Belleville Town Admin Squirts Co-Worker With Breast Milk: Lawsuit

BELLEVILLE, NJ — The Township of Belleville has agreed to pay $235,000 to settle a lawsuit with a former court administrator who claims that she was squirted with breast milk and subjected to a “sexually hostile workplace,” a report says.

The Aug. 21 agreement – which was first reported on the NJ Civil Settlements blog last week – is one of a “staggering” number of lawsuits that the town has seen over the past few years, Belleville Mayor Michael Melham said. (Read his full statement below)

Under the terms of the agreement, Belleville agreed to pay $235,000 and provide lifetime health benefits to Cheryl Jeannette, a 30-year township employee who claimed that she resigned in 2014 due to a hostile work environment, NJ Civil Settlements reported.

In her lawsuit, Jeannette alleged that two of her co-workers – Court Administrator Yara Acosta and Deputy Court Administrator Roberta Almeida – “eagerly flaunted the intimate details of their sexual relationships” during work hours and bragged about dating local police officers.

Instead of being disciplined, they were given preferential treatment, including “selective enforcement of policies and promotions,” Jeannette charged.

Despite their co-worker’s complaints, Acosta and Almeida allegedly continued to bring their sex lives into the office, insisting that she was simply “behind the times.” The situation reached a boiling point in 2009 when Almeida intentionally squirted her with breast milk, the lawsuit alleges.

After Jeannette helped investigators probe the alleged breast milk incident, township administrators retaliated against her by reducing her salary, she claimed.

According to NJ Civil Settlements, that’s when Jeannette decided to play ball:

“When she complained about the ‘groundless salary reduction,’ then-Township Manager Victor Canning told her that ‘if she were to continue voicing grievances to anyone, she would never be promoted to municipal court administrator on a permanent basis.’ Jeannette claimed that she kept her mouth shut and was later made the permanent court administrator.”

But things didn’t work out like she’d hoped, NJ Civil Settlements reported.

In her lawsuit, Jeannette claimed that Almeida and Acosta refused to take direction from her despite her supervisory role and launched a “campaign of hostility,” including a “bogus complaint of racial discrimination and harassment” that eventually resulted in her demotion.

Jeannette said that she resigned in September 2014 because of the alleged hostility in her workplace.

BELLEVILLE MAYOR: ‘THE PUBLIC HAS A RIGHT TO KNOW’

Belleville Mayor Michael Melham provided the following statement to Patch when asked to comment on the Aug. 21 settlement:

“I do not believe the amount is an accurate representation on what the township paid out. A bulk of the payout was paid by our insurance. But the real story here is the number of lawsuits we are settling and being ordered to pay, the number of them and the amounts we are paying is staggering, it’s well into the millions. The public has a right to know. Thankfully those who mismanaged this township of years and used their positions of authority to settle personal vendettas are gone; unfortunately we are just beginning to clean up the mess they left behind. Stay tuned.”

• See related article: Belleville Library Settles Discrimination Lawsuit With Pregnant Worker
• See related article: Belleville Settled Police-Related Lawsuit For $90K, Report Says
• See related article: Belleville Settles Lawsuit With Retired Fireman

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