On April 24, 2012, the Township of Egg Harbor (Atlantic County) agreed to pay $110,000 to a former Township police officer who sued members of the Egg Harbor Police Department for allegedly retaliating against him and creating a hostile work environment.
In his suit, Robert Gleisberg, who has worked for the department since 1985, claimed that police department officials, including Lieutenant Hector Tavarez and Sergeant William Fair, retaliated against him. Among Gleisberg’s grievances were:
- Tavarez was hostile toward Gleisberg because Gleisberg had allegedly “objected to Tavarez’s status as a person responsible for dealing with children pursuant to the Police Athletic League in light of Tavarez’s conviction in municipal court for misconduct involving female children in the year 1988.”
- Gleisberg had objected to a “Master Police Officer” designation because it was a “non-existent rank” and “was contrary to law.”
- Gleisberg had objected to Fair allegedly having “coached” Officer Bob Smith on what to say to ensure that Margate Police Officer Mark Ciambrone would not succeed in his efforts to suppress “certain illegal gun(s)” that had been seized from him.” Gleisberg alleged that Fair’s intent was to “have Officer Smith lie under oath.”
- He was denied entry into the motorcycle unit.
- Gleisberg was allegedly was “forced to inform the entire police department every time he had to defecate on duty” which Gleisberg felt was “embarrassing and humiliating.”
- He supported fellow officer Christopher Mozitis in his grievances against the department. In 2011, Mozitis settled his lawsuit against Egg Harbor Township for $650,000. Click here for more details on the Mozitis matter.
The case is captioned Gleisberg v. Egg Harbor, New Jersey Superior Court, Docket No. ATL-L-2932-08 and Gleisberg’s attorney was Clifford L. Van Syoc of Cherry Hill. Case documents are on-line here.
None of Gleisberg’s allegations have been proven or disproven in court. The settlement agreement resolution expressly states that the $110,000 payment does not constitute an admission of wrongdoing by Egg Harbor or any of its officials. All that is known for sure is that Egg Harbor or its insurer, for whatever reason, decided that it would rather pay Gleisberg $110,000 than take the matter to trial. Perhaps the defendants’ decision to settle was done to save further legal expense and the costs of trying what were in fact exaggerated or meritless claims. Or, perhaps the claims were true and the defendants wanted to avoid being embarrassed at trial. This is the problem when cases settle before trial–it is impossible to know the truth of what really happened.
