A Connecticut judge who has been absent from work since November 2019, while still collecting over $350,000 in taxpayer-backed salary, was brought before the highest court in the state Tuesday to explain her absence.

Judge Alice Bruno was at her Supreme Court hearing Tuesday despite a motion filed Monday to let her attorney attend in her place.

"Judge Bruno wanted to be back at work at a judicial location where she had a supportive environment since 2020," said Bruno's attorney Jacques Parenteau.

Bruno claims her assignment at Waterbury Superior Court became a hostile work environment as her medical issues started taking hold.

"Many different kinds of feedback from the branch and being told that I could not do the job. It's very difficult trying to continue to do a job you're being told you can't do," said Bruno.

Her attorney argued court officials failed to accommodate Bruno's disability with a change of location assignment.

"She had every right to believe that she was being accommodated by the Judicial Branch the entire time that we were trying to find a solution, and that solution was there to be had," said Parenteau.

The judge applied for disability retirement in January 2020, then later pulled the application.

"She'd have been better off if she just went for the disability retirement and did not have to face this vilification," said Parenteau.