HOBOKEN – The city of Hoboken has reached a settlement with Angel Alicea, its former public safety director, over a discrimination lawsuit Alicea filed against the city and Mayor Dawn Zimmer in 2011, according to Louis Zayas, Alicea’s attorney.
The amount of the settlement is undisclosed, but may be revealed on Monday night when the City Council will vote to approve it. Last Wednesday, a jury awarded Alicea $440,000 in back pay, which he will receive in addition to the settlement.
Alicea’s suit had alleged that the city and Mayor Dawn Zimmer discriminated against him because he is Hispanic and because he complained about improprieties in the Police Department that he was tasked with overseeing. On Wednesday, an eight-member jury ruled 6-2 in favor of Alicea in his charge against the city, but absolved Zimmer herself of any wrongdoing by a 7-1 vote.
Zimmer testified that she asked for Alicea’s resignation after she felt that he’d lied to her about whether he’d met with Solomon Dwek, the federal informant involved in Operation Bid Rig, which resulted in the arrests of dozens of political figures. There was no accusation that he accepted money, but simply that he failed to tell the truth to Zimmer that he had taken a meeting with Dwek.
Zimmer has said in the past that she asked for Alicea’s resignation following the revelation that he had met with Dwek during Alicea’s run for City Council in 2009.
As public safety director, Alicea earned $27,000 per year to oversee the fire and police departments on a part time basis. Following his resignation, former Jersey City police officer Jon Tooke was given the job on a full-time basis with an annual salary of $110,000. – Dean DeChiaro
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