Thanks to John Paff and his tireless advocacy for good and open government, it has come to light that Monmouth County recently settled a "Whistleblower" lawsuit involving one of it's employees, Jean Meroni, who accused her supervisor in Monmouth County's Transportation Division, Kathleen Lodato being "highly politically active" and had Meroni prepare Republican campaign material for Republican Freeholder Candidate Gary Rich during office hours using County supplies.
After informing then Democratic Freeholder Amy Mallett of the blatant electioneering that was taking place in the office Kathleen Meroni was harassed and eventual fired from her Operations Manager's position.
And yet the Republican controlled Board of Monmouth County Freeholders insist that an Ethics Committee isn't needed...
The following appears on John Paff's NJ Civil Settlements blog
On November 29, 2014, the County of Monmouth agreed to pay $20,000 to its Transportation Division's former Operations Manager who sued the County for allegedly firing her after she complained that her supervisor was having her and another employee use County resources to campaign for a Republican Freeholder candidate.Continue Reading
The plaintiff, Jean A. Meroni, served the County's Transportation Division since 1997 and was the Program Coordinator for the Senior Citizen's Area Transportation [SCAT] Program. According to her complaint, Meroni's employment with the County was smooth until her supervisor, Henry Nicholson, was replaced by new Division Director Kathleen Lodato.
In her complaint, Meroni said that Lodato was "highly politically active" within the Republican Party. She allegedly had campaign literature in her office and "regularly dropp[ed] the names of Lieutenant Governor Kim Guadagno, 'Tommy' (Republican Freeholder Tom Arnone) and 'Curley' (Republican Freeholder John Curley.)" Meroni alleged that Lodato "wrongfully and illegally required her assistance with political campaigning for the Republican Party during work hours." She claimed that on May 25, 2011, Lodato had her and another worker "photocopy Republican campaign literature for Republican Freeholder candidate Gary Rich on the County copier, as well as stuff envelopes for mailing."
Meroni said that she brought her complaints about Lodato to Monmouth County Freeholder Amy Mallet, who, at the time, was the sole Democrat on the Freeholder Board. She also discussed her complaints with Mallet's confidential aide, Keith Rella, and Human Resources Director Kevin Burke. County officials were allegedly concerned that Meroni's allegation would start a "political maelstrom." Meroni alleged that Monmouth County Special Counsel Steven W. Kleinman recommended that she "retract her allegations against Ms. Lodato" and eventually told her "that this was her 'last chance' to withdraw her claims." When she wouldn't retract her claim, Meroni said that County officials "joined Ms. Lodato's campaign of retaliation, seeking to conceal Ms. Lodato's wrongdoing and to focus the negative attention on [Meroni] instead."
Meroni claimed that she was thereafter was stripped of her job duties and was made the subject of "a bogus internal investigation" that clamed that she knew of and participated in a "sick-out" that occurred six months prior. She alleged that she was subjected to a hostile work environment and that Lodato even made her perform "housekeeping tasks, such as cleaning and vacuuming." On September 15, 2011, a "farcical" disciplinary hearing was held which resulted in her being fired. Her firing was sustained on appeal after a 15-day hearing before Administrative Law Judge John R. Futey. Meroni's appeal of her firing to the Appellate Division of the Superior Court was dismissed as part of the settlement.
In addition to the $20,000 payment, the County also agreed to allow Meroni to resign effective August 22, 2011 provided that she never again seeks future County employment. Any future prospective employers who inquire about Meroni's previous employment with the County will be told that she resigned.
The settlement agreement contains a confidentiality clause, which prevents the parties to the suit from publicly disclosing the settlement terms. Fortunately, however, these confidentiality clauses do not trump the public's right to obtain copies of settlement agreements that arise out of lawsuits in which a government agency or official is a defendant. Meroni and the County also agreed not to disparage or defame each other....
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John Paff is a renown advocate for open government and presently serves as Chairman of the New Jersey Libertarian Party's Open Government Advocacy Project as well as the NJLP's Preempted Ordinance Repeal Project.
7 comments:
What a machine! Do what you are told or your FIRED!
Not only do we get our mailboxes stuffed with unwanted Republican campaign literature, but we get to pay for it with our tax dollars!
If this was Bergen, she would have been promoted and given an award. The whistleblower would have been ran out of town.
Double standards are epidemic in this state and country. I don't think it's right, but don't act like the democratic machine doesn't do similar or worse things elsewhere!
Not for nothing, but this woman obviously had no case at all.
She lost at PERC and she settled for $20K? The County saved its own legal fees going forward by agreeing to this, anyone who knows anything at all about these kinds of cases can see that.
She probably exaggerated her whistle-blower "claim" in an effort to fight off her pending disciplinary action...
if she had no case, why did the county fork over $20k of taxpayers money to keep her quiet?
Not to keep her quiet, but to SAVE the taxpayers the attorneys fees they would have had to incur for the appeal.
She quit her job, lost the "back pay" she would have been entitled to if she had won, and still had to pay her attorney for several years of work out of that $20K.
She had - and ended up with - nothing!
Lodato did everything she claimed. She's a trashy keansburg girl who bends over for the MC GOP.
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