It’s not unusual for an employer to require ongoing training for employees on various topics throughout the year. Often these training sessions involve how to more effectively work with colleagues, safe work environments or appropriate communications in the office. However, what happens if a mandated training session time directly conflicts with important issues that your position is required to troubleshoot? What if missing the required training ends in you losing your job?

An ex-city official is trying to make a point to his former employer, the city of Hoboken, New Jersey. He has recently filed a wrongful termination lawsuit that names the city business administrator, the city mayor and several other city officials as defendants. If successful, the man who was once the construction code official for Hoboken, may have his job reinstated.

Filed late last year, the lawsuit accuses the defendants of firing the former code official, who worked for the city for 39 years, because he failed to attend sexual harassment training that was mandated by the city in January of last year. According to the suit, the man was unable to attend because due to his position with the city, it was required that he focus his attention on an issue with permits for the state during the specified training times.

The plaintiff says that he asked if there were other sessions that he could attend but was told that the others were reserved for members of the police force only.

According to the lawsuit, the man is looking for punitive damages, compensatory damages, benefits, reinstatement of his former job and seniority rights. In addition, he is looking to have all attorney fees and legal costs accounted for by the city.

A comment on the pending litigation was not made by the mayor’s office.

This is not the first time that the former city construction code official has been in the news. Reportedly, he was taken off a project at the Maxwell Place development in 2007 because he allegedly had a purchasing contract for a unit once the development was finished. Other city officials also took him off a project at Pier C park.

Source: The Jersey Journal, “Former Hoboken construction official files lawsuit against city,” Stephanie Musat, Jan. 21, 2012