A former city fire captain has sued Paterson, saying he was wrongfully terminated in 2017 after municipal officials accused him of sick time fraud.
The captain, James Reyes, was supposed to be put back on the city payroll under rulings issued last year by an administrative law judge and the state civil service commission.
But Reyes’ lawsuit, which was filed in late December, claims that the city has not reinstated him and he is accusing municipal officials of disability discrimination and retaliation.
City officials declined to comment on the lawsuit.
The case involves Paterson’s attempt several years ago to crack down on sick time abuse by employees, an initiative that seemingly backfired in 2018 when the city suspended the risk manager hired to investigate workers’ medical cases. City officials said they found last year that three medical providers hired by the risk manager, Samir Goow, ended up getting a disproportionate share of the workers compensation cases.