Lawyer to appeal in
Perth Amboy
discrimination suit
By KEN SERRANO,
thnt.com Online, August 12, 2007
MIDDLESEX COUNTY — The
attorney for a Mexican-born police officer who won a workplace discrimination
lawsuit against Perth Amboy and its police director and chief has filed an
appeal against a judge's decision to reduce the damages award from $1.9 million
to $300,000.
"The (reduction) is not supported by the law," said Mark Mulick, the Montclair
attorney for Guadalupe Munoz.
Frank Capece, city law director, declined to comment.
Munoz, 40, the first Mexican-born officer on the force, testified during his
trial in Superior Court, New Brunswick that slurs and ethnic jokes against
Mexicans began when he first joined the department in 2000. Officials took
no actions despite his complaints, he said.
Munoz testified that the pain he experienced as a result peaked with a joke made
by Police Director and Chief Michael Kohut at a homeland-security training
session in March 2005.
On the stand, Kohut acknowledged his words were inappropriate but said the
reference he made to Mexicans was taken out of context.
Munoz claimed to suffer panic attacks as a result of the harassment.
A Middlesex County jury sided with Munoz, awarding him $1.9 million in May.
Superior Court Judge Phillip Paley reduced that amount to $300,000 on July 20.
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