Transgender employee sues Wayne

Claims bias, bullying, hostile environment

By: Philip DeVencentis
NorthJersey.com
USA Today Network - New Jersey

WAYNE - When Paul Corrado confided in his superior at the public works yard that he would be transitioning to a woman, the boss allegedly snickered in his face.
..... Now Paul Corrado is Tori-Anne Corrado, and according to a new complaint field in state Superior Court in Paterson, the township employee has been subjected to overt bullying and harassment on a regular basis at the complex on Day Road.
..... The abusive conduct has been so bad, Corrado claims in the 13-page lawsuit, that she is now going through counseling.
..... Both the township and her boss, Mark Schwind, are named as defendants.
..... "The hostile work environment, which continue unabated, would not have occurred, but for the fact that the plaintiff is a transgender woman," the three-count suit claims.
..... Corrado alleges in the suit that her colleagues deliberately - and repeatedly - refer to her with masculine pronouns, or by her former first name. She also claims that they use homophobic language in her presence.
..... She once objected to Schwind's misuse of pronouns, but the suit alleges that he replied by saying it is "not a big deal."
..... Corrado, of Hamburg, a plant operator in the Division of Water Pollution Control for almost 20 years, seeks damages for "mental anguish." she also wants to be reimbursed for lost wages and medical expenses.
..... She legally changed her name in May 2017, seven months after the initial exchange with Schwind. She underwent sex reassignment surgery in the following year.
..... Corrado has been treated differently from other employees since she announced that she is a transgender woman, the suit claims. Maltreatment is directed a there by upper management and workers she supervises, it says.
..... As a senior operator, Corrado is in charge of junior operators. Her division's main function is to run a waste-water facility that treats 13.5 million gallons per day.
..... Neither side returned calls about the case on Friday. [05/14/2021]
..... Corrado claims that since her gender transition, Schwind has required her to meet in his office for daily briefings before the start of her shift - time for which she has never been paid. No other employee has to do the same, it says.
..... It September, [2020] the suit claims, the township threatened to demote her if she did not step down from her current role.
..... The township has violated the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination, Corrado alleges, by failing to enforce anti-harassment policies and by not instituting a remedy to stop her colleagues' behavior.

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