Second Police Officer Sues Nazareth For Union-Busting

About this time last year, Nazareth police officer Fred Lahovski sued the borough and various officials in a lengthy civil rights complaint over various disciplinary actions taken against him, including a termination that was ultimately set aside by an arbitrator. He argued that the real reason he was fired was for speaking out on union  and other issues. A federal judge agrees. In an opinion issued just last month, Judge Juan Sánchez has ordered the case to move forward, noting that "[i]t is clearly established that a public employee has the constitutional right to speak as a citizen on matters of public concern without fear of retaliation." Now there's a second case on the burner. Officer Stephen Schleig, a former union President and Vice President, has also filed a civil rights suit against Nazareth and numerous officials over what can only be described as a concerted effort to destroy their union. His suit was filed on Tuesday.

Schleig, first hired by Nazareth in 2008, became a full-time police officer in 2010. In his complaint, he alleges that he soon ran into an anti-union animus that extended from the Mayor to part-time police officer Dan Troxell. Specific acts include the following:
* Refusal to provide him with uniforms, requiring him to spend months in a bicycle uniform with excessive wear and tear.
* Refusal to pay shift differential until ordered to do so in an arbitration.
* Forcing him to see a psychologist without explanation, and then disclosing that private information to officers in other police departments.
* Berating him as "no cop" and as someone who should not have passed the police academy.
* Arbitrarily switching his work shifts.
* Belittling him for thanking Borough Council for allowing him to attend a training course.
* Informing him that hunting cameras and recording devices were hidden in the station to catch him discussing union girevances with other officers.
* Threatening him with violence when he discovered a hidden camera and reported it to Chief Thomas Trachta.
* Threatening him with losing his job for testifying truthfully in an arbitration hearing for Officer Fred Lahovski.
* Placing a plastic rat in a trap and putting it in a room he was using.
* Suppressing an investigative report prepared by Private Detective Dan Moneck that corroborated Schleig.*
* Forging his name to a TOW tag to make it appear to the vehicle's owner that he had ordered the car moved, when in fact the TOW sticker was prepared by Chief Trachta.
* Forcing him without explanation to attend ten counseling sessions at a cost of $8.70 per session.
* Pressuring him to withdraw legitimate grievances filed on behalf of the union, and then commencing unfounded internal affairs investigations when he would refuse.
* Threatening him, through Officer Dan Troxell, with physical harm and even death if he assisted Officer Fred Lahovski in exposing the union-busting activity in Nazareth.

This civil rights action is the fourth civil rights action filed against Nazareth since 2013. Three of them were filed by police officers and one of them involved the wrongful death of Timothy Nixon.

In the meantime, I have an unconfirmed report that Nazareth Borough Council voted last night to fire an Iraqi was hero, Adam Shimer, as a police officer. He was just hired last year.

I had warned Nazareth about a procession of civil rights suits last year, but was ignored. Expect to see more.

Blogger's note: * Borough Council would later deny the existence of this report when I questioned them about it at two Borough Council meetings.