A dispute between Jersey City Recreation Department employees Gary Nye and David Cosme ended in municipal court when the coworkers agreed to not interact with each other.
By Michael Shurin/Hudson County View
A heated dispute between two Jersey City municipal employees wound up in municipal court after one of them filed a harassment complaint.
According to a source inside the Jersey City Recreation Department – who spoke under the condition of anonymity – the conflict between Nye and Cosme started over who owned a calendar in the office and escalated to the point where Nye allegedly made a verbal threat.
The source also noted that a lot of friction had been building up within the department for quite some time before the incident.
Following the initial harassment charges filed by Cosme, Nye countered with his own harassment complaint.
At the January 22, 2015 court date, both agreed to drop the charges against one another in front of Jersey City Municipal Court Chief Judge Carlo Abad.
Abad made it clear that the coworkers agreed to “not talk to each other, avoid each other, no communication.â€
Nye was represented by Jersey City Attorney James Lisa, Cosme by Adam Wiseberg of Freeman Hughes Freeman, LLC.
Jersey City spokeswoman Jennifer Morrill declined to comment on if the incident reflected upon management of the recreation department under Director Ryan Strother.
This is the second incident Hudson County View has covered regarding the recreation department under Strother, appointed director by Mayor Steven Fulop on July 1st, 2013.
A letter to The Newark Office of The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission alleged shocking behavior by Strother, as well as negligence on behalf of the city’s law department in dealing with the issue.
The court case involving the employees working under Strother came two days after his son appeared in Hudson County Superior Court on gun charges following his house being visited by the Hudson County Sheriff’s Office.
[…] who was in municipal court last week because of a conflict with fellow recreation department employe…, detailed the situation and hostile work environment within the department to the city […]