A discrimination lawsuit brought about by a former North Hempstead town official who alleged he was fired because of his age, gender and Italian-American ethnicity has been tossed on the grounds he filed the case three weeks late.
Leon C. Dimaya, acting director of the state Division of Human Rights, wrote in his June 19 decision the court does not have the jurisdiction to rule on the complaint, filed Dec. 22, 2014 by Angelo J. Ferrara, North Hempstead’s former commissioner of finance, because it was filed more than a year after the discrimination took place.
He wrote that Ferrara does have the right to bring about the suit to a court with proper jurisdiction.
In a statement, North Hempstead town spokeswoman Carole Trottere said, “We are gratified the complaint was dismissed by the State Division.”
Ferrara, who worked for the town for 21 years and is not related to Republican Town Councilman Angelo P. Ferrara, alleged he was terminated from his position without cause on Dec. 10, 2013 and forced to repay more than $11,000 in unemployment benefits to the state Department of Labor.
He alleged his superiors at the town gave him the option of resigning or being terminated from the position, and he chose the latter option because he said he was misinformed that he would be unable to collect pension, Social Security and unemployment insurance, according to his filing.
Ferrara’s attorney, Thomas Liotti of Garden City, alleged at the time of the filing he was fired due to nepotism, as Ferrara was later replaced by Kim Kaiman, wife of former North Hempstead Town Supervisor Jon Kaiman.
In the human rights division’s ruling, Dimaya wrote Ferrara’s “allegation of political patronage is not within the purview of the Human Rights Law and not jurisdictional.”
Liotti said in an e-mail he plans to appeal the decision.
