Former School Bus Driver Files Suit Against District

A former school bus driver has filed suit against the , alleging he was fired in violation of the state’s "whistleblower" law.

Carl F. Mayer, of Branchburg, filed the suit on July 15 in the Civil Division of Superior Court in Somerville.

Mayer, acting as his own attorney, is asking for a jury award of $4.4 million in damages. The case has been assigned to Superior Court Judge Yolanda Ciccone.

”On advice of counsel, I cannot comment on pending litigation,” Superintendent of Schools Michael Schilder said about the lawsuit.

Mayer has also filed lawsuits against district employees Linda Yadlonsky, Ronald Schmidt and Jan Donlay on charges of defamation, slander and libel. Mayer said he is asking for $15,000 in damages from each defendant.

Mayer’s suit against the district alleges that a “hostile work environment” began on March 24, 2010. Though the lawsuit does not state what led to that hostile work environment, Mayer said in an interview Tuesday that it was based on a “slew of stuff,’’ including his complaints about school bus maintenance and contract “manipulations.”

Mayer said the district was “putting children in harm’s way,” and that an employee on the district payroll was also receiving unemployment benefits. Mayer said he is a former vice president of the Bridgewater Transportation Association, the bargaining unit for the district’s bus drivers.

In the suit against the district, Mayer said he was fired from the district on Oct. 26, 2010 for a violation of the district’s discipline code.

That was a month after, Mayer claims in the suit, he was the victim of two separate assaults on Sept. 23, 2010 as he was fueling a district vehicle in Bedminster because the Bridgewater facility was closed. One of the assaults, Mayer states in the lawsuit, included a 4-by-4 piece of wood wielded by a co-worker.

A simple assault charge against Mayer was transferred to Bernardsville Municipal Court because then Bedminster Municipal Prosecutor Richard Guss was a former member of the Bridgewater-Raritan Board of Education.

In Bernardsville on Monday, Mayer was found guilty of assault, but Mayer said he asked for the sentencing to be stayed pending an appeal to Superior Court.

The suit also alleges that the district made a “retaliatory” insubordination allegation against him on July 16, 2010. That was the day after, Mayer claims in the suit, he was “tampered with” as a witness before the state Public Employment Relations Commission.

Mayer said he is confident he can represent himself in court because he attended law school for a year before leaving for family reasons.