County College of Morris broke law by firing faculty involved in union talks, ruling says

Five former faculty members at County College of Morris may soon get their jobs back after a state hearing examiner concluded the school terminated them in retaliation for their participation in contract negotiations.

Barring a successful appeal by CCM, the New Jersey Public Employment Relations Commission will likely order the reinstatement of five of six former professors, who were the subject of an unfair labor practice charge filed in 2021 by the Faculty Association of County College of Morris.

"This does come as a vindication to those of us who have lived through this and carried this fight for the last two-plus years," said lead plaintiff James Capozzi of Bloomfield, a former English professor at the school in Randolph.

The college declined to comment on the ruling, citing it as active litigation.

In a statement announcing the hearing examiner's conclusion, the faculty association stated it was "pleased" with the ruling and called on the school's Board of Trustees to hold CCM President Anthony Iacono accountable "by removing him from office."

COVID enrollment decline

The action continues an acrimonious feud that surfaced between faculty and administrators during the spring semester of 2021, a time when enrollment was plunging amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Records show enrollment dropped from 7,491 in the fall of 2020 to 5,776 in the spring of 2021. Enrollment has since rebounded to 6,108 in the current semester, school officials said

After the professors were told their contracts would not be renewed, the school cited the declining numbers. CCM was facing pressures it "did not foresee," Kathleen Brunet, the college's former director of marketing and public relations, told the Daily Record.

“There are times the college has to make very hard decisions, but it doesn’t mean it isn’t painful. We care about these people. They’re good scholars, they’re smart people," Iacono added at the time. "Unfortunately, sometimes the hard reality comes along that you’ve got to make decisions that you might not want to, but you have to."

The association, however, filed complaints about six terminations, including three union officers.

"The college is using this, we think, as a last-second opportunity to take out our union officers and bust our union," Capozzi, then president of the faculty association, said at the time.

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Capozzi was one of six plaintiffs in the case who were informed their contracts would not be renewed for the 2021-22 school year. Similar notices were sent to Geoff Peck, the association's grievance chair and a member of the English Department; Robb Lauzon, its communications chair; English professor Mark Schmidt; biology professor Anastasia Kilhaney; and language professor Lauren Lesce.

Around the same time, Iacono also named Capozzi, Peck, Schmidt, and Kilhaney to Mount Olive police as possible suspects while reporting acts of vandalism to his home, the association complaint states.

Reinstatement with arrears

Responding on Sept. 19 to the union's complaint, PERC hearing examiner Lisa Ruch concluded that CCM violated portions of the New Jersey Employer-Employee Relations Act by not reappointing five of them to their faculty positions as assistant professors.

Her recommendations included offers to reinstate Capozzi, Peck, Schmidt, Lauzon and Kilhaney, and to compensate them for salary, benefits and healthcare costs going back to their termination date of April 2021.

Ruch withheld the same recommendation for Lesce, who only taught at CCM and was not documented to have taken part in union activities.

Capozzi, who currently teaches remotely for Virginia State University, said Tuesday he would accept an offer to return to CCM. "I have every intention of coming back," he said.

The union statement concluded that the association is "optimistic that the Commission will agree with the decision of the hearing examiner and reinstate the terminated faculty."

William Westhoven is a local reporter for DailyRecord.com. For unlimited access to the most important news from your local community, please subscribe or activate your digital account today.

Email: wwesthoven@dailyrecord.com 

Twitter: @wwesthoven

This article originally appeared on Morristown Daily Record: CCM in NJ broke law by firing faculty involved in union talks