Ex North Hempstead deputy sues town for discrimination

Bill San Antonio

The former deputy commissioner of finance for the Town of North Hempstead has alleged he was fired from his position last year because of his age, gender and Italian-American ethnicity and to open a position for Kim Kaiman, the wife of former Town Supervisor Jon Kaiman.

Angelo J. Ferrara, 66, of Floral Park, who shares a name but not relation to North Hempstead town Councilman Angelo P. Ferrara (R-New Hyde Park), filed a notice of claim against the town on Dec. 15 through his attorney, Thomas F. Liotti of Garden City, alleging he was wrongfully terminated from the position and later forced to repay more than $11,000 in unemployment benefits to the state Department of Labor.

Ferrara said his superiors gave him the choice to resign or be terminated from the job and he chose the latter option because he was misinformed that he would be able to collect his pension, Social Security and unemployment insurance from his $97,000-per-year position, according to the filing.

He said there was no basis for his removal from his position, either by termination or resignation, due to a job performance described in the claim as “more than acceptable.”

“I was terminated without cause,” he said in a statement. “If I had a choice only between termination and resignation, I would not have elected to be terminated. I would have resigned under protest and made myself more acceptable to future employers.”

In an e-mailed statement, North Hempstead communications director Carole Trottere confirmed the town has received Ferrara’s notice of claim and said its attorneys are reviewing it.

Ferrara’s firing was made official in a resolution voted on by the town council at a meeting Dec. 10, 2013, in which he claimed several other Italian-Americans employed by the town were also terminated. 

He was later replaced by Kim Kaiman, whose husband Jon Kaiman now heads of the Nassau Interim Finance Authority and serves as Long Island storm recovery czar to Gov. Andrew Cuomo. Kim Kaiman, who previously worked for the town from 2001-03 as its director of legislative affairs, started at a $78,000 salary.  

Liotti in a statement alleged that Kim Kaiman was hired “because of nepotism, cronyism and as a political payback,” and that Ferrara was more qualified for the position because Kaiman lacked the professional accounting experience his client possessed through his job with the town and previous 23 years with Citibank.

He also cited an Aug. 11, 2014 Wall Street journal report noting that nearly three-quarters of the staff at Town Hall were women, many hired by North Hempstead Town Supervisor Judi Bosworth after she took office in January.

Bosworth in the article said she was “gender neutral” and “chose the people who would do the best job. It just so happens those were women.”

“It is a clear violation of my client’s civil rights,” Liotti said. “He was discriminated against because of his age, sex and heritage.”

Ferrara said he planned to work another 10 years. The claim states he would have made $970,000 plus benefits and additional pension funds over that span.

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