the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Upper Saddle River NJ, Jeffrey Smyrychynski, a 54-year-old Oakland resident, has filed a lawsuit in Bergen County Superior Court against Upper Saddle River, claiming he was unfairly terminated in favor of a younger employee. Smyrychynski, who began his role as assistant treasurer in July 2017, names the borough council members, mayor, and borough administrator Theodore Preusch among the defendants. Upper Saddle River officials have not yet responded to requests for comment.
The lawsuit outlines events leading up to Smyrychynski’s dismissal, starting with a billing dispute in April 2023. Smyrychynski alleges that UGI Energy Services, a vendor, submitted duplicate bills without proper documentation. He claims to have informed the vendor that the payments were unauthorized duplicates, as the borough was already paying PSE&G for the same services. This dispute reportedly led to a secretly recorded conversation being sent to Preusch and the borough clerk.
Smyrychynski further asserts that Preusch planned to serve him with a Rice Notice, indicating an impending employment discussion, due to his refusal to process the bill. Despite continuing his duties until August 2023, Smyrychynski was suspended without pay, pending a separate legal matter in Oakland Municipal Court, which was unrelated to his work in Upper Saddle River.
After resolving the Oakland dispute through a conditional dismissal, Smyrychynski’s attorney requested his reinstatement in September 2023. This request, along with a follow-up in January, went unanswered by the borough. In May, Smyrychynski received notices from the New Jersey Division of Pensions and Benefits indicating his health insurance benefits would be retroactively terminated.
The lawsuit claims Smyrychynski never received a Rice Notice or any communication about his termination. He accuses the borough of violating the New Jersey Conscientious Employee Protection Act and state discrimination laws by unlawfully firing him and replacing him with a younger employee.
Smyrychynski is seeking compensatory and punitive damages, attorney’s fees, lawsuit costs, prejudgment interest, and any other relief deemed appropriate by the court. The outcome of this legal battle remains to be seen, as the borough has yet to officially respond to the allegations.
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What were they supposed to do, replace him with an older employee? He’s not being discriminated against because of his age, per se; he’s being replaced with a more compliant employee, one that’ll approve the duplicate invoices without fuss. And frankly, when you suck at the teat of the beast, I have no sympathy for you when suddenly the milk goes sour.
YEAH!!!
Age Discrimination is still the only openly allowed Discrimination (of course excluding straight white males)
I don’t know there’s a lot of old dead upper management in the town. It’s time for some new fresh upper management.