Lawsuit: Man fired after complaining about smoke at Camden crematorium

Jim Walsh | The Courier-Post

CAMDEN – A former employee has sued Harleigh Cemetery, saying he was fired after complaining that problems with cremation machines caused him to inhale smoke from burning bodies.

Jose Leon of Camden was “forced to inhale significant amounts of smoke” between early fall of 2017, when the alleged malfunctions began, and his dismissal on March 8, the lawsuit contends.

A representative of Harleigh Cemetery Association declined to comment Tuesday.

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In his lawsuit, Leon says a repairman who was called to the Camden cemetery in September 2017 “refused to work on the machines because they were beyond repair.”

The 13-year employee was told to continue to use the machines even as they produced “a significant amount of smoke," the suit says.

It says Leon was given “a small dust mask” that did not filter out all of the fumes “and as a result of the smoke inhalation began to feel ill."

Leon was fired after telling his superior, Richard Martiello, “that the machines needed immediate repair and that he intended to contact the government about the situation,” the suit alleges.

It asserts the firing violated the state’s whistle-blower law because Leon had expressed a “reasonable belief that the smoke … represented a dangerous work environment in violation of the law and public policy.”

The suit, filed in state Superior Court in Camden on Aug. 16, seeks unspecified damages and legal costs. It also asks that Leon be returned to his job at the Haddon Avenue graveyard with back pay and benefits.

Jim Walsh: @jimwalsh_cp; 856-486-2646; jwalsh@gannettnj.com

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