HARASSMENT SUIT SETTLED
Ex-Parking Authority clerk gets $300,000

Monday, January 10, 2011
By RON ZEITLINGER
DEPUTY MANAGING EDITOR

A former Jersey City Parking Authority clerk has received $300,000 in a settlement of a lawsuit in which she said she was repeatedly sexually harassed by at least three staff members, including a director and the assistant CEO.

Nancy Lopez, 41, of Parlin, had claimed in a lawsuit that Director of Enforcement Fernando Picariello harassed her by repeated inappropriate touching, sexual advances, touching her buttocks and legs and suggesting that she had "nice boobs," among other things.

In the lawsuit, Lopez said the harassment went on for roughly 18 months, from 2006 until the end of 2007.

The lawsuit also claimed that Picariello "inspired and/or ratified the harassment" of Lopez "by others, specifically Raymond Manzo and David Lerner." Lerner is the assistant chief executive officer and Manzo is an enforcement officer.

Furthermore, when Lopez reported the harassment to JCPA Chairman Michael Holloway, he declined to act on it, according to the lawsuit. Last week, Holloway said "that's not true" that Lopez told him about the alleged sexual harassment.

"I can't help that people make allegations," Holloway said. "There are two sides of the story."

Lopez could not be reached for comment and Picariello and Lerner did not return calls for comment.

The agreement between Lopez and the JCPA, which was made official in September, states that the financial settlement is not an admission of any accusations of harassment in the lawsuit.

The settlement does not call for any sort of discipline or punishment for those accused in the lawsuit of sexually harassing Lopez.

JCPA Chief Executive Officer Mary Paretti, who took over in April 2009, said that all employees underwent sensitivity training when the JCPA became aware of the lawsuit. She would not say if anyone was disciplined, but she confirmed that all who were named in the lawsuit were still in the same positions with the JCPA.

"I can't discuss discipline or personnel matters," Paretti said.

She stressed that the settlement was paid by the JCPA's insurance carrier, and not by Jersey City taxpayers.

Lopez worked for the Parking Authority 14 years before she resigned on July 1 last year as part of the settlement. Lopez was represented by attorney Kevin M. Costello of Cherry Hill.

Spinello states that the JCPA has a viable anti-harrassment policy in place yet the victim is stating she was abused between mid 2006 & 2008. So what was happening for a year and a half? Spinello just got the job but the former capatain of the East District, Mark Russ, ran the JCPA during that time. Was he advised of this? What did he do about it?

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Wow, sounds like one creepy character.

Snowflake - its a maroon corolla or something like that - probably about 10 years old. You've seen the guy fishing on weekends, he talks to himself muttering disgusting obscenities under his breath whenever a girl walks by. He is the guy who boots the cars, yet his is ALWAYS illegally parked there.

Why is the suit filed in Middlesex? If the crime took place in J City, Shouldn't it have been filed at Hudson Superior Court?

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What does the car look like? I've seen cars illegally parked around here all the time and it annoys me! I've even seen cars try to drive on the waterfront!

This is the same place where the law-breaking scumbag making sexual remarks to all the women who walk by him as he illegally parks his car on Warren St. and fishes all day works. These people are crap.

Parking sex suit moving forward

Monday, July 20, 2009
By PAUL TAKAHASHI
Journal Staff Writer

Depositions are likely to be taken this fall in a sexual harassment lawsuit filed almost a year ago by a Jersey City Parking Authority employee.

In the suit, filed in Middlesex County civil court, three members of the parking authority are charged with engaging in repeated sexual harassment, including unwanted sexual advances and inappropriate touching and unwanted comments.

The suit was filed by Nancy Lopez, a parking authority clerk who has worked for the parking authority since 1996. The suit charges that Director of Enforcement Fernando Picariello, who was her supervisor, and Inspector Raymond Manzo and former Director of Enforcement David Lerner repeatedly harassed her between mid-2006 and the beginning of 2008.

The suit charges that Picariello "began a program of sexual harassment of the plaintiff" which included alleged touching of the plaintiff's buttocks and legs, comments about the plaintiff's breasts and buttocks, and offers for transactional sex (sex for money).

"Mr. Picariello set the tone when he conducted the harassment, which inspired others to harass," said Kevin Costello, the attorney representing Lopez, who lives in Parlin in Middlesex County. "When he engaged in this harassment, he set the worst example and is the most responsible as her supervisor. He has the highest duty of all to not engage in this kind of conduct."

The complaint also states Lopez was demoted and passed up for a promotion as retaliation for refusing Picariello's alleged invitations to go to a hotel with him.

Manzo, who is named in the complaint, is currently suspended without pay by the JCPA after he was charged with assaulting a cop on July 6 outside the Motor Vehicle Commission office at 438 Summit Ave. He was charged with aggravated assault on a police officer, resisting arrest and disorderly conduct in that incident.

Lopez' suit was filed in August 2008, Costello said.

Calls to Picariello, Manzo and Lerner were not returned. JCPA's Executive Director Mary Spinello said it's the authority's policy not to comment on any questions related to litigation.

"The Authority takes all reports of any harassment very seriously," Spinello said. "We have a detailed harassment policy in place to protect all employees from any workplace harassment."