BRIDGEWATER, N.J. — New Jersey’s Supreme Court ruled Thursday that a fired dispatcher should get a new trial on her charge that she was unfairly terminated.
My Central Jersey reported that the court agreed that a new jury should decide if Patricia Del Vecchio was the victim of disability discrimination and retaliation when she was fired in 2009. Del Vecchio, who began working as a dispatcher in 1999, was employed until February 2008, when she was given the option of either termination or transfer because she refused to work the midnight shift.
Del Vecchio submitted a note to her supervisors from her gastroenterologist, saying she was suffering from health issues and should “try to avoid working the midnight shift for six months,” according to the report. The doctor wrote 14 notes. Her supervisors said the situation was causing overtime and morale problems.
The key issue in Del Vecchio’s case is whether now-retired Judge John Coyle improperly limited the trial testimony of Del Vecchio’s physicians about her medical condition.
“The judge should have permitted the doctor to testify about causation (of irritable bowel syndrome), diagnosis and progress, not to mention the basic definition of the disease,” the appellate panel ruled.
The Supreme Court agreed with the appellate panel.
"(Del Vecchio) was not accorded a fair opportunity to prove she suffered from a disability within the meaning of the Law Against Discrimination,” the state Supreme Court wrote.