Category: Media
N.J. city paid police supervisor $190K to settle discrimination lawsuit
The City of Trenton has paid a police officer $190,000 to settle the discrimination lawsuit she filed seven years ago.
Sheila Tatarek alleged an assortment of discrimination over 20 years on the job when she filed the suit against Trenton in early 2017. At the time, she’d served 24 years as a city officer.
Among her claims was that she was outed as a lesbian at the police academy in 1993, to workplace issues that included her siding with another female officer - who also accepted a $125,000 settlement in 2015.
After reporting her grievances to police brass, in 2015, Tatarek said she was unfairly transferred to police academy duties in the basement of police headquarters, and suffered other backlash.
As they case moved through the court system, Tatarek was promoted to lieutenant in late 2020.
In late 2022, the city and Tatarek’s lawyer, Michael Morris, agreed to settle the case for $225,000, but the city council voted 4-0 against it in January 2023. (Due to an election runoff of at-large seats, the city only had four council members at the time.)
Michael Morris, Esquire and Robert M. Anderson, Esquire settled the above matter on behalf of Sheila Tatarek in our continuing support of our Police clients throughout the State of New Jersey.
Read More...Posted on 20 Feb 2024, 10:24 - Category: Media
City paying more than $500K to settle 2 suits by employees alleging discrimination
Dec. 14, 2022, 5:33 p.m.
By Kevin Shea | For NJ.com
The City of Trenton is settling two lawsuits brought by employees who separately alleged workplace discrimination, according to filings before the City Council.
... Cynthia Hargis, a retired police sergeant, will receive a $225,000 settlement.
The council is scheduled to formally approve the settlements at their Thursday night meeting. A city spokesman declined to comment on the settlements Wednesday evening.
Michael Morris, Esquire and Robert M. Anderson, Esquire settled the above matter on behalf of Sgt Hargis in our continuing support of our Police clients throughout the State of New Jersey.
Read More...Posted on 14 Dec 2022, 10:06 - Category: Media
Dr. Nigahus "Nick" Karabulut
Michael Morris, Esquire and Robert M. Anderson, Esquire represented Dr. Nigahus "Nick" Karabulut in two lawsuits which sought the rights of his AIDS patients to receive his care. Dr. Karabulut had been the Director for the Ryan White Grant since 1993. He oversaw the Ryan White Grant for Mercer County administering care to approximately 2,100 AIDS patients. We along with his patients mourn the loss of a tremendously valuable medical resource for the AIDS community and recognize his deep commitment for close to three decades.
Read More about Dr. Nigahus "Nick" Karabulut
Read More...Posted on 21 Jul 2021, 11:21 - Category: Media
LAWSUIT: Trenton sergeant passed up for job in favor of police director’s best friend
TRENTON — It pays to be besties with the police director.
Cynthia Hargis, a sergeant who says she was passed up for promotion despite being the best woman for the job, alleges in a recently filed lawsuit that Trenton Police Director Ernest Parrey Jr. engaged in bold and unapologetic cronyism, swaying underlings to promote “best friend” Sgt. Kenneth Lugo.
The sex discrimination lawsuit claims Hargis was snubbed out of a supervisory position in the special victims unit because she was a black woman competing against a white man who made no secrets he’s Parrey’s ride-or-die best friend.
“Plaintiff’s background and education is far superior to that of Sgt. Lugo for this particular position given her years of experience, stellar relationship within the community and no IA [internal affairs] complaints,” the lawsuit says alleging Lugo is favored by the good ol’ boys in blue network.
Hargis’ contends police brass looked over Lugo’s alleged checkered past, which includes allegations he lied on police paperwork he submitted when he applied to a department in another state.
Read More...Posted on 02 Apr 2018, 10:02 - Category: Media
Police officer sues alleging years of harassment, discrimination
By Anna Merriman | For NJ.com
on February 24, 2017 at 9:02 AM
TRENTON - A veteran Trenton police officer has filed a lawsuit alleging years of harassment, jokes about her sexuality and retaliation when she brought complaints to supervisors.
Sheila Tatarek, a 24-year officer, alleges that every time she spoke up, the discrimination got worse, according to the suit.
Tatarek filed the lawsuit in Superior Court in Mercer County naming the police department, Police Director Ernest Parrey Jr. and Sgt. John Breece.
Sheila Tatarek, a 24-year officer, alleges that every time she spoke up, the discrimination got worse, according to the suit.
Tatarek filed the lawsuit in Superior Court in Mercer County naming the police department, Police Director Ernest Parrey Jr. and Sgt. John Breece.
Tatarek's complaints center on several internal affairs cases, some which she was involved in by filing actions, according to the suit. Behavior from fellow officers concerning those cases caused a hostile work environment, which was not properly addressed by police leaders, according to the suit.
A Trenton police spokesman declined comment Thursday.
Though the problems have been ongoing for 20 years, they have gotten worse recently, especially following a sexual harassment lawsuit filed by Tatarek's coworker, Officer Rosemarie Addar, the suit said.
Addar, previously a police aide, filed suit against Breece in 2014, alleging Breece made comments about her physical appearance, and other sexually harassing behavior.
Tatarek stood by Addar's claims provided a statement to the internal affairs unit supporting Addar, Tatarek's suit said.
The city settled the Addar suit in 2015 for $125,000.
Tatarek claimed that Breece and other officers continued to discriminate against her for supporting Addar and making the statement to internal affairs.
Tatarek went to Parrey with her complaints about Breece and other officers in January 2015, the suit said. She told the director that female officers, "were being sexually harassed and harassed in general by male police officers," according to the suit.
She also told Parrey she was concerned that some male officers wouldn't "back her up on the street," because they didn't like her, the suit said.
Parrey told Tatarek that police officers thought she disliked men and that she treated the male officers unfairly, the suit said.
The director then transferred Tatarek to a position in the police academy in the basement of police headquarters in August 2015, the suit said. The transfer meant that Tatarek lost the ability to get thousands of dollars in overtime and that she was isolated from the rest of the department, the suit said.
Tatarek has worked in patrol and as a detective, among other police jobs, she said in the suit.
Though much of Tatarek's complaints were concerned with the backlash she allegedly received for supporting Addar's sexual harassment claims, the suit also detailed other instances of discrimination that Tatarek says she's endured throughout her career.
The claims stretch as far back as 1993, when Tatarek was a Trenton Police Academy recruit. A sergeant publicly outed her as a lesbian in front of her police academy classmates, the suit says.
The suit also details several incidents that followed, including the same academy sergeant calling her a "man," others laughing about her sexuality and someone leaving a book in her mailbox called, "How to Make Love to a Woman," the suit said.
In addition to the backlash she faced following Addar's lawsuit, Tatarek claimed that her fellow officers treated her poorly on other occasions.
In the past few years, Tatarek reported a police officer for driving with a suspended license, another officer for getting into a crash on a side job, and urged the department to enforce a rule than bans smoking in police cars - which officers ignored, the suit said.
Each time she reported the offenses, officers treated her with hostility, the suit said.
She recalled one time in particular when someone in the department wrote "rat" above her name on a greeting card celebrating another officer's retirement, the suit said.
Read More...Posted on 17 Mar 2018, 10:03 - Category: Media