He said, She said in Weehawken

http://www.nj.com/jjournal-news/index.ssf/2012/01/weehawken_municipal_employee_f.html

by Guest Blogger: Simone

A long time Department of Public Works female employee has filed a lawsuit against her employer for a sexist work environment and retaliation for her whistle-blowing for a civil rights violation. Her lawsuit claims that a large graffiti drawing of a woman's breasts and male genitals was on the wall outside of her office. She also claims that a sexist attitude is prolific throughout Weehawken. However, the Mayor has said that the lawsuit is frivolous, and states that the woman has never said anything to him about these allegations.

If sexism is rampant in Weehawken, perhaps the woman has felt oppressed for many years by working and living in an environment that was not providing fair opportunities to women. For the Mayor to denounce her lawsuit as "public blackmail", perhaps his opinion provides insight into what it might be like to work under the litigant's male-oriented chain of command. Also in her lawsuit, she says she was passed over for a promotion in a position that was vacant for three years, until a man was hired for that job in 2010.

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A Weehawken employee has filed a multi-million-dollar lawsuit against her employer for allegedly creating a sexist work environment, which she says included obscene graffiti outside her office.

The lawsuit, filed by Assistant Recycling Coordinator Pilar Bardroff, also alleges retaliation against her for whistle-blowing and civil rights violations.

If she were to win the civil action complaint filed with Hudson County Superior Court on Jan. 9, she would likely net “$1.1 million to $2.1 million,” according to her attorney, Louis Zayas.

Weehawken Mayor Richard Turner called the lawsuit “frivolous nonsense that is an attempt at public blackmail.”

The lawsuit claims that Bardroff’s workplace, 372 Park Ave., until recently had a graffiti drawing that was “a 2-foot by 2-foot drawing” of a man’s genitals and a woman’s breasts. The graffiti was on a cinderblock wall outside her office.

Zayas said the graffiti which was removed after the lawsuit was filed shows “the sexist attitude that permeates throughout Weehawken.”

Turner said neither he nor DPW supervisor Robert Barsa had ever been informed about the lewd drawing.

“I find these allegations impossible to believe since I see Pilar all the time and she never brought this to my attention,” Turner said.

Bardroff, who has worked for the township since 1992 and is paid $34,000 a year, also contends in the suit that she complained about asbestos and other problems in her building, and that is why she was passed over for a promotion.

Bardroff fully expected that she would be named recycling coordinator when the previous coordinator retired on Dec. 31, 2007, the suit says. But the position remained open until 2010, when Jose Rodriguez was named to the post.

The lawsuit claims that Bardroff was much more qualified than Rodriguez, who was paid $60,000 by the township in 2010, according to public records.

Turner argued that Rodriguez is highly qualified for the job since he is a certified recycling coordinator and a licensed engineer. He also noted that Rodriguez, a Department of Public Works employee, received no additional compensation for his new responsibilities.

The recycling coordinator position has been eliminated because of budget cuts over the past two years, Turner said.

“In the old days people would sue for what they lost, now people sue for what they would like to get,” Turner said. “No one on staff would tolerate anything sexist or obscene.”