Former Newton Police Chief Accused of Sexism Can Have His Back Pay: Court

A former Newton police chief who was fired in 2012 over allegations that he used vulgar and sexist language with female employees really is entitled to back pay that an arbitrator previously awarded him, a court ruled this week - again.

The Massachusetts Appeals Court ruled this week in the six-page ruling cited by the Boston Globe, that the city failed to show the arbitrator was improperly partial to former police chief Matthew A. Cummings, when the arbitrator awarded him back pay in March 2015.

Mayor Setti Warren fired Cummings in the fall of 2012 for conduct unbecoming after allegations surfaced that he made inappropriate comments to female employees, kicked his secretary in the foot, and falsely told one of the female employees she was under investigation by a news outlet, the Newton TAB reported last year.

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Jeanne Sweeney Mooney, testified that in 2010 Cummings called her a "bitch" and told her she "looked like a whore" in separate incidents.

But in October 2013, an arbitrator found Cummings did not engage in conduct unbecoming a police chief and ordered Cummings reinstated and compensated. The city appealed the ruling. The arbitrator again ordered Cummings compensated last year Patch reported. The city appealed a second time but the order was upheld and the court noted the city never had enough evidence.

Cummings has also filed a separate federal lawsuit against the city, requesting $600,000 in damages for breach of contract. That is slated to go to mediation in May, the Globe reports.

Mooney has also brought a lawsuit against Mayor Warren, Cummings, the city and two former police officers, alleging she was charged with larceny as retaliation for her testimony against Cummings Mooney was acquitted of those charges in 2013.

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