Pemberton Township agreed to pay $150,000 to quietly settle a lawsuit with a pregnant police officer
PEMBERTON -- Pemberton Township agreed to pay $150,000 to quietly settle a lawsuit with a pregnant police officer who said she was forced to take sick leave after the business administrator rejected her request for light duty.
Pemberton Township agreed to pay $150,000 to quietly settle a lawsuit with a pregnant police officer The Oct. 28 settlement, obtained by open-government advocate John Paff, had a confidentiality clause that barred Officer Shannon Sawyer from publicly disclosing the terms and amount, but settlements with governmental bodies are public records in New Jersey.
The settlement, which was posted this week on Paff's blog, does not contain any admission of liability. In addition to the money, Sawyer will also be credited 77 sick days and 13 vacation days, which she can carry over to next year.
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Sawyer, who has worked in the patrol division since March 2010, requested a transfer to light duty in January after learning she was pregnant. She was relieved from patrol duties and told by her supervisors she would handle walk-ins and help with the department's accreditation process, among other administrative tasks.
Days later, Sawyer learned from the police chief that Business Administrator Dennis Gonzalez decided that modified duty was unacceptable and she would either have to take sick and vacation time or work in her full capacity by going on the road and handling calls, the suit reads.
The suit claims that after the chief told Gonzalez that Sawyer would return to full duty, he changed course and said that she would not be able to go on the road because her doctor's note recommended light duty.
After Sawyer was forced to take sick leave, the local police union filed a grievance demanding that she be allowed to return to work.
"In Defendant Gonzalez's response to the grievance the business administrator disagrees with the interpretation of the contract offered by PBA 260 and the Chief of Police," the suit reads. "Further the business administrator failed to consider the township's transitional duty policy and the fact that the Chief of Police had ample work for her to complete at the time."
In February, the township council unanimously voted to uphold the grievance, but the administration declined to abide by its decision, according to a report in the Burlington County Times.
Sawyer, who is married to another township officer, was due June 19, but in the suit said she would have run out of family leave time on April 30 and would have exhausted her sick leave on May 3.
Gonzalez, a former acting business administrator in Trenton, told the newspaper on Tuesday that Sawyer has since returned to work and there have been no issues.
"Truthfully, there were never any issues," he said. "It was a difference in point of view of whether she could be reasonably accommodated."
Cristina Rojas may be reached at crojas@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @CristinaRojasTT. Find The Times of Trenton on Facebook.
