The former Bordentown Township employee filed a whistleblower lawsuit in November 2010
BORDENTOWN TOWNSHIP -- A judge ordered Bordentown Township to pay $240,800 to a former employee who was fired after filing a lawsuit, according to a report in the Burlington County Times.
File photo of Bordentown Township Municipal Building (Brendan McGrath | Times of Trenton) Superior Court Judge Aimee Belgard upheld a January arbitration that found that Barbara Woolley-Dillon was "terminated for her whistleblowing activity that she reasonably regarded as violations of law, regulation or public policy," the report said.
Woolley-Dillon had worked as the director of Community Development as well as the zoning officer and planner.
She filed a complaint in November 2010, describing the township's failure to replace an administrative assistant who had left a year prior and its expectation that she would take on that work as "an illegal attempt (by Bordentown) to avoid filling and paying for a position required by law," according to a Times of Trenton article at the time.
She had also contended that she worked unreasonable hours, had taken criticism from township officials and had been asked to run her office in defiance of state laws since Republicans took control over the township committee.
"The way they treated her is not only unethical, but highly unprofessional," Jason Medina, the then-committee's only Democrat, said at the time. "More troubling is that, if litigated, it's our taxpayers who will pay for the mayor's political vendettas and I find that wrong on so many levels."
Woolley-Dillon was eventually fired Jan. 10, 2011, the Burlington County Times reported, after officials determined that her work performance had been unacceptable and she improperly used the township's resources, including unauthorized use of the computer to do work for her private planning business.
"It's a classic whistleblower case," her attorney, Thomas Barron, told the newspaper. "She is feeling vindicated. It's a bittersweet vindication, but it's a vindication."
Cristina Rojas may be reached at crojas@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @CristinaRojasTT. Find NJ.com on Facebook.