emotional distress.” Despres said she refused to give further medical information that was requested of her by board members.
Despres said she was “forced to resign” from her position on March 19, 2025.
A lawyer for the workforce investment board, Katherine Chenail, said in a statement that the organization “denies that any actions taken in relation to Ms. Despres’s employment were unlawful and generally denies the allegations contained in Ms. Despres’s Complaint. The allegations in the Complaint are unfounded and remain unproven. The Board looks forward to the opportunity to defend against these allegations in court.”
Attorneys for Despres did not respond to The Light’s request for comment on Monday. Graham did not immediately respond to a message left on Monday at a business she owns.
The lawsuit, filed in Bristol County Superior Court, seeks damages of $856,000 for lost wages, doctor expenses, future lost wages, and emotional distress.
Email Colin Hogan at chogan@newbedfordlight.org
Editor’s note: This story was amended on Tuesday, Sept. 16, 2025, to add a comment from a lawyer for the MassHire Greater New Bedford Workforce Investment Board.
Mr. Hogan did not finish my quote:
” I am speaking as a resident of the City of New Bedford and as a candidate for Ward 5 City Council. The residents of Ward 5 and the City of New Bedford deserve leadership that is not associated with misuse of power, scandalous behavior and immorality. We deserve so much better.” R. Renee Fernandes
Election time in Ward 5 what a coincidence?
How about my comment? Still censoring me?
They can’t handle the truth.