After $1.75M lawsuit, 4th worker blasts Somerville's 'racist culture'

EDITOR'S NOTE: The article contains racial slurs and profane language that some readers may find offensive.

SOMERVILLE – On his first day on the job at the Department of Public Works on Feb. 22, 1982, Gregory Paremore, then 25, says he heard these words from a man who would become his supervisor: "Nigger, get to the back of the line."

That was just the beginning. For the next 31 years, Paremore and other black DPW employees would be referred to by many other racial slurs by superiors who acted with impunity and systematically denied workers raises, promotions and other job-advancing opportunities because of the color of their skin, Paremore charges in a new federal civil rights lawsuit.

Paremore's complaint, being reported for the first time by MyCentralJersey.com, is significant because it was filed months after the borough paid $1.75 million to settle a nearly identical lawsuit filed last year by three other black DPW workers.

The latest lawsuit reveals new details and insight into the "toxic racist environment" that minority workers say they suffered, and reveals that an investigation ordered by the borough last year confirmed some of the plaintiffs' allegations.

In addition to the settlement — among the largest paid by any local government in the region in recent memory — the borough has ordered annual anti-discrimination and harassment training for all employees and emergency response volunteers.

The settlement agreement also calls on the borough to empanel a workplace diversity committee that must include at least one of the three workers who filed the lawsuit. The committee has yet to have a public meeting.

Just as in the lawsuit filed last year, Paremore's complaint says former DPW supervisor Anthony "Tony" Hendershot and his brother, former DPW superintendent Peter Hendershot, were the center of the racist behavior. Tony retired in February 2014 and Peter was fired in May 2014.

The lawsuit says Hendershot openly used slurs in his brother's presence, told racist jokes and invited members of the Fraternal Order of Eagles, Somerset Aerie 2137, to the DPW shop, "where they would join" him "in his racially abusive behavior."

The lawsuit says "upon information and belief, membership in the Bridgewater Eagles Club is exclusive to white men and to join the Bridgewater Eagles Club, a potential member must vow that he will never allow a person of color into the Eagles Club."

Leaders of the social club, a nonprofit with a tax-exempt headquarters on Woodside Lane in Bridgewater, could not be reached for comment. But in their response to the lawsuit, the Hendershots denied that the club has a racist membership policy. They also denied the other allegations in the lawsuit.

After the borough was put on notice in early 2014 that employees would be suing, the borough hired an attorney to investigate the claims. The three-month investigation concluded that it was "clear beyond cavil that Tony Hendershot used inappropriate racial comments in the workplace" and that his brother witnesses it, adding "that such conduct could have occurred in the 21st century in a New Jersey municipality is outrageous."

Paremore also says he complained about the racism and mistreatment to Borough Administrator Kevin Sluka almost every year, beginning when Sluka was hired in 2007. But Sluka, like other officials before him, did nothing and told Paremore that he preferred to keep things "in house," even though he had promised to dismantle the borough's "old boys club," the lawsuit says.

In a legal response to the lawsuit, the lawyer for the borough and Sluka says the investigation report was "the first time the borough was aware of any claims of racial discrimination." The response goes on to "deny any racist conduct at the Somerville DPW."

Paremore says that a black foreman with the DPW wrote Mayor Brian Gallagher in 2006 about the racism, but the mayor never responded. The lawsuit quotes the letter as saying: "It appears that as minority foremen, we are just an afterthought and aren't given the same opportunities as our counterparts were. Now that we hold these positions and with the advent of minorities into these positions, it appears the opportunities no longer exist."

Paremore says borough employees only once attended discrimination training — in 2008, following complaints about the Hendershots.

That training did nothing to help matters, Paremore says.

The lawsuit says black workers were given "less desirable work" or manual labor instead of jobs that used equipment.

"This was significant because in order to be promoted to foreman, a DPW employee needed to pass equipment operating tests," the lawsuit says.

When Paremore would ask for a raise, Pete Hendershot would tell him "you got enough money" and "you don't need to work," which he did not say to white employees, the lawsuit says.

In his 31 years on the job, Paremore never got a promotion. He retired in 2013 and now collects an annual pension of less than $21,000.

Paremore's top salary of $44,000 is less than what Tony Hendershot is getting in retirement for his annual pension: $51,000. And despite having been kicked out of his job, Peter Hendershot will collect a taxpayer-subsidized pension of $86,500 a year for the rest of his life.

While the lawsuit paints a picture of racism pervading the rest of the borough, with examples of other employees and residents uttering anti-black statements over the years, Council President Jane Kobuta, who sits on the new diversity committee, doesn't believe the borough has a problem with race.

"We are such a diverse community," she said Thursday. "We are like the world. I'm glad I raised my children here because they were exposed to all kinds of people."

Somerville's demographic breakdown is much like the state's, with a population that is 23.7 percent Hispanic and 12.2 percent black. The Borough Council, however, has not had a black representative since Councilwoman Pat Webster died in 2011.

Kobuta said the borough's investigation report shocked her.

"I was really horrified. I was not aware this was the type of thing going on at the (DPW) garage," she said. "I was never aware it was as bad as it was ... so much animosity. It breaks my heart."

Paremore is represented by Sarah Fern Meil, of Milford, and Joseph Alexander Brophy, of Brophy & Lenahan in Philadelphia. The lawsuit seeks an unspecified amount of damages for hostile work environment under state and federal civil rights laws.

The borough and Sluka are represented by Deborah Rosenthal, of Gebhardt & Kiefer in Clinton Township.

The Hendershots are represented by Steven Wiederhorn, of Faust, Goetz, Schenker & Blee in Livingston. The brothers have filed a cross claim arguing that the borough should pay for their defense.

Read the full lawsuit. Reading on mobile? Click here.

For more watchdog reporting on Somerville and Somerset County follow this reporter at Facebook.com/sergio.bichao

Staff Writer Sergio Bichao: 908-243-6615; sbichao@mycentraljersey.com