Ex-Campus Cop In Hoboken Says He Was Fired Over Citizenship

HOBOKEN, NJ — A New Jersey appellate court has revived part of an ex-campus cop’s lawsuit against Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken. James Collins, who formerly worked at the university as a security officer, is claiming that administrators inappropriately fired him because he isn’t a U.S. citizen, even though the college didn’t require citizenship for the job and knew about his immigration status.

Last week, an appellate court panel dismissed part of Collins’ appeal, but upheld his claim that more discovery was needed to determine if his citizenship status was a justifiable factor in his termination.

A Stevens Institute spokesperson told Patch on Monday that the university typically declines to comment on any cases that are under investigation.

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According to court records, Collins, formerly lived in Ireland and London before marrying a U.S. citizen in 1991 and immigrating the following year. He served in the British army during the Falklands War, and had previous law enforcement experience when he started working for Stevens Institute as a campus security patrolman in 1993. After accepting the position, Collins completed required job training at the Essex County Police Academy.

Collins claims that he held a green card and “other required working papers” during his employment at Stevens Institute and that his immigration status was “fully set forth” on all job applications with the college.

• See related article: Campus Crime At Stevens Institute (FBI Releases Stats For Assaults, Thefts)

After Stevens Institute terminated Collins in 1996 - allegedly for “reasons related to his job performance” – he filed a lawsuit contending his discharge violated the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination. Stevens Institute and Collins settled the lawsuit two years later, and he returned to work as a patrolman with the campus police department.

Working under Chief of Campus Police Timothy Griffin, Collins twice received a president's citation for excellence, as well as a good conduct award, honorable service award, service commendation and an excellent service award.

According to Collins, in 2013, Griffin wanted to hire “one of his best friends,” a former co-worker from his days at the Hudson County Prosecutor's Office. But when there were no open positions, the chief began looking for a way to fire him, Collins alleges.

In 2014, Stevens Institute suspended Collins on the grounds that he was not a United States citizen, citing N.J.S.A. 40A:14-122, a statute that contains requirements for municipal police departments. He was terminated a month later.

A trial court previously ruled that because Collins was not a citizen, "he [could not] meet the requirement of the position.” However, the appellate court panel disagreed, and remanded part of the lawsuit back to the trial court for further proceedings.

According to the appellate panel’s written opinion:

“The allegations in the pleadings raise numerous issues, including: whether the State Police and local police departments, and specifically the officer who acted on plaintiff's employment application, interpreted the qualifications for an educational institution's police force to be identical to those qualifications for a municipal police force; if not, why not; if so, and if plaintiff disclosed his citizenship status, why his application was nonetheless approved; why, if his citizenship status was both known and disqualifying, he was approved for police training in view of his non-citizenship; why he was reinstated to his position after his LAD action; and why, after sixteen years of inaction, defendants suddenly decided to attempt to terminate him based on a citizenship requirement derived from a debatable legal argument.”

Read the full court opinion here.

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