County settles discrimination lawsuit

By Nate Robson / The Citizen

Wednesday, June 24, 2009 11:53 PM EDT

A settlement has been reached in a Cayuga County Supreme Court case involving a Port Byron woman who accused Cayuga County officials of discriminating against her for filing a harassment complaint against her former boss.
According to a settlement, dated May 6, Rebekah DeTomaso will receive $100,000 in exchange for dismissing her lawsuit against the county.

The case was scheduled to go to trial last month.

According to the paperwork, which was received by the county Tuesday, both sides have agreed that the settlement is not an indication of guilt on the county's behalf, but is instead “a compromise of disputed claims.”

In her lawsuit, Rebekah DeTomaso, the former director of nursing at the Cayuga County Nursing Home, accused the county of retaliating against her by passing her over for promotions, by failing to honor her request to return to work and by placing stricter guidelines on her when she wanted to return to work than on Robert Flynn, the Cayuga County Nursing Home administrator who admitted to harassing her.

Flynn pleaded guilty in 2004 in Sennett Town Court to leaving a harassing message on DeTomaso's work phone.

Flynn was allowed to remain on the job despite the harassment charges. The county placed him on probation and fined him $2,500. He eventually resigned.

In the settlement, DeTomaso acknowledged she received workers compensation in 2004, the same year she resigned from her position at the county nursing home.

During a Sept. 9 court appearance, DeTomaso's attorney, Stewart Weisman, said his client claimed Flynn was allowed to return to work with a hand-written, one-paragraph doctor's note while she was required to get a mental and physical evaluation and had to turn in a five-page, single-spaced medical report before she was allowed to return to work.

Out of the $100,000 the county agreed to pay, it is unclear how much DeTomaso will actually receive.

On top of the $28,000 that will go to her lawyer, DeTomaso will also have to pay off a worker's compensation lien from the New York State Insurance Fund, which handles the county's policy, the settlement said.

Representatives from NYSIF, County Attorney Fred Westfal and Weisman were not available to comment on the settlement or to explain the compensation payment.

The Citizens' Say

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There are 5 comment(s)

daydreamer wrote on Jun 25, 2009 1:05 PM:

" I would love to work and make an honest living. I was medically removed from any employment, and am classified 100% disabled, due to a serious on the job accident that was not my fault. I hope that stick stays healthy, cause the one and only time in 40 years that I had to file a comp. claim, I had to do so or else I would be living in a homeless shelter by now. I did not sue to get rich quick. I was protecting my rights. I only received enough to keep me going for a year, and now get social security. My point is, the employer has already paid for an employee's coverage, why then does the employee have to pay back money that was already received. "

FS II wrote on Jun 25, 2009 11:58 AM:

" Stick, I donot know Detamaso, but if you go back and research her case and look what Flynn and Cayuga County did to this woman, she had all the right in the world to sue. Yes, there is a lot of sueing go on that shouldn't, but in her case, good for her. I don't think she tried anything underhanded with Comp., maybe but I don't know. The County and Flynn even admitted they were wrong. "

stick wrote on Jun 25, 2009 11:11 AM:

" Why does everyone have to sue? Can't they make an honest living instead of suing so they can get rich quick. I'm glad she has to pay back workers comp. "

daydreamer wrote on Jun 25, 2009 5:28 AM:

" Forgot to mention that the small settlement I received was not from workers comp. You cannot have a settlement from another entity involved in the same case and receive comp. at the same time, it's either, or. "

daydreamer wrote on Jun 25, 2009 5:23 AM:

" I hope that working people take note about the worker's compensation lien part of this article. Even though employers pay dearly to have workers compensation to cover employees for an injury, at the end of the day, the employee has to pay back a percentige to N.Y.S.I.F., even though the employer already paid for your coverage. Another example of Insurance double dipping. I went through this first hand. Their still rich beyond belief, and were allowed to have a 20 year "holiday" on my payment's because of a small settlement that I received, even though I am 100% disabled. I'll even put my name on this opinion, Paul Querns. "

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