Middlesex County Company on State's List of 2014 Civil Rights Settlements

A Woodbridge-based school bus company last year agreed to pay $45,000 to a former employee to resolve allegations that it discriminated against her by firing her after learning about her mental-health related disability, according to a state Attorney General’s Office news release.

That agreement was among $2.2 million in settlement payments obtained last year by the state’s Division on Civil Rights on behalf of alleged discrimination victims.

“The financial terms of the individual settlements are nice,’’ Division Director Craig T. Sashihara said in a prepared statement. “However, our focus is broader. We’re working to get employers, housing providers and places of public accommodation to make institutional reforms so that they comply with state and federal law for the benefit of the public at large.”

According to the news release:

In 2003, the woman began working as a part-time bus driver for George Dapper, Inc., based in Woodbridge. In 2010, she was promoted to a full-time payroll clerk, but was let go in 2012, a week after company officials told her they would hold her job while she sought treatment for a mental-health related illness.

As part of the settlement, the company, which has about 500 employees and provides transportation for a number of Central Jersey school districts, agreed to train its managers and employees about the Law Against Discrimination. The company also had to update its policies so it was clear that workers with disabilities have a right to, and will be provided with, reasonable accommodations.

The news release also listed a number of other cases that were resolved, and provided details about those cases, which included:

• Falasca Mechanical, Inc., a Vineland-based company. It agreed to pay $400,000 to resolve allegations that it violated the law by failing to employ female plumbers on jobs it handled. It paid $250,000 to the statement and $150,000 to a female plumber.
• Franklin Township Board of Education, Gloucester County. It agreed to pay $75,000 to an African-American student to resolve allegations that it failed to effectively address race-based bullying aimed at her at the Main Road School when she was in third- through sixth-grade.
• The Broughten Deli in Bloomfield. A legally blind resident of Bloomfield received a $1,500 settlement payment that resolved allegations that his guide dog was denied entry to the deli.