Town officials are asking a judge to dismiss a lawsuit brought against them by a former high-ranking police officer who claims he was harassed and discriminated against because of his age.
In January, Ronald Goodmaster, a former detective sergeant with the department, filed a federal lawsuit against the Town of Seymour, the Board of Selectman, First Selectman W. Kurt Miller, Police Chief Michael Metzler and Lucy McConologue, the chairwoman of the Seymour Board of Police Commissioners.
Goodmaster was a Seymour police officer from 1989 until last year.
Goodmaster had wanted to stay on the police department after turning 65, the mandatory retirement age for cops in Connecticut.
The town’s police commission gave him permission to stay on the job longer, but that decision was overturned by the town’s Board of Selectmen.
In his lawsuit, Goodmaster indicates the Selectmen swatted his effort to remain a cop because of his track record of criticizing management at the police department, including a few successful Freedom of Information complaints and labor complaints against his employer.
Goodmaster’s lawsuit alleges the town did not treat him fairly and engaged in a pattern of harassment, as seen by a series of unjustified discipline charges filed against him.
He is suing for an unspecified dollar amount, but has asked for lost back pay, vacation pay and overtime, in addition to punitive damages.
In a motion to have Goodmaster’s lawsuit dismissed, Allison L. Pannozzo, a lawyer hired by the town, points out that state law gives a town’s legislative body — in Seymour’s case, the Board of Selectmen — the authority to extend a police officer’s career beyond the retirement age.
The police commission simply didn’t have the authority to extend Goodmaster’s employment, per state law, Pannozzo argues.
Goodmaster’s lawyer, William S. Palmieri, points out the Seymour Police Commission has been extending officers’ retirement age since at least the 1970s without interference from the Board of Selectmen.
In court documents filed April 7, Pannozzo also makes several technical arguments, saying Goodmaster doesn’t have the ability to file a lawsuit against the Board of Selectmen, and that his allegations do not warrant the damage claimed, even assuming some of the accusations are true.
A response to the motion to dismiss is due April 28, according to the case docket.
