Two employees of the Connecticut Department of Children and Families have filed separate job discrimination lawsuits in the past three business days.

 

That makes 110 job discrimination lawsuits alleging sex, race, disability or other issues pending in state and federal courts against the state of Connecticut, according to state Attornery General Richard Blumenthal.

 

"These lawsuits make a vast variety of claims, and some may have no merit and some may have more merit," Blumenthal said in a phone interview Tuesday afternoon.

 

"Certainly we wish there were no claims of discrimination, but we work vigorously to advise departments or agencies as to steps that they can take to avoid problems to the extent that there are legal issues involved," he said.

 

He did not have a breakdown on which agency had the most claims pending against it, or which claims were the most common, or how old the claims were, but he promised to have a list for inspection in the near future.

 

The two suits filed in Federal District Court in New Haven against DCF since February 14 claim disability discrimination and racial and age discrimination.

 

In the first, filed Feb. 14, a clinical social worker with more than 20 years of experience at the DCF alleged the child rights agency discriminated against him because he suffers from depression and bipolar disorder. Then, on February 19, a secretary filed a lawsuit against DCF claiming racial and age discrimination.

 

Ralph A. Arnone, the clinical social worker, began his career at DCF in October 1983. His problems began in 2004, and he took early retirement in September, 2006, according to the complaint by attorney Edmond Clark of Madison, CT.

 

Sheila Greene, 52, the secretary, purports that she has been victimized by racism and age-ism since at least April 14, 2002, according to the complaint filed by noted civil rights attorney John R. Williams.

 

Both Arnone and Greene went first to the state Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities. Greene also complained to to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunities Commission.

 

In both cases, CHRO found no reasonable cause against the DCF. For Greene, the harassment heightened after the CHRO rejected her charges.

 

"Thereafter, the plaintiff was subjected to increased harassment within the Department of Children and Families, including letters of reprimand for spurious reasons and disparate treatment compared to Caucasian and younger employees similarly situated to the plaintiff," reads Greene's complaint.

 

DCF has no comment pending litigation, according to DCF spokesman Gary Kleeblatt. Kleeblatt didn't know how many lawsuits were pending against DCF.

 

With 60,000 employees, Connecticut is among the largest employers in the state, and it should be compared against other states and employers of its size for volume and severity discriminatory complaints, but those measurements are hard to obtain.

 

Its employees seem to file lawsuits at a decent rate. About a month ago, Connecticut Department of Transportation employee Lisa Fazzino, who works at Bradley International Airport, filed a sex discrimination and retaliation suit. About a year ago, I reported on sex and race discrimination claims at ConnDOT and at the Connecticut Juvenile Training School.

 

For years, Arnone claimed he was a model employee, earning promotions to supervisory positions. During his tenure, he worked in Stamford, Hamden, Bridgeport and Danbury.

 

Aside from being a volunteer firefighter in Fairfield for years, Arnone also had a part-time child and family counseling practice, which was approved by the DCF.

 

It is not a unique situation to have part-time work, the DCF's Kleeblatt said.

 

"Across any state agency, people have a right to do what they will on their own time," Kleeblatt said. "It just can't interfere with their state job. Their obligation is to fulfill their responsibilities to the state."

 

As is standard practice, DCF has no comment on pending litigation, Kleeblatt said.

 

Ralph Arnone's problems at DCF start in January 2004, when he added a diagnosis of Bipolar Disorder to his long-standing disability of Major Depressive Disorder. In February 2004, he was transferred to Riverview Hospital for Children and Youth in Middletown, where his new supervisor seemed to have trouble with his new diagnosis.

 

Arnone's lawsuit claims that he was singled out for allegedly lying, a charge which he said had no merit. Then he was investigated for policy infractions like the unapproved access to confidential information, for which he claims he was cleared.

 

And between May 2004 and October 2005, he applied for no less than 11 lateral transfers across the state, and was turned down for every job.

 

"The denials of Plaintiff's application for appointment to other positions many times were in violation of seniority rights to which Plaintiff was entitled," the complaint reads. As a member of the health care union 1199, Arnone was part of a collective bargaining agreement that provides for seniority rights.

 

The state placed Arnone on administrative leave in June 2005. In September 2005, he asked for permission to go to Louisiana to bring his emergency first responder credentials and knowledge to areas ravaged by Hurricane Katrina, and alleges he was denied the opportunity to do so.

 

He finally found a job in the private sector at St. Raphael's Hospital in New Haven, and was in employee training there, but contends he was let go because his supervisors at the state gave him a bad recommendation and torpedoed his private-sector effort.

 

"The Department's prolonged and hostile actions towards and against the Plaintiff have had a significant effect on his ability to maintain a sense of stability in the context of his disability," the complaint reads.

 

Arnone is asking for back pay, compensatory damages for lost benefits, attorney's fees and any available statutory relief. Arnone’s lawyer Edmond Clark was unavailable for comment as well.