Whistleblower sues New Jersey, claiming harassment and racially motivated prank
Source: New Jersery Star-Ledger
A case manager for the Division of Developmental Disabilities has filed a whistleblower lawsuit against the state that claims he was the target of racially motivated harassment after he reported the abusive treatment of a disabled woman.
The mother of the disabled woman contacted Donnell Shearin in July to complain that an employee for a private company hired by the state had shaved her daughter's "underarms and genital region" without permission, according to the lawsuit filed in state Superior Court in Passaic County last week. Shearin filed a written complaint on the disabled woman's behalf, only to see his boss change the report in an attempt to "whitewash" it, the lawsuit said.
The suit says that about a month later, Shearin, who is African-American, opened a filing cabinet at his office in Paterson and found a stuffed toy monkey with a whistle on a string wrapped tightly around its neck. Attached was a sign: "Whistle blow on this monkey," according to the lawsuit. "Ill with grief," Shearin took a week of sick days and sought a doctor's care, said the lawsuit filed by Shearin's attorney, Josh Weiner of Morristown.
"The racial implications of placing a stuffed monkey in an African-American's personal filing cabinet aside, (Shearin) realized that the stuffed monkey was also being utilized to threaten him regarding his aforementioned whistle blowing activities," the lawsuit said.
Read more: http://www.nj.com/politics/index.ssf/2014/02/whistleblower_sues_nj_for_harassment_and_racially-motivated_prank.html#incart_river_default
= new reply since forum marked as read
