Fired employee files suit, says N.J. housing authority was running OT fraud scheme

A former employee of the North Bergen Housing Authority has accused the agency of fraud in paying out overtime to employees that did not work extra hours, a new lawsuit filed in Hudson County claims.

Rhonda Valle, an Ocean County resident and former employee in the payroll and human resources department of the North Bergen Housing Authority, accused two agency officials of cutting her overtime hours and then demanding that she pay other employees for hours she claims they did not work, the complaint filed on Sept. 3 states.

Valle's attorney claims in the legal complaint that she was unlawfully fired in July after working for the agency for nine years, receiving promotions and pay increases over that time, after she refused to "participate in an ongoing fraud perpetrated by her former employers."

She alleges in the complaint that she was fired by the agency's attorney Rose Tubito in retaliation for refusing to process overtime payments to employees, regardless of whether they worked those hours or not. Valle also accused agency director Gerald Sanzari of long-term use of agency money for personal expenses, carrying on an inappropriate relationship with a subordinate employee and improper personal use of low-income housing from the agency.

Tubito did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the allegations Friday. A listed phone number for Sanzari was out of service.

Nick Bond, a spokesperson for the North Bergen Housing Authority, said Friday that Sanzari had resigned as executive director, citing health reasons.

"The North Bergen Housing Authority strongly denies the allegations outlined in the complaint and our attorneys will be vigorously defending against them in court," Bond said Friday. "As this is ongoing litigation it would be inappropriate for us to comment further at this time."

A housing authority official said Friday that the case has already been referred to the Joint Insurance Fund, the authority's insurer.

Valle's attorneys allege she was approached by a staff accountant in June saying the housing authority had exceeded its overtime budget for the first six months of the year. She also claims the accountant asked her to provide a breakdown of all overtime payments to ensure the agency did not exceed its budget in the new fiscal year that began on July 1.

Valle claims in the lawsuit that shortly after she was approached by the accountant, she was told by Sanzari to stop paying overtime to all employees except herself and one other employee.

According to Valle's allegations, the other employee had a "fraudulent agreement" with Tubito to receive 12 hours of bi-weekly overtime pay regardless of whether she actually worked those hours.

After being told by Sanzari to inform the rest of the staff of the immediate hold on overtime pay, Valle claims two other employees were dismayed by the news and Valle was told by Sanzari on June 27 to return to the office for a meeting, the complaint alleges.

At the meeting, Valle claimed Tubito "verbally attacked [her] for cutting off overtime pay" to the employees who were dismayed at the news of losing overtime.

Valle claims Tubito instructed her to continue paying them 12 hours of bi-weekly overtime pay, which Valle claims to have understood to be fraudulent, unlawful and contrary to the agency's policies to continue making overtime payments without verifying they had worked the hours.

The complaint alleges Tubito became incensed at Valle's assertion of fraud and after continuing to object to the alleged fraud, Tubito withdrew her overtime hours, which Valle claimed was a clear retaliation for declining to participate in the alleged fraud.

Just before the meeting ended, Valle claims she requested to have her right to work overtime reinstated, and that Tubito said she could work half of the 15 hours of overtime that she had been working, according to the complaint.

Valle claims to have taken a vacation day the following day and that Tubito notified her the following day that she was suspended three days for insubordination. She was permitted to return to the office before her suspension to retrieve some personal items, she claims.

On July 11, Valle claims she was fired by Tubito for allegedly taking four boxes of items belonging to the North Bergen Housing Authority the day she went to the office to retrieve personal items before her suspension. She claims in the complaint to have only taken her personal belongings.

Stories by Matthew Enuco

Pedestrian struck and killed while crossing N.J. highway, cops say

Fugitive in fatal N.J. shooting of taxi driver found in New York, authorities say

N.J. school employee accused of extorting young girls for nude photos