East Haven, Maturo Prevail in Federal Lawsuit Filed by Former Town Employee

EAST HAVEN, CT — East Haven Town Attorney Joseph Zullo announced today that a federal court recently granted the Town's motion for summary judgment in a federal lawsuit filed by former Town employee Francine Carbone, ending the case in the Town's favor, officials announced in a news release Wednesday.

Zullo explained, "In a decision dated July 21, 2016, Federal District Judge Dominic Squatrito issued a fifteen page ruling, finding that Ms. Carbone had 'not established that she suffered an adverse employment action' and that she had 'failed to establish a prima facie case of FMLA retaliation.'"

In her suit, Carbone claimed that the Town of East Haven retaliated against her and violated the Family and Medical Leave Act by terminating her for exercising her rights to care for a sick family member during the spring and summer of 2014.

In the suit, Carbone claimed that text messages from Former Supervisor Arthur DeSorbo inquiring of her FMLA status and requesting return-to-work information were actually prompted by Mayor Joseph Maturo, who she claimed had sexually harassed her for years, officials said in a news release.

Federal District Court Judge Squatrito found that Carbone had "not come forward with specific evidence that would support a finding that the text messages actually originated with the Mayor," East Haven officials said in a news release.

Facts of the Case from the Federal Judge's 15-page Ruling:
Carbone was employed from 1997 to October 2014 with the town.

On May 13, 2014, Carbone's daughter was struck by a car and hospitalized. Carbone did not report to work on May 5, 2014 and stayed with her daughter in the hospital.

Carbone was out of work from May 5, 2014 to May 12, 2014.

She requested to go on the Family Medical Leave Act on May 12. A doctor said Carbone's daughter needed medical care until July 15, 2014.

The town agreed and Carbone received insurance and benefits from the town until July 3, 2014.

Around this time, Carbone's daughter left her mother's place with her boyfriend against her mother's wishes which led to health issues for Francine Carbone, the documents state.

As the FMLA period was ending, the town sent a letter telling Carbone they expected her to return to work on July 28, which is when the FMLA was set to expire.

But Carbone's doctors said she couldn't function at her current position and she didn't return to work on July 28.

During this period of time her supervisor, Arthur DeSorbo, died, which left the office Carbone worked in significantly understaffed, the documents state.

The town continued to give Carbone benefits for another two and a half months past the FLMA expiration period and during that time she didn't work or communicate with town officials regarding when she planned to return, documents state.

On Sept. 25, 2014, Carbone received notice of a pre-termination hearing and on Oct. 17, 2014 she was informed that she was being terminated.

Carbone also said she didn't believe DeSorbo's texts to her while she was out on leave constituted harassment, the documents state. Carbone viewed DeSorbo as both a friend and a mentor, documents state.

Town officials react to the judge's ruling
Zullo continued in a prepared statement, "We are delighted that the federal court has vindicated the Town's action, upholding the Town's argument that Ms. Carbone's claims of interference, wrongdoing, and coercion by both the Town and the Mayor were completely unsupported by the evidence in the record."

The granting of summary judgment in the FMLA case "marked a clear setback for Ms. Carbone, whose claims in two other cases pending against Mayor Maturo and the Town of East Haven were interwoven in some respects with those in the now-dismissed FMLA action," East Haven officials said.

Zullo credited his legal team for the victory.

Zullo noted, "Our legal team on this case, led by Attorney John Conway of the Wallingford law firm of Laughlin Fitzgerald, along with Town labor counsel Frank J. Kolb Jr. deserve the credit for seeing this case through to a favorable conclusion for the Town. Attorney Conway's summary judgment briefing was well-articulated and thorough. In conjunction with Attorney Hugh Keefe, Attorneys Kolb and Conway have worked tirelessly to defend the trio of cases brought by Ms. Carbone. "

Zullo concluded, "Today's victory, while certainly good news for the Mayor and the Town, is truly a victory for the taxpayers of East Haven. As a self-insured community, taxpayers pay dollar for dollar when the Town suffers an adverse verdict and I am proud that our legal team foreclosed the possibility of such a verdict in this case. Moving forward, we will continue to vigorously defend the Town in the two remaining Carbone suits and, of course, in all actions currently pending against the Town."