During the public comment portion of Monday night’s Township Council meeting, Stacey Abenstein questioned the township’s enforcement of diversity, equity and inclusion rules andregulations with regard to a recent lawsuit filed against Livingston Township and the Livingston Police Department.
The litigation is ongoing and, according to the records, the case “Kevin Mullaney vs. Livingston Police Department,” was opened on March 29. Chief Gary Marshuetz, Captain John Drumm, Detective Sergeant Vincent Daly, Sergeant Derek Wyatt, Sergeant Michael Herbert, Sergeant Angelo Vella, Detective David Cordero, and Livingston township manager B arry Lewis were all cited as defendants in the case, which was filed by Detective Kevin Mullaney in Essex County Superior Court.
“Is the township and the Police Department planning to address the concerns the lawsuit raises in regards to racism, anti-Semitism and homophobia in our Police Department?” Abenstein said. “I feel like we have a responsibility to create standards that the township requires be followed with consequences in place if they are not.”
Abenstein suggested creating safeguards for whistleblowers and offered writing goals for the township through the Social Justice Committee.
While township attorney Jarrid Kantor said that he will not divulge details of the case, he added that “the township vehemently denies many allegations in that complaint – if not most of them – and is filing an answer to that extent.”
“The township also filed a motion to dismiss [the complaint] early on, which ended in the dismissal voluntarily of two of the counts,” Kantor said.
The complaint cites defamation, unlawful retaliation, adverse employment actions, and negligent supervision as a result of Mullaney’s whistleblowing actions. The complaint alleges that Mullaney, who transferred into the Livingston Police Department from Westwood in 2015, shared repeated violations of laws, rules, and regulations within the department, which were not remedied.
The complaint comprises three counts of misconduct. The first is made against all defendants, alleging a violation of the New Jersey Conscientious Employee Protection Act. The second count, defamation, is made against the individual defendants other than Lewis, relating to the alleged “consistent campaign of false statements against Detective Mullaney relating to his mental health and fitness as a police officer,” according to the lawsuit. The third count, negligent supervision, is made against Chief Marshuetz and Lewis, citing “unlawful retaliatory conduct and a hostile work environment” created by other members of the Police Department.
Counts two and three were dismissed in a consent order without prejudice and, according to Kantor, were reduced to one count during oral arguments.
Kantor said that his office is in contact with the Police Department, and that “any of the complaints that have been raised have been handled appropriately.”
“There’s more to come, but the township denies those allegations,” he said. “They’re not facts, they’re allegations, and they’ve been denied by the township.”
