Civil Rights and Personal Injury and General Practice Law Firm, Dedicated to Social Justice
The Law Offices of Frederick K. Brewington is a well-respected litigation firm with an office in Hempstead, Long Island. Our focus is primarily in the area of civil rights, voting rights, employment discrimination, police misconduct, personal injury, medical malpractice, wrongful death and criminal law. However, the Law Offices of Frederick K. Brewington is a full- service law firm handling matters in numerous areas of law and providing a wide range of services from contract formation to litigation and trial practice.
Nassau County Corrections Officer and Ordained Minister Wins $420,000 Jury Verdict in Wrongful Discrimination Case
The federal District Court jury in the Eastern District of New York awarded a verdict in the amount of $420,000 to Jonathan Wharton, a client of Law Offices of Frederick K. Brewington. After a seven-day trial, the jury of five women and two men found that Mr. Wharton, a veteran of the armed services, a 26-year veteran Nassau County corrections officer and an ordained minister, experienced a pattern of discrimination and/or retaliation because of complaints he filed against the department. Nassau County, the Nassau County Sheriff’s Department, Elizabeth Loconsolo, Captain Peter Dudek, Captain Anthony Zuarro, Sergeant Gerard Humphreys and Mary Elisabeth Ostermann were named as defendants and each found to be liable.
After utilizing the proper internal channels to file complaints about his treatment and the stripping of his ability to engage in ministerial acts, his complaints were not investigated and were summarily dismissed by the Nassau County Director of Equal Opportunity along with the legal counsel to the Nassau sheriff. Following his attempts to have the wrongful treatment investigated, Mr. Wharton was denied accommodations for leave for religious holidays and his duties as a minister were also curtailed when the defendants began to deny him access to the chapel.
Mr. Wharton was subject to retaliatory actions by the defendants, causing Mr. Wharton to suffer from embarrassment, humiliation, ridicule and mental and emotional stress, for which he sought religious counseling. In 2011, he filed a lawsuit with the Federal District Court, Eastern District Court of New York. On September 17, 2014, a jury found in favor of Mr. Wharton and rendered a verdict award of $420,000, awarding $375,000 in compensatory damages and $45,000 against the individually named defendants.
“We are glad to see the jury rule in favor of our client,” Mr. Brewington said. “Mr. Wharton was a victim of systematic retaliation and was constantly denied requests for reasonable religious accommodations. There was no good reason for treating this long-term employee and man of God in the way that they did. Despite this harsh treatment, Mr. Wharton, to his credit, endured the abuse and the humiliation that came with it. They made him suffer and they knew what they were doing. We are pleased to see that the jury saw just what these defendants were doing and Mr. Wharton was financially compensated for his ordeal.”
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