PLUMSTED — A former part-time special law enforcement officer in Plumsted received a $275,000 settlement arising from her 2009 claim alleging sexual harassment in the Plumsted Police Department.
The civil action complaint filed by the former special law enforcement officer, Suzanne Des Marais, in early 2009 named Plumsted police Lt. George Titko and the Plumsted Police Department as defendants.
At the time Des Marais filed her complaint against Titko and the police department, the township provided the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office with information pertaining to certain allegations and asked the prosecutor’s office to conduct a review.
Titko was placed on paid administrative leave when the township went to the prosecutor’s office. Titko left the police department on July 2, 2009.
An attorney representing the township told the Tri-Town News in July 2009 that the results of the prosecutor’s review would not be shared with the public.
Although the civil complaint has been settled, a workman’s compensation part of the Des Marais case is continuing, according to attorney John McDermott, of the firm Maggs and McDermott, Brielle, who represented Des Marais.
McDermott confirmed that the complaint of sexual harassment was settled in late 2009. He said the $275,000 represented compensatory damages for the sexual harassment Des Marais received as a police officer by her superior, Titko.
Des Marais had been hired by Plumsted in February 2007. She is no longer with the police department.
Attorney James Maggs, who also represented Des Marais, said attorneys representing Plumsted and Titko asked the plaintiff’s attorneys to participate in nonbinding mediation before a retired federal judge.
“We agreed to participate,” said Maggs. “They did not want to continue, because down the road it was pretty clear there was significant harassment while [she was] on the job, and at the end of the day they realized from a liability standpoint they would have a tough go of it.”
Maggs said it was a matter of sitting down and determining a fair and reasonable settlement for Des Marais, considering the significant claim she was bringing.
McDermott said the settlement did not include a resolution of various physical injuries Des Marais sustained.
“Those are subject to workman’s compensation and are still pending, but the sexual harassment case did not involve any claim of permanent physical injuries,” the attorney said.
Maggs said his firm is also handling Des Marais’workman’s compensation case. The claims involve what he said are serious physical injuries she sustained on the job, both at her prior employment in Long Branch as well as her employment in Plumsted.
Prior to joining the Plumsted Police Department, Des Marais was employed by the Long Branch Police Department in Monmouth County for nine years.
“The physical injuries have nothing to do with the psychological or emotional injuries she sustained as a result of the sexual harassment,” said McDermott. “The $275,000 is compensation to her [exclusively] for the sexual harassment and the hostile work environment” in Plumsted.
McDermott said Des Marais sustained a serious injury while working in Long Branch. He said she had always wanted to be a police officer and was determined to overcome that injury and so she pursued the part-time job with Plumsted.
He noted that she became the first and only female member of the Plumsted Police Department and at the same time was trying to rehabilitate herself from her prior physical injury.
Adding that to the sexual harassment she later sustained became a very difficult time for her, he said.
Attorney Peter Van Dyke, representing the township, said the civil case, as far as he was concerned, was over.
“I’m sure when it resolved itself, she got money and the town got a release,” Van Dyke said. “I [recall] we all met together and it was mediated by a federal magistrate judge.”
Attorney Robert Budesa said he represents the Garden State Joint Insurance Fund, which is representing Plumsted in the workman’s compensation case. He said he is hoping that case will be settled early this year, or it may have to go to trial.