Ruling: Suspension appropriate for jail officer who listed job as 'zookeeper'

Jim Walsh | The Courier-Post

TRENTON – Camden County acted properly when it disciplined a jail officer who described his job on his Facebook page as “zookeeper,” the state Civil Service Commission said.

The three-member panel rejected an appeal by Matthew Bulzak, who resigned his position at Camden County Jail during a lengthy dispute over his 30-day suspension.

The county sought to impose the penalty in October 2015, after an Internal Affairs investigator saw Bulzak’s Facebook page described him as “zookeeper at Camden County Wildlife Refuge.”

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Bulzak challenged the suspension before a state judge earlier this year, arguing "zookeeper” was intended to be humorous and to conceal his actual job from the public, a court decision says.

But Administrative Law Judge Jeffrey Rabin rejected that view, saying Bulzak “could have either denied the public access to his Facebook page, or chosen a fake job title unrelated to Camden County.”

The judge argued Bulzak’s choice of words “left himself open to an interpretation that he worked at a zoo, filled with unruly animals and wildlife that needed a zookeeper to keep them under control.”

That might insult not just inmates, but also employees at the Camden jail, the judge said in a June 8 decision.

“Referring to a county facility as a ‘zoo’ suggests that those responsible for the safe operation of the jail are not competent to perform their job functions,” Rabin said.

He also note inmates and their family members “might be able to look up Bulzak’s name on Facebook and see that he considers them to be wild animals.”

“This could lead to safety issues brought by inmates against jail personnel,” said Rabin, who determined Bulzak’s actions represented neglect of duty and conduct unbecoming a public employee.

The judge also noted the IA investigator found the post on March 25, 2015, just weeks after Bulzak had received a 10-day suspension for another violation.

In the earlier case, Bulzak was disciplined for posing with other officers for a photo taken inside the jail with a contraband cellphone.

County spokesman Dan Keashen welcomed the July 20 ruling on Bulzak's suspension, which was posted on the commission’s website this week.

“It underscores the zero tolerance policy the freeholder board has with anything remotely like this abhorrent language,” he said.

Christopher Gray, an attorney for Bulzak, declined to comment Friday.

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

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