An NJ Transit police officer reached a $625,000 settlement with her now-former employer last month, marking the third settlement in two years over allegations of harassment and retaliation at the nation’s third-largest transit agency.
Marianna Tropeano joined the NJ Transit police force in 1998 and was promoted to detective in 2004. In 2012, Thomas Springs became the sergeant of detectives and Tropeano’s direct supervisor. Tropeano alleges she was harassed by Springs during encounters before he became her direct supervisor, but it continued for years afterward, the lawsuit said.
Springs and then-Lt. Richard Marinelli “aided and abetted each other with respect to unlawful harassment,” said the original complaint, filed in March 2017, which named Springs, Marinelli, NJ Transit and its police department as defendants.
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Tropeano, a lesbian, alleged that Springs “needled her about her sexual orientation,” played videos in her presence that had sexual and derogatory material, received “unwarranted discipline” for slight or no infractions, and was asked by Springs if she wanted to have a threesome with him and his girlfriend, the lawsuit said.
In another instance, Springs and Marinelli allegedly summoned Tropeano to show her a video of a girl grabbing another girl’s rear end, telling her “she was ‘the best person’ to handle this assignment,” the suit said.
Made six formal complaints
Tropeano alleged in court documents that she made at least six formal complaints to superiors in the police force, the agency’s Equal Employment Opportunity office and human resources about the harassment she experienced between 2013 and 2016, but did not receive responses.
Andrew Moskowitz, one of Tropeano’s attorneys from Springfield-based Javerbaum Wurgaft Hicks Kahn Wikstrom & Sinins, P.C., declined to comment on the settlement.
Jim Smith, a spokesman for NJ Transit, also declined to comment. Karol Corbin Walker and Nicholas Falcone, two attorneys with Kaufman Dolowich LLP, the outside law firm hired by the state to represent all four defendants, did not respond to an email requesting comment on behalf of Marinelli and Springs.
As part of the settlement, Tropeano left the police force and the case against all four defendants was dropped.
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Millions paid to ex-employees in recent settlements
In 2022, another former NJ Transit police officer settled a lawsuit with NJ Transit for $2.2 million over allegations of harassment and retribution. This followed a prior lawsuit she filed in which she settled in 2010 for $150,000 after alleging she endured “highly offensive sexual, sexist and homophobic remarks,” court documents said.
Also in 2022, former NJ Transit employees Pia Wilson and Jose Rivera settled a lawsuit with the agency for $3.2 million in which they said they faced retaliation after being honest about discriminatory experiences they endured or witnessed, court documents said.
In 2016, Wilson was one of seven Black plaintiffs who shared in a $3.65 million settlement with NJ Transit over allegations of racism and discrimination, including in compensation, when compared with white peers.
Since 2021, at least a dozen NJ Transit employees across the rail, bus and police departments have filed lawsuits against the agency accusing co-workers of harassment, retaliation and, in the most extreme cases, sexual assault.
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