Montclair Mayor Sean Spiller accused of retaliation by town’s CFO in court documents

Montclair township Chief Financial Officer Padmaja Rao has filed a motion in Essex County Superior Court to add new information to her whistleblower complaint against Montclair and town manager Tim Stafford, in which she alleges hostile treatment and retaliation by Stafford.

Among the new allegations filed on Tuesday are that, on several occasions, Mayor Sean Spiller approached council members “to discuss building a file of examples that could be used to pursue disciplinary action against Ms. Rao,” according to Councilor Peter Yacobellis, who is quoted in the motion.

This was an attempt to undermine and possibly fire Rao in retaliation for speaking up about issues of possible wrong doing by the council, according to the motion, and because Rao complained about Stafford’s allegedly abusive behavior to township's Affirmative Action Officer Bruce Morgan.

In the motion, Yacobellis was quoted as saying that he also found the timing of Spiller’s queries about Rao “inappropriate” coming after an internal investigation conducted by Morgan concluded there was a hostile work environment toward Rao.

Stafford was placed on paid administrative leave on Oct. 26.

Yacobellis said in the motion that Spiller did not tell council members about the investigation and its conclusion when he queried them about Rao’s job performance. And, Yacobellis said in the motion “I find it really hard to believe [he] didn’t know about [it]”

In an emailed comment, Spiller said he has always been "fully supportive of ensuring any issue or complaint is heard and that we take appropriate steps to address, such as bringing in a team of experts to address culture and climate."

Following the string of accusations against Stafford and after he was placed on leave, the council voted to hire the human resource firm Culturupt to assess the township's workplace culture.

Rao also asserts in the motion that Spiller attempted to undermine her professional reputation by insinuating at a public meeting that she was recommending a switch of insurance carriers from Garden State Joint Insurance fund to the New Jersey Intergovernmental Insurance fund because she has a claim against Garden State. “Just know that chief financial officer currently has legal claims against our [Garden State JIF] right so just noting that,” Spiller was quoted as saying at the meeting. “[She] should be a little more independent.”

Rao states that the switch was recommended by assistant township manager Brian Scantlebury and the town’s financial and risk consultants; that it would save the township 7.2% in premiums, and that she has no claim against Garden State or any conflict of interest.

Spiller’s statements, the motion reads, “were false and misleading and sought to damage Plaintiff’s professional reputation, question her integrity, and undermine public confidence in her work as CFO.”

In an emailed response, Spiller said, "I must also still do my job in ensuring the township is current on its bills and asking appropriate questions, including noting that I do not think anyone involved in litigation should be part of meetings pertaining to the litigation."

This latest legal action adds to the host of allegations against the town and Stafford in the original lawsuit. Rao asserts that she was met with hostility, abuse, resistance or stony silence when she approached Stafford with various concerns.

On Oct. 28, former town clerk Juliet Lee also filed a suit against the town and Stafford alleging verbal abuse, humiliation and harassment; in December, two more former Montclair Township employees, Celia Trembulak and Katie York, in sworn statements, also accused Stafford of creating a hostile work environment.

In her complaint, Rao gives several examples of whistleblowing activities which, she said, triggered Stafford’s wrath. One is when she told him that council members were getting health benefits in violation of a law requiring them to work 35 hours per week for the township as their primary job.

Another was when he authorized the services of the law firm O'Toole Scrivo to defend the township against a claim by three Black firefighters that they had been discriminated against in administration of the 2021 fire department promotional exam. Rao had told Stafford and the council that that the firm was hired in violation of the "fair and open" process required by law, and had “unusually high hourly rates.”

The complaint says another took place when Rao discovered that the Montclair Fire Department had conducted an investigation into firefighters submitting fraudulent time records to cover for a firefighter who was not working his assigned shifts.

Finally, she alleges that she raised concerns when Stafford instructed her to give a pay raise to a former deputy police chief who had retired and was working full-time in Florida. According to the complaint, when she questioned this in a meeting Stafford became agitated and began pounding a stack of papers on the table in front of him.

"In this and other meetings, he became loud, agitated, bullying and disrespectful to her," the complaint reads.

She also asserts retaliation in her removal from the finance committee because, she was told, members “found her difficult to work with.”

Although all council members denied they had said she was “difficult to work with,” none provided a reason why she had been removed, the complaint reads.

Yacobellis said in the motion that Spiller approached him about Rao most recently on Sept. 28, the day that the Montclair law department notified Morgan that they had rejected his findings that Stafford had created a hostile work environment for Rao.

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Montclair Mayor Sean Spiller accused of retaliation by town CFO