Keisha Ruffin has sued the Essex County Department of Corrections.
An employee for the Essex County Department of Corrections filed a lawsuit Monday claiming she was demoted, moved to a small office and discriminated against after taking time off to have surgery. Keisha Ruffin, 53, of Plainfield, alleges in court papers she was “stripped of her original duties and essentially demoted,” after returning from medical leave for ankle surgery in 2023.
Additionally, Ruffin claims she has been forced to urinate in a trash can in her office because the bathroom the elevator is often out of order. An Essex County spokesman declined to comment, saying the county’s attorneys had not yet been served with the complaint. Prior to going on medical leave, Ruffin worked as a purchasing employee in the business office of the county’s department of corrections. When she returned from leave, she found herself assisting the co-worker she had trained to do her job while she was out, according to the lawsuit, filed in Superior Court of Essex County. Ruffin was “assigned to a workspace that was smaller than a typical jail cell,” lacked ventilation and isolated her from co-workers, the suit states. Due to her ankle surgery and the distance of her new office from the cafeteria, Ruffin claims she has been forced to fast at work. “Given the location of where she is now posted, she has to walk on her surgically repaired ankle from the other side of the jail complex altogether,” the lawsuit states. Not being near the lunchroom has made it difficult for her to take medications that need to be consumed with food, she claims in the suit. Ruffin also claims the only bathroom accessible to her requires the use of a frequently out-of-order elevator, or “climbing downstairs, which is difficult and painful for her.” As a result, she has been urinating into a garbage can in her office. “This additional stress is having a detrimental effect on her health,” the suit claims.Ruffin says she filed a grievance over her alleged unfair treatment. A short time later, her supervisors began retaliating against her and co-workers stopped talking to her, she claims in the suit. The lawsuit claims Ruffin is unable to complain beyond her immediate supervisors, because the worker she trained to perform her job while she was on leave has been placed in charge of the human resources department. “The harassing behavior in ongoing,” the lawsuit states, noting that Ruffin has trained multiple employees and all have been promoted except for her. “Plaintiff has been denied holiday pay, she has had her time-off requests ignored, she is no longer given any direction to perform her job duties, she is consistently ridiculed at work by co-workers, she is chastised for things that her co-workers do not get reprimanded for,” the suit alleges. The lawsuit alleges the Essex County Department of Corrections and her supervisors have discriminated against as a result of her disability and because she is Black. Ruffin’s attorneys claim the alleged retaliation is in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act, a federal law that prohibits discrimination against people with disabilities. She’s also claiming violations of the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination, and alleges county officials knew or should have known about the alleged harassment but failed to take corrective action. The alleged hostile work environment has also resulted in denials of promotions, which caused her to suffer economic losses, the suit claims. I have worked as a reporter for NJ.com since August 2012 and previously served as a supervising reporter for NJ Advance Media, overseeing coverage in Bergen and Middlesex counties. Earlier in my career, I was...
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