Nightmare Boss Leaves Feces Mounds For Mercer Worker To Clean: Lawsuit

MERCER COUNTY, NJ — A Black Mercer County employee claimed in a recently-filed lawsuit that he faced discriminatory treatment from superiors, was passed on for promotions and faced a hazardous work environment after complaining about discrimination.

Tyrone Ebron, a program analyst at Mercer County claims in the lawsuit filed earlier this month, that he had to clean up after his boss left “mounds of human excrement along the hallway, from one end to the other.” The story was first reported by The Trentonian.

Ebron names Jeffrey Golomb, Chief of the Mercer County Emergency Services Communications Center (MCESCC) and Robert Hartman, Coordinator for the Office of Emergency Management, in his lawsuit.

Ebron first started working with the County in 2014 as a clerk typist. He was then promoted to Assistant Program Analyst in 2019 but was since passed up for promotions, according to the lawsuit.

Beginning February 2021, Ebron said he faced a racially biased and hostile work environment rife with retaliation from MCESCC supervisory personnel, the lawsuit said.

On Feb 25, Golomb asked Ebron to bring a canister of Lysol Wipes to a stall inside the Mercer County Fire Academy. On his way to the bathroom, Ebron “noticed mounds of human excrement” in the hall, the lawsuit says.

Once in the bathroom, the program analyst slid the Lysol Wipes underneath the stall so Golomb could grab it. He then rushed to the basement to inform the maintenance person so they could begin to “clean up the hazardous waste,” outlines the lawsuit. He also notified the MCESCC shift supervisor of the situation and told employees to “avoid the contaminated area.”

When he went back to the bathroom, Golomb asked Ebron to bring his vape pen from the office and left the workplace without cleaning up after himself, the lawsuit said.

Ebron also urged Golomb to work from home “until the defecation issue was under control.” When Golomb returned to work on March 1, Ebron sent an urgent email to the administration the next day reporting public health & safety hazards that resulted from incident.

According to the lawsuit, a similar incident happened in November 2020 and with no maintenance staff available, Ebron has to clean up after the fecal matter “had become hardened on the floors.”

The analyst said he informed County Administrator Lillian Nazzaro about the incident, as Golomb wore adult diapers sometimes due to a medical condition.

Although Nazzaro assured Ebron that he would remain anonymous, a few days later Golomb glared at him as they passed each other in the hallway. When he tried to report the encounter to Nazzaro, he got the “cold shoulder,” the lawsuit said.

The lawsuit alleges that Hartman took away overtime working opportunities from Ebron, affecting his pay.

Later, Ebron’s administrative access to “security systems was revoked without cause.”

Ebron said in the lawsuit he was forced to alter his payroll workflow and denied overtime by Hartman, but a white employee was given the same despite "openly sleeping on shift.”

Ebron is seeking compensatory damages, including damages for emotional distress, medical expenses, loss of reputation, personal injury, back pay, front pay, cost of suit, and other relief.

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