November 2016 - Parks & Recreation - 33

tween the protected activity and adverse
action necessary to raise the inference of
causal connection, in the opinion of the
court, it was " undisputed that Leonetti
fired Plaintiff [Cirelli] within a day of
the city of Wildwood receiving notice of
Plaintiff 's EEOC filing. "
While Leonetti contended that he was
personally unaware of the EEOC filing, the court noted that " Leonetti was
at least aware of Plaintiff 's verbal complaint to HR just two months prior to
his termination. " As a result, the federal district court found Cirelli had raised
" genuine issues of material fact " on his
retaliation claim which were sufficient to
overcome the city's motion for summary
judgment.
Hostile Work Environment
Cirelli had also alleged a " hostile work
environment " claim against the city.
As defined by the federal district court,
a hostile work environment claim
would require a plaintiff, like Cirelli, to
" prove that the workplace was permeated with discriminatory intimidation,
ridicule and insult that is sufficiently
severe or pervasive to alter the conditions of employment and create an
abusive working environment. "
In this particular instance, the court
acknowledged that specific comments
were made by Leonetti and Stocks urging Cirelli to retire. In addition, the
court noted Leonetti had " downgraded " Cirelli's duties, " phasing him out
of his previous responsibilities, and ultimately, terminated his position, without minimal effort to resolve the issues
raised. " Moreover, along with a " series
of negative personal interactions, " the
court found Leonetti had " demanded
and turned over for police investigation
financial documents related to the WBPLA account " that Cirelli maintained.
In his deposition, Leonetti had claimed
Cirelli was the only individual who

signed the checks related to this WBPLA
account, " in violation of a city rule that
requires that the city of Wildwood CFO
sign them as well. " The court, however,
found no evidence that Leonetti believed
Cirelli was " diverting funds to his own,
personal purposes, or otherwise engaging in criminal conduct. " Further, in the

stage of the proceedings, the federal
district court denied the city's request
for summary judgment on Cirelli's hostile work environment claims.
Conclusion
As a result, the federal district court denied the city of Wildwood's motion for

Under the ADEA, it is unlawful to retaliate against
an individual for opposing employment practices
that discriminate based on age or for filing an age
discrimination charge...
opinion of the court, in " recommending
a police investigation " under these circumstances, Leonetti had " inexplicably
attempted to criminalize conduct that
he believed, at worst, may violate a civil
municipal regulation. "
Moreover, the court found it " particularly difficult " to infer from these
facts that Leonetti had " actually suspected criminal activity. " In so doing, the court took particular note of
the fact that " the police department
(which Leonetti also supervised) lost
the records Plaintiff [Cirelli] submitted, did a minimal investigation, and
never brought charges. " Accordingly,
based on these facts at this preliminary

summary judgment on Cirelli's " age discrimination, retaliation and hostile work
environment claims brought pursuant to
the Age Discrimination in Employment
Act. " Cirelli would, therefore, have an
opportunity to proceed to trial to prove
his claims against the city. In the alternative, the parties could certainly come to
an agreement to settle these claims and
avoid the cost of further litigation.

James C. Kozlowski, J.D., Ph.D., is an attorney
and Associate Professor in the School of
Recreation, Health and Tourism at George Mason
University (jkozlows@gmu.edu). Webpage with
link to law review articles archive (1982 to
present): http://mason.gmu.edu/~jkozlows.

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