The cases of two former town employees against North Haven have taken a step forward in the last week.

Leigh Gomez

Former North Haven employee Leigh Gomez will be filing a federal complaint of civil rights accusations against town hall and former First Selectman Janet McCarty, her attorney said last week, instead of continuing her case with the Connecticut Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities (CHRO).

Gomez, an African American and former First Selectman’s executive secretary, had formerly filed her allegations of racial discrimination through the CHRO. The CHRO returned a positive merit assessment review in November 2009 regarding the case, meaning the CHRO found that Gomez’s complaints warranted a second level of more intensive investigation by the commission.

However, Gomez’s attorney Eugene Axelrod, of Axelrod and Associates in Woodbridge, said that he and his client would be taking the matter out of the CHRO to file a federal complaint, which could potentially lead to a court-ordered settlement.

Axelrod said that he would not officially file the federal complaint until the town had time to review it.

“I deliberately held back the federal complaint to see if the parties involved could solve this before it becomes public record,” he said last week when reached. “I want to see if we can engage in any responsible resolution on this.”

“With the new administration, I’m hopeful this will be treated differently,” Axelrod added.

By filing the complaint through the federal system, Axelrod said his client could seek both federal and state charges against North Haven, as the federal system has jurisdiction over state courts.

“It would essentially double our ability to bring these matters before court,” Axelrod said.

First Selectman Michael Freda said April 13 that town hall had just received the federal complaint through email that day and that it was too early to know the town’s course of action.

Gomez claimed last year that in February through April of 2009, McCarty and Director of Community Services Gerardo Sorkin had promised and then denied Gomez a series of town positions to tempt her resignation, rather than directly dismiss a minority. Upon failing to receive any of the positions allegedly promised to her, Gomez said she was told by McCarty that she would lose town employment on July 1, and she subsequently did so.

Axelrod and his client allege that McCarty’s motivation in terminating her former executive secretary was that Gomez failed to embrace partisan politics. Axelrod and his client further claimed that once town hall received the original complaint, Gomez was retaliated against, including being relocated from the First Selectman’s office to a desk in the library without a phone or computer.

McCarty said that Gomez was terminated simply for poor work performance, including an inability to write press releases or understand local government. The former First Selectman also claimed that Gomez was never promised any of the three town positions her former executive secretary alleges she was.

In response to the town hall’s denial of wrongdoing, Axelrod and Gomez filed a civil rights and retaliation complaint dually with the CHRO and the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in May. After receiving evidence from both sides of the dispute, both commissions responded in momentary favor of Gomez.

Bob Burns

First Selectman Michael Freda said April 13 that Bob Burns has “rejected the terms of the town’s offer,” delaying Burns’ town meeting.

The Board of Selectman passed a motion of 2-1 on March 4 to warn a special town meeting on whether or not to reinstate Burns’ former town job, the engineer-two position, which was eliminated with the passing of the 2009-10 town budget on March 18, 2009 by the Board of Finance.

Freda said March 4 that the meeting is contingent on Burns’ withdrawal of pending legal actions against the town.

Burns’ attorney Chip Walsh of Licari, Walsh, and Sklaver, New Haven, did not immediately return a phone call.

On April 15, 2009, the Board of Finance again voted down the reinstatement of Burns’ position. On May 4, 2009, the Board of Selectman voted against recognizing Burns’ petition for a special town meeting, even though the petition contained 24 signatures of town residents, surpassing the 20 signatures necessary for the petition to be recognized. Former First Selectman Janet McCarty and then-second selectman Steve Fontana voted against Burns, while then-third selectman Freda voted for recognizing the petition.

In response, Walsh filed for a writ of mandamus to request that a higher court overrule the May 4 decision. On Sept. 30, 2009, New Haven judge Robert Berdon denied former town attorney Richard Parrett’s attempt to quash the application for mandamus, pushing the case toward a potential trial.

A ‘yes’ vote at Burns’ special town meeting would reinstate the $60,000 engineer-two position.