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Trial Court Administrator Jon Goodman said state rules prevent him from elaborating, but he noted that employees in similar circumstances are required to take diversity training.
As nearly 30 plaintiffs and defendants waited for Superior Court Judge Joseph Rosa Jr. to take the bench on Aug. 6 in Hackensack, the unidentified employee requested the group’s attention. While explaining what to do when the judge arrived, he said the group acted as if they were ready to go to “the gas chamber.”
“He made the gas chamber remark one or two more times. Then he left the courtroom,” Victor Sasson, a 64-year-old veteran journalist, told CLIFFVIEWPILOT.COM. “As a Jew, I was offended by the remark and the reference to the Holocaust. I cannot understand how a court employee can make such a comment.”
The State Administrative Office of the Courts strictly prohibits court officials from disclosing anything about an employee or actions involving that person.
However, Goodman said that ordinarily in that situation, “we would speak to the employee and determine the proper course of action.”
That could include diversity training, he told CLIFFVIEWPILOT.COM this afternoon.
“I was very surprised that this particular employee would make this particular comment,” Goodman said. “But when we spoke to [him], he admitted [he] in fact said it.
“[He] felt very remorseful about it. [He] didn’t intend to offend people,” said Goodman, who admitted: “I myself found it an offensive comment.”
TRANSPARENCY: I formerly worked for the various entities that have owned The Record over the years, including, more recently, North Jersey Media Group. From 1993 until last December, I was (in chronological order) a crime reporter, federal justice reporter, Law & Order Editor, and Digital News Group director.
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