SPOTSWOOD, NJ — The Spotswood Borough Council has approved a $480,000 settlement to resolve a lawsuit brought by its former business administrator, who alleged gender discrimination, harassment and retaliation during her nearly eight-year tenure with the borough.
The council adopted Resolution 2026-171 on July 20, authorizing the borough attorney to finalize a Settlement Agreement and Release in the case of Dawn McDonald v. Borough of Spotswood, et al., which has been pending in Superior Court in Middlesex County since December 2021.
Under the resolution, the borough will pay McDonald and her attorney, Benjamin M. Del Vento, P.A., a total of $480,000 in three equal installments over three years. The settlement includes no admission of liability or wrongdoing by any defendant, according to the resolution.
McDonald served as Spotswood's business administrator from January 2013 to December 2020, and also held the roles of director of public safety and public agency compliance officer for portions of her tenure, according to the complaint.
Her lawsuit named the Borough of Spotswood, former Mayor Edward Seely, Police Chief Michael Zarro Jr., Police Captain Philip Corbisiero, and former council members Larry Kraemer and Ted Ricci, along with Mayor Jackie Palmer, as defendants.
The 45-page complaint, filed by attorney Benjamin M. Del Vento Jr., alleged violations of the state's Conscientious Employee Protection Act and Law Against Discrimination, along with claims of hostile work environment, civil conspiracy, defamation, malicious prosecution and intentional interference with prospective economic advantage.
According to the lawsuit, Seely told McDonald in a 2017 meeting that certain male employees would never respect her authority, and on a separate occasion, allegedly told her to "remember this phrase, boys will be boys" after she raised a workplace complaint.
The complaint also alleged that a council member told McDonald in January 2019 that "our police department doesn't like being told what to do by a woman" after she was informed she would no longer serve as director of public safety — a title change McDonald's suit characterized as retaliation for raising concerns about police department accounting practices.
McDonald further alleged she was reprimanded by Seely after raising concerns about police payroll issues, with the mayor allegedly instructing her to "leave the police payroll issue alone."
The complaint states she received a 10-day unpaid suspension in 2020 — a penalty her suit called disproportionate compared to other borough employees — following what she described as a "sham" investigation into a harassment complaint filed against her.
She filed for retirement later that year, which the complaint attributed to an increasingly hostile work environment.
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