Village employees claim discrimination in federal lawsuit

WARWICK-Six female employees of the Village of Warwick have filed a federal discrimination complaint against the village alleging they are being treated unfairly in terms of vacation and monetary compensation as compared to their male counterparts. In the suit filed last week with the United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the non-union employees claim they earned salaries on an equal scale with the public works employees, who are members of the Teamsters International Union, up until 2002 according to a report in the Times Herald-Record last Thursday. After that, the parity ended. According to Trustee Bill Iurato, who is the liaison to the office staff, the village has talked with office staff members about a new contract "once or twice" in the last few months but have not come to an agreement. Iurato, who would not comment on the lawsuit, said office workers had been on the same contract schedule as the Department of Public Works. The women, who include all office staff workers except one, who is a civil service employee, are represented by Helen Ullrich, an attorney with Thornton, Bergstein, and Ullrich in Chester. The Warwick Advertiser contacted her office but Ullrich was unavailable for comment. According to the Times Herald-Record article, the complaint alleges the women do not receive overtime pay and have been publicly humiliated and belittled because of their gender. It also claims officials said they should be content with their salaries after they complained about a male employee's extra week of vacation. Village records show that Village Clerk Jacque Mongelli, who has been a department head for six years, earns $40,943 each year. DPW supervisor Steve Sisco earns $50,000. Sisco took over the position 18 months ago. Mayor Michael Newhard could not be reached for comment on the lawsuit.