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Officer Maribel Candelo is due $31,405 in back pay for salary that was withheld when she was suspended for insubordination, The Press said. She will also be paid $17,000 for legal fees. She had been suspended in April 2014 for 180 days on departmental charges involving insubordination.
The council unanimously approved the $48,405 settlement Aug. 5 without comment, The Press reported. City Council President William McKoy, who said he first learned of the case from a story in the Paterson Times in July, has said he objected that the council was not informed of the disciplinary action against Candelo, and her subsequent reinstatement, at the time it happened.
The city said she failed to file reports, and didn’t inform her superior that she was taking medication, according to The Press. Candelo said she informed a police department doctor she was taking the medications, and that requiring her to tell the superior officer is a violation of health care privacy laws, officials said. An administrative law judge ruled in her favor several months ago, they added.
Candelo has been a Paterson police officer since October 2005, and makes $85,000 including longevity pay.
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