BY ADRIANA HERNANDEZ
Daily Post Staff Writer
A San Mateo County dispatcher is suing the county for alleged retaliation, claiming she suffered stress and a miscarriage after she reported her supervisor’s actions.
Kelcey Nuqui filed a lawsuit on Dec. 29, claiming her HR report against her supervisor was mishandled, and he continued to harass her.
She was bullied by other employees for filing a report to HR, which caused her stress and led her to go on leave, but she suffered a miscarriage, the suit said.
Nuqui was hired as a dispatcher on Feb. 20, 2024, at the Redwood City county dispatch operation center and was supervised by Matt Delfin. Delfin started asking her out on multiple dates in January 2025 that he had pre-planned, telling her she was sexually attractive, according to the lawsuit.
Delfin sent Nuqui flirtatious and inappropriate text messages like “good night pretty girl” and would refer to their time together at work as his “list of favorite moments with (her),” the suit said.
The county conducted an investigation into Nuqui’s allegations, but believes her lawsuit has an incomplete, inaccurate and unsupported version of events, County Attorney John Nibbelin said.
Delfin was responsible for approving Nuqui’s promotion and would write weekly notes on her performance, the suit said. Delfin repeatedly invaded Nuqui’s personal space by sitting, standing and bumping into her around the office, according to the suit.
“These actions made Nuqui extremely uncomfortable, but Delfin did not relent,” the suit said.
String wrapped around her desk
Other employees noticed Delfin was making Nuqui uncomfortable, so they wrapped a string around her desk, but Delfin cut them off, the suit said. Delfin’s behavior affected Nuqui’s work, as he would accuse other male workers of flirting with her over the radio and confront her, the suit said. Nuqui would receive special attention from Delfin, which would make her feel singled out. In one instance, Delfin bought her an expensive birthday cake, the suit said.
Because Delfin was overseeing her work and ultimately deciding whether she would be promoted, she felt she had to tolerate his actions or risk her career growth, according to the suit.
Bullying from others
After enduring Delfin’s inappropriate behavior, Nuqui went to HR, but Delfin would continue to flirt with her, the suit said. Delfin was removed as her direct supervisor but said he would “look out for her,” the suit said. Employees who were friends with Delfin started to bully and belittle her for reporting him, according to the suit.
Nuqui decided to go on leave after she experienced stress, anxiety and loss of appetite in May 2025, the suit said. She was set to return on July 15, 2025. Her acting supervisor, Christine Dickens, texted her during her leave, saying it was a “seemingly extended paid vacation,” and Nuqui had changed the situation from being a victim of bullying to becoming a silent bully herself, the suit said.
Email from supervisor
Dickens was trying to manipulate her to return to work by texting her “you are hurting not the ones who were mean to you, but the ones you once called friends and allies. They are exhausted having to come in early, stay late or working entire shifts on their days off on top of their own to cover you,” the suit stated.
“Please do the right thing and stop dragging this out. Go from inaction to making a decision to either come back or quit,” Dickens texted Nuqui, according to the suit.
Nuqui decided to resign a day before she was supposed to return. While she was on leave, Nuqui had a miscarriage and believes it was due to the “intolerable working environment,” the suit said.
Please investigate the poor
Leadership at San Mateo County Public Safety Communications and HR in general. Multiple complaints of all kinds have been made against this department. If you think the prior sheriff is a story wait until u uncover this. If the citizens only knew that 50% competence is acceptable.
Hey John Nibbelin, you should start looking into San Mateo County HR. They have never done anything to protect employees from constant harassment. … That was all taken care of by the now Interim Director of HR Michelle Kuka. She likes to be expose whistleblowers to the harasser. You guys need to do a lot of damage control around there or you can continue paying out 8 million to victims like C. Barker.
The total lack of leadership at Public Safety Communications is amazing and is why I have been looking for a new job for several months. The leadership is non-existent from the director, assistant director, managers, and supervisors. I feel it is a race to hire warm bodies instead of qualified ones. Leadership begins at showing up to work and being engaged, not running the place from home. Employees need to be at work to be effective in this type of work. There is one admin person who works 100% from home, covid is over, return to work.
Tip of the iceberg at this hell hole. People call 911 from all around the County and they are received by employees who are overworked, poorly trained, and overseen by more management than you can count. They cover up errors and the citizens just aren’t aware. There’s no one that cares about the quality of work, just as long as some unhappy employee is sitting there and missing their family and friends so management can sit at home and be happy. They’ve stolen money with fradulent overtime claims and been involved in sexual harassment scandals and inappropriate relationships, and nothing ever happens.
I lost count once they had 2 Directors, 6 Managers, and 15-20 support staff for a group of around 40-50 people. The Director apparently thinks she’s running for President and is completely clueless. And the Assistant Director would rather spit on employees than care about their working conditions. Managers are borderline incompetent and hated by the field and staff. Favoritism, illegal terminations, bullying from management, fake culture improvements, management who never shows up, and so much more. No one cares at the County though as long as the Director smiles and shakes everyone’s hands. Who cares that they BURN EVERYONE OUT and everyone leaves to work elsewhere. Just keep “putting bodies in chairs” as they love to say. The former manager just left and said the quiet part out loud “I got paid to do nothing”. Lovely.
Never in my career have I felt like more than just a number then working for the County of San Mateo. County HR team is a disgrace empowered by county attorneys office and exec.
This has been going on for over twenty years, various efforts to clean it up have been unsuccessful and it’s impossible for ethical managers to succeed in this environment. Maybe the answer is to outsource to some other agency. I dint have a lot of hope for this agency.
It’s easy to read stories like this and make judgements, when in reality, the employees who work in 911 environments are notoriously unhappy in life, blame others for their misgivings, and would rather be toxic than healthy employees. SMC got a new building for 911, which you would have thought would make the environment light, comfortable and healthy for staff to work in. But the dispatchers there, continue to perpetuate a culture of toxicity and unhappiness. Sad. They are well trained, have the best equipment, get paid well and have solid leadership. They need grow up.