“Us Against Them”
To Nancy Erika Smith, a familiar culture has taken root in the Montclair government.
For more than 40 years, Nancy Erika Smith, one of the country’s preeminent discrimination lawyers, has made her mark representing whistleblowers in the workplace, people she calls “heroes.” And over the last year and a half, she has been at the center of a continuing drama in Montclair. She represented longtime CFO, Padmaja Rao, in a lawsuit against the township and its top officials, a case settled last spring for $1.25 million.
Still, the tensions in the hallways of the Municipal Building have hardly cooled. The Township Council is now contemplating disciplinary action against Rao — including the possibility of firing her — stemming apparently from complaints made against her by a few township employees. In doing so, officials may be inviting a fresh lawsuit from Rao, she says.
All this follows the township’s sudden dismissal of its affirmative action officer, Bruce Morgan. The director of human resources has assumed that role, removing a layer in the grievance process. Smith, who is not representing Rao in this latest tempest, says that “going to human resources is like going to the KGB to complain about Putin.”
In our first ever TorchCast, Smith talks with Craig Wolff, sharply critiquing the township while addressing an underlying question: Just what does it take to be a whistleblower?
