Former Spotswood EMT Sues Town, Alleging Hostile Work Environment

SPOTSWOOD, NJ — The former director of the Spotswood EMS squad filed a lawsuit against the town, alleging he was forced to resign last April amid a campaign of "civil rights violations, harassment and retaliation," all of which he says were levied against him by current Spotswood borough administrator Dawn McDonald.

The suit was filed David Nichols, who lives in Toms River. In his suit, Nichols names the borough of Spotwood, Spotswood Mayor Ed Seely and McDonald as defendants.

The problems between the two have been brewing for some time now, and McDonald was placed on administrative leave, with pay, this past July as Spotswood investigated Nichols' allegations against her. However, the town concluded its investigation, finding "no evidence of harassment, retaliation, discrimination or defamation," and she returned to her job on Dec. 27, McDonald confirmed to Patch.

Beyond that she declined to comment on Nichols' suit.

Nichols first came to Spotswood EMS as an EMT in 2016, was hired to run the squad in 2017 and was then forced out on April 15, 2019. During that period, he reported directly to McDonald and the mayor, he said.

Among Nichols' complaints in the suit:

• That he complained to McDonald numerous times about the safety of the warehouse the EMS squad operated out of, including that it was infested with rodents and mold. He wanted the town to move the EMS squad back to its prior location, which had been severely damaged during Hurricane Irene in 2011. Finally, in 2018 the EMS squad moved to its new warehouse, in which the town had installed cameras. The borough maintained it was for safety reasons, but Nichols accused McDonald of using the cameras to snoop on him and watch him instead. For example, on June 1, 2018, as he was eating lunch in his office, he said McDonald texted him to ask "How is that sandwich?"
• Nichols said McDonald made up lies about him, including that he stole from his 90-year-old mother, and was responsible for "creating and fostering an inappropriate workplace environment in which his staff were drinking and having sex with (Spotswood) police department employees while on duty in EMS headquarters. McDonald then purposely, openly broadcast these baseless, defamatory allegations throughout the borough, including to Mayor Seely, his administrative assistant and the borough’s chief financial officer. McDonald referred to (Nichols) as a 'pimp' and claimed that he was inviting police officers to the EMS building and 'giving them alcohol and female EMTs for sex.'" (The Middlesex County Prosecutor's office investigated this claim, and found it without merit, according to the suit.)
• He accepted the position as EMS director with a drastically-reduced salary on the condition that his salary be renegotiated for 2018, to which the mayor agreed to, but never received his promised raise.
• In August of 2017, McDonald asked Nichols to give her access to a new medical records system, which would allow her to view the confidential medical information of anyone helped by the Spotswood EMS squad, including addresses, dates of birth, Social Security numbers, HIV/AIDS status, prescription medications and drug overdose incidents. When Nichols said no, saying it would violate federal and state law, including HIPAA, he said his decline angered her, spurring her to go over his head to gain access to the information. "Indeed, not all employees were willing to stand up to McDonald's illegal requests as it was widely known among borough employees that she would 'go after' those who refused her demands," read his lawsuit.
• Nichols alleges that McDonald "would regularly state that he was a 'liar' and falsely accuse him of inflating the EMS division's statistics, not showing up for work and abusing sick time."
• In September 2018, Plaintiff met with Seely to express his concerns regarding McDonald. He specifically told Seely that McDonald was monitoring him "more closely than other employees and that she was intentionally interfering with the operation of the (EMS) Division."

Spotswood Mayor Seely did not respond to Patch's request for comment.