State finds M’town resident to have probable cause
by MELISSA L. GAFFNEY, Staff Writer
Posted:12/18/08

Middletown resident Carolyn Schwebel filed a complaint with the state Attorney General this past February.

In a report dated Dec. 1, the state Division on Civil Rights announced that Schwebel did, in fact, have probable cause in filling her complaint, as ruled by J. Frank Vespa Papaleo, the divison’s director.

Schwebel filed the complaint after her dismissal from the Middletown Township Human Rights Commission last December, a committee on which she had voluntarily served for 18 years, most recently as chairwoman.

In her complaint, Schwebel claimed the township unlawfully chose not to reappoint her because of an Americans with Disabilities Act lawsuit against the township, a suit that Schwebel took part in.

Township officials said publicly during a meeting that Schwebel had a “conflict of interest,” and that is why she was not reappointed.

Papaleo ruled that the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination “protects volunteers, as well as paid employees or members of agencies, from unlawful discrimination and reprisal.”

In this video address, Schwebel details the case, its history and the next steps in remediating the situation.
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