Rutgers settles $1.2M whistleblower-retaliation lawsuit with fired police sgt

👮‍♂️ Former Rutgers police sergeant gets massive payout

👮‍♂️ He exposed cops drinking on duty and getting paid for not working, lawsuit claims

👮‍♂️ Bosses targeted him days after finding out he was the whistleblower, suit said

NEWARK — A former Rutgers University police sergeant has reached a seven-figure settlement with his former employer after he accused the department of firing him for exposing bad behavior.

Michael Farella, of Milltown, will get $720,000 of the $1.2 million settlement, which was reached on Jan. 6. His attorneys will get the remaining $490,000.

John Paff with TransparencyNJ.com first reported on the massive payout on Wednesday.

Farella joined the Rutgers University Police Department in Newark in 2001. He was promoted to sergeant and served on the force until he was fired in 2018, according to the lawsuit filed in March 2019.

Whistleblower exposes drunk, irresponsible cops

The lawsuit said Farella was fired after his superiors found out he was the author of a letter exposing his fellow police officers at Rutgers.

According to court documents, Farella sent the letter to the department's chief and deputy chief in August 2017.

The letter outed supervisors in the department for drinking on duty, sleeping on duty, stealing overtime, failing drug tests, conducting private side business on duty, getting paid on days they didn't show up for work, and losing disciplinary files, the lawsuit said.

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It also exposed how the department covered up a second drunk driving violation by an officer who hit a parked car and injured a female passenger, the lawsuit said.

The police department took some unspecified measures to address the issues, the lawsuit said.

A month later during an internal affairs investigation in September 2017, the deputy chief asked Farella if he was the whistleblower who had sent the letter. Farella admitted that he was.

Two days later, Farella was the sergeant on duty when a new patrol officer started a police pursuit. Farella told the officer to stop the chase but she ignored him several times before complying, according to the lawsuit.

An administrative review found that Farella had correctly handled the situation, the lawsuit said.

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However, Farella was fired eight months later in May 2018. However, his final disciplinary notice said that he had failed to properly supervise the police pursuit — a direct contradiction to the actual report, the lawsuit said.

Farella claimed that the real reason for his termination was the whistleblower letter.

As part of the settlement, Rutgers did not admit to any wrongdoing.

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