November 2016 - Parks & Recreation - 29

Cirelli gave Leonetti a budget on December 16, 2011, which suggested removing three supervisory positions and adding
10 lifeguard positions. Cirelli claimed he
was attempting to comply with a directive
from Leonetti to restructure the staff when
he proposed his budget. Leonetti denied
that he gave Cirelli any such directive.
Leonetti told Cirelli in a January 2012
budget meeting that his restructuring proposal was " absurd. "
Steven Stocks, a WBP captain, viewed
the suggested elimination of supervisory
positions as an attempt to fire Stocks. At
Stocks' request, Leonetti called a meeting
in March of 2012. At the meeting, Stocks
provided Leonetti with a list of concerns
about beach patrol operations, including
" no prequalification of guards, no background checks, no swimming tests, no
records, no driving tests, [and] no evaluations of senior lieutenants. "
In addition, Stocks presented another
list titled " Chief Cirelli Issues Summary
2012. " This list named 10 alleged deficiencies in Cirelli's running of the beach
patrol, including alleged misappropriation of funds on uniforms, supplies and
boat repairs.
In particular, Stocks claimed Cirelli had
solicited and spent " thousands of dollars
in donations made to the Wildwood Beach
Patrol under the pretense of a 'Lifeguard
Association' [while refusing] to turn over
the financial records for review. " At this
March meeting, Cirelli alleged Leonetti
was quiet, but Stocks had asked him, " Just
how long are you going to be hanging
around here? " Stocks later testified that
he made this list of Cirelli's deficiencies at
Leonetti's request. Leonetti testified that he
was unaware of the purpose of the meeting,
other than Stocks had asked him to set up
the meeting.
At some point in early 2012, Leonetti
told Cirelli to concentrate on administrative duties and delegated operational duties that had previously been Cirelli's re	

sponsibility to Stocks. Stocks is " some 20
years younger " than Cirelli. Prior to the
WBP's Memorial Day opening, Leonetti
approved rehiring Cirelli for the 2012 season. Cirelli, however, claimed " his start
date was pushed back one month to May
2012 and his salary reduced to $25,000,
in order to save money. " Cirelli was " not
aware of whether anyone else's salary
was also reduced. " After Cirelli opened
the season, apparently without any problems, he worked until his termination on
July 24, 2012.

otherwise do anything in response to
the HR complaint. The city of Wildwood investigator who issued a report
in response to Cirelli's HR complaint
admitted he never spoke with Cirelli in
putting the report together. Moreover,
Cirelli did not speak with the city administrator or the city attorney about
his HR complaint.
Having reached no resolution with
city of Wildwood officials, Cirelli filed
a charge with the Philadelphia Equal
Employment Opportunity Commission

As illustrated by the federal district court opinion
described herein, a series of negative interactions along
with otherwise innocuous questions by a supervisor to an
employee may later prove quite problematic in the event
of an age discrimination claim.
Prior to his termination, Cirelli complained that " he was shut out of the staff,
because he was not included on the Beach
Patrol website, in training information and
forms given to new lifeguards (which only
referenced Stocks as the supervisor). " In
addition, Cirelli alleged Stocks had sent
emails implying that he was " running the
beach patrol improperly and not responding to Stocks. " Further, Cirelli claimed
Stocks had communicated to local media
that he was " not on board with decisions of
the beach patrol. "
On or about May 14, 2012, Cirelli had
submitted a formal verbal complaint to
Kimberly Hodsdon, human resources (HR)
director for the city of Wildwood, alleging
age discrimination and a hostile work environment. At that time, Cirelli also made
a request for mediation with Leonetti and
Stocks. The HR director later told Leonetti
that Cirelli had complained, " but she was
not specific, " apparently, regarding the basis of the complaint.
Leonetti did not speak with Cirelli or

(EEOC) on July 11, 2012. EEOC sent
the city of Wildwood a copy of Cirelli's
charges on July 19.
Leonetti terminated Cirelli's employment on July 24, 2012. Leonetti claimed
he consulted no one else in making the
decision to terminate Cirelli. Leonetti
also denied seeing the EEOC charge until the day after he had terminated Cirelli.
In addition to the list of deficiencies cited above, Leonetti justified his decision
to terminate Cirelli's employment based
on Cirelli's " proposed budget that would
have stripped the department of all its
senior staff, " a proposal which Leonetti
deemed " absurd. "
Following his termination, Cirelli filed
a second EEOC charge on August 1,
2012. Cirelli received a right-to-sue letter from the EEOC on August 26, 2013,
and filed his ADEA complaint in federal district court on September 23, 2013.
One week later, Cirelli sent a request to
the Wildwood City Clerk requesting that
his pension be processed, which the Life-

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Parks & Recreation

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November 2016 - Parks & Recreation

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of November 2016 - Parks & Recreation

November 2016 - Parks & Recreation - 1
November 2016 - Parks & Recreation - 2
November 2016 - Parks & Recreation - 3
November 2016 - Parks & Recreation - 4
November 2016 - Parks & Recreation - 5
November 2016 - Parks & Recreation - 6
November 2016 - Parks & Recreation - 7
November 2016 - Parks & Recreation - 8
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