PREJUDICE PAYDAY
Settlement awards $195K to park ranger fired, called racial slur by exmayor
TRENTON >> Three years removed from office and sitting in a federal prison, excity Mayor Tony Mack is still costing taxpayers a boatload of money.
City council will vote Thursday to settle a civil rights lawsuit for $195,000 that was filed by a Trenton park ranger, who was laid off twice by the Mack administration and reinstated both times by the Civil Service Commission.
Michael Morris was on the receiving end of both unlawful terminations and replaced by Mack’s pal Robert “Chico” Mendez.
In the lawsuit that was filed in 2013 after his second reinstatement, which awarded back pay and attorney’s fees, Morris claimed he suffered “emotional distress and humiliation in the presence of his co-workers arising from the adverse employment measures” and alleged he was discriminated against for not supporting the mayor politically.
A September 2013 Civil Service Commission report on the case found that Trenton purposefully broke Civil Service law to put Mendez in Morris’ position.
In the decision, Morris claimed a former city employee said Mack declared that he would “fire every (expletive) ranger before I bring that (n-word) back” demonstrating “the animus the mayor had for him.”
“This animus clearly extended to the next layoff action and shows the mayor’s intent on removing him at any cost,” the report continued.
Following the September 2013 decision, Morris returned to work. He is still an employee with the city.
The same can’t be said about the former mayor.
Mack and his brother were found guilty on corruption charges in February 2014 for accepting bribes in exchange for the mayor’s influence to develop a parking garage on city property.
Mack, now 50, is serving his sentence at a federal correctional institution in Memphis. His scheduled release date is Sept. 18, 2018.
City council met behind closed doors Tuesday night to discuss the park ranger’s lawsuit.
Morris’ attorney, George Dougherty, said Wednesday he would not comment on the case until council approves the settlement.