A township employee who was once North Bergen’s webmaster and the police chief’s secretary has filed a lawsuit against the township, as well as against Mayor Nicholas Sacco and Commissioner Theresa Ferraro. In the suit, she says that after complaining of sexual harassment, she was demoted and forced to work isolated in what other employees referred to as the “dungeon.”
April L. Tricoli-Busset filed her suit in State Superior Court in January 2008. The township has, in turn, filed a counter complaint stating that the lawsuit is frivolous. They also have said that the employees mentioned in the suit deny the claims she has made.
The suit alleges that after receiving several promotions and pay raises over the years, Tricoli-Busset was subject to retaliation for complaining about sexual harassment and a hostile work environment.
One widely reported incident in Tricoli-Busset’s suit is a claim that on June 14, 2006, when Tricoli-Busset was at the township’s Flag Day Parade talking to Mayor Sacco and Commissioners Allen Pascual and Hugo Cabrera, Sacco allegedly said, “Don’t you think we should have a ‘big boobs’ page on the website?”
A township spokesman responded last week by saying that Sacco did not make such a “crass comment.”
The suit also alleges that in May of 2005, Ferraro told Tricoli-Busset that another employee complained about her work attire. According to the suit, Ferraro then advised Tricoli-Busset that “even though she had very lovely breasts, maybe it would be a good idea for [her] to either wear turtlenecks or scarves around [her] neck to conceal [her] breasts.”
Last week, North Bergen spokesperson Paul Swibinski said Ferraro was advising an employee on “the proper way to dress for a professional workplace.” Overall, he said that to suggest that Tricoli-Busset was subject to harassment was “ridiculous.”
Alleges sexual harassment
Tricoli-Busset began working for the township in 1999 as an administrative secretary within the Department of Public Safety, earning a salary of $29,000, according to the suit. In 2003, she was promoted as the computer service technician in the township’s Revenue and Finance Department.
The suit claims that in 2004, Tricoli-Busset was pushed by a department director while she was pregnant, and that the same director spread rumors about her having an affair with a town administrator.
Tricoli-Busset says she wrote a letter to the administrator stating that she had been “mentally, verbally and physically harassed” and that she would contact the Commission of Affirmative Action if the employee wasn’t “severely” punished, because she felt she was being unfairly treated for being a woman.
In May of 2005, Tricoli-Busset accepted the position of secretary to Police Chief William Galvin. On top of other pay raises she received over the years, this promotion included an $8,000 stipend, bringing her salary to $49,680, she said in the suit.
It was after this promotion, according to Tricoli-Busset, that numerous comments were allegedly made about her clothing by Ferraro, even though she said that she wore “a suit and collared shirt to work.”
In January of 2007, Tricoli-Busset said that her boss and an employee of the school system were having a conversation during which one of them said, “Look at this one with her boobs hanging out.”
Said she was demoted unfairly
Tricoli-Busset alleges that in June, 2006, after being called into a meeting, she was questioned by an attorney representing the township, Mark Tabakin, on whether she was following the correct procedure while handling her job duties. Later that month, Tabakin told her that her accumulated sick and vacation time was “too high,” she says.
Tricoli-Busset says that the following month, while meeting with Ferraro, she was told that after five years, the township’s website would no longer be her responsibility and that her salary would be reduced from $49,680 to $43,680. After asking for a letter to explain why her salary was lowered, Tricoli-Busset hired an attorney by August of that year.
“She felt it was an act of retaliation,” said her attorney, Gerald Resnick.
On June 2007, Tricoli-Busset’s job title was changed to clerk at the township’s Juvenile Aide Bureau, and she was reassigned to the police substation located on Tonnelle Ave.
Swibinski said that when her position was changed, her salary was not affected.
“When she was reassigned to that position in a different building, she never performed any of her previous job duties [again and] was isolated, and only did some occasional filing,” said Resnick. “In fact, the place where she was assigned to was referred by coworkers as the ‘dungeon.’ And that’s where she remains today.”
Township states suit is frivolous
Township spokesman Paul Swibinski said last week that the lawsuit is frivolous and that he wondered if Tricoli-Busset is aware that she could be fined if the lawsuit is found to be libelous.
“[Tricoli-Busset] was no longer going to be doing the website work [because] the township decided to go with a professional firm, and her services were no longer needed in that area,” Swibinski said. “She was receiving extra money for doing that work, so when she no longer had that responsibility and workload, her salary was adjusted.”
Resnick responded that there was no reason for the township to hire a firm, because everyone was pleased with his client’s work.
The township’s counterclaim states that the defendants either had no knowledge of, or deny the plaintiff’s allegations.
The claim states that Sacco and Ferraro also “demand judgment” against Tricoli-Busset for “compesantory, consequential and punitive damages” along with attorney’s and court fees.
Resnick responded, “Their [counter claim] has no merit whatsoever.”
Mayor Nicholas Sacco and Commissioner Theresa Ferraro themselves have not given a comment on the lawsuit, based on their attorney’s advice.
To contact Tricia Tirella, e-mail triciat@hudsonreporter.com.