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Former boro employee claims whistle-blowing got her the axe
(by Karen F. Mrnarevic - May 20, 2008)
Carol Valentino, who was employed by the Borough of Woodcliff Lake as the assistant and secretary of the Mayor and Borough Administrator from August 2003 to January 2008, brought a lawsuit against the borough on April 25 claiming that she was wrongfully terminated. According to Valentino’s suit, her termination is the direct result of having informed Mayor Joe LaPaglia and Administrator Ed Sandve about borough employees’ falsification of their time cards.
In her suit, Valentino claims that sometime in November of 2006 she brought to Sandve’s attention that certain employees of the borough were not accurately stating the time on their time cards. She claims that she brought up the issue several more times in the year that followed, including at a meeting where LaPaglia was present on Nov. 27, 2007.
The suit alleges that Sandve cut the meeting short, disregarding her report that timecards were being falsified, and telling Valentino, “You are not a cop.” On Jan. 9 of this year, the suit states, Valentino was fired by Sandve at a meeting in the borough offices, and was later sent a letter of termination dated Jan. 15. She alleges in her suit that her termination is a violation of the N.J. Conscientious Employee Act (NJSA 34:19-1, or CEPA).
LaPaglia said in a phone interview that he was unable to comment on the matter, except to say, “It was an unfortunate set of circumstances.” Borough Attorney Mark Madaio commented that the details of the case and the borough’s response remain confidential but said that the matter was being referred to the Bergen County Joint Insurance Fund for evaluation.
Karen F. Mrnarevic's e-mail address is Mrnarevic@northjersey.com.
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