PALISADES PARK — A gay police officer who was fired last year after he lodged complaints against a councilman has filed a lawsuit against the borough, claiming discrimination, harassment and wrongful termination.

The lawsuit filed by Robert DeVito Jr. also names Police Chief Mark Jackson, Councilman Henry Ruh, and former Mayor James Rotundo.

The suit alleges civil rights violations and discrimination directed toward DeVito, and the defendants' "failure to prevent borough employees and elected officials from engaging in conduct that was obviously discriminatory, harassing and retaliatory in nature" toward DeVito.

DeVito alleges he was deprived of his employment rights, lost wages and other benefits, sustained injury to his reputation and has suffered and will continue to suffer emotional distress, pain, suffering and physical effects due to his hostile work environment.

He is looking to be reinstated as a police officer and seeking compensatory and punitive damages and other relief in the six-count lawsuit that includes discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, and violation of his employee and civil rights.

"Being a police officer was his lifelong dream and he worked very hard to get there," DeVito's attorney Matthew Priore said. "He was an exemplary officer during his time there. The only reason he was terminated was for his exposure of misconduct of a councilman."

DeVito, who is still employed by the borough as communications manager, was hired as a probationary police officer in 2017. DeVito claims he witnessed discriminatory and homophobic behavior by Jackson and Ruh, which he reported to his supervisors and the town administration.

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"After he reported the bigoted and discriminatory behavior, [DeVito] was retaliated against, harassed, treated disparately and ultimately terminated, despite no previous performance issues and many years of exemplary service with Palisades Park," the lawsuit says.

Rotundo, Ruh, Jackson and borough attorney John Schettino, did not return calls for comment.

The lawsuit, filed in state Superior Court, outlines different occasions where DeVito says he felt targeted either for his sexual orientation or his political alignment in town.

After publicly endorsing Rotundo's challenger in the primary, the lawsuit alleges, Rotundo's wife told DeVito, "wait to you see what happens to you." Over the next couple of months, employees who supported Rotundo's opposition were told that their jobs were being reviewed, according to the complaint.

In another instance, the lawsuit alleges Ruh made derogatory, homophobic comments about a school board trustee in front of DeVito; Ruh then looked at DeVito and "corrected" himself, changing the slur to the word "pedophile" as if the words were "interchangeable."

DeVito reported the incident to the borough administrator, stating he wished to proceed with complaints against Ruh, and stating he had a video showing the councilman committing official misconduct.

After voicing concerns to the chief that his job was being threatened and that his complaints were being shared with the mayor and council, DeVito was informed that Jackson had filed an internal affairs complaint against him, according to the suit.

A second internal affairs complaint was filed by Ruh, who claimed harassment.

Priore said both internal affairs investigations were fabricated.

DeVito was fired from the police department before his probationary year was up in June, with Jackson and the council citing the internal affairs investigations.

DeVito returned to his former position in borough hall, where he claims he is still subjected to harassment and discrimination.

He also believes his longtime partner, Corey Havens, who worked as an information technology employee in the borough since 2017, was terminated as retaliation instead of the stated budgetary reasons. Havens has also filed a tort notice against the borough.

Email: cattafi@northjersey.com