The Truth about East Haven’s Workplace Policies and Zero Tolerance under Paul Hongo

I had to take a deep breath after reading Paul Hongo’s latest article in the East Haven Patch and when I was done laughing I said to myself Paul Hongo is nothing but a blatant hypocrite. The nerve of Mr. Hongo to call Sargent John Miller a liar! It just seems to me that Mr. Paul Hongo, FORMER Deputy Director of Town Affairs is just venting, stomping his feet and in complete denial that he lost his job. Well I have news for you Mr. Hongo, if you worked for me you would have lost your job whether or not April Capone was Mayor. Your ability to “squash” situations that occurred under your watch at your discretion for political favor would have been just cause to terminate you.

I am speaking specifically about a case that occurred this past year when a subordinate of one of your departments was solicited via email to attend a trip with a manager. When the employee balked and refused to submit to the sexual advances in the email guess who she called Mr. Hongo? Yes, yours truly. You see Mr. Hongo, I have a Master’s Degree in Labor Relations and therefore I am a subject matter expert in these cases. My advice to your employee was two-fold, they could call the union and inform them of the situation or they could hire an attorney and sue the Town of East Haven for documented sexual harassment. Your employee made the right decision to call the union, although we thought at the time, not to hire an attorney but to work through the union and your office to get resolution to the situation. At first, things were moving along very appropriately. There were meetings between the union, you and the complainant and then there were direct conversations with the individual who committed the offense.  It looked like something was going to be done under the “Zero Tolerance” policy you quote, but guess what Mr. Hongo? Nothing happened. You squashed it, you didn’t bring that Manager up on charges, run his name through the press or bring them before their board now did you Mr. Hongo? <Paul is probably stuttering as he’s reading> It’s ok Paul, I know the whole story because I was behind the scenes guiding this entire process on behalf of your employee who did a fantastic job and was at times more concerned about not embarrassing the Town of East Haven unlike you do.

 It’s so sad Paul that you are willing to sell your soul for the demise of Sargent John Miller because he posted a blog up on the Police Officers Union bulletin board. The blog, by the way was not a blog that he authored and when he was made aware of the offensive blog it was removed. Technically Mr. Hongo you and your Board of Police Commissioners have no proof of the author of the blog and your target of Sgt. Miller is plain wrong and borders harassment. It was after the discovery of the blog posting the “offended” employee filed a grievance and a CHRO complaint. As the Human Resources guru of East Haven what did you do to try and protect the Town of East Haven from these charges? or was your advice to file the grievance and CHRO? It's funny because these two cases were happening simultaneously and both have very different outcomes. Mr. Hongo, what did you do in your investigation to determine if you may have had another case of inappropriate behavior of a Manager with their employee? In the blog at the Police Department, it references a sexual relationship between the two. What did you do or say to the Manager involved in the blog? Did you ask if what was written in the blog is true? I know the answer, no you didn't and nothing was done! As for the Police Commissioner, who really cares, he’s not an employee but an appointee of the Mayor. Really Mr. Hongo what have you done to protect anyone but your political buddies?

There is also another situation with the East Haven Police Department that Mr. Hongo became directly involved in. Mr. Hongo was caught “running his mouth” about a consensual relationship between a male and female police officer. One of the officers was legally separated and they began to date. Because Mr. Hongo had a problem with the male officer, he disparaged his name every time he had the chance to. It took the involvement of the East Haven Police Local 1662 and the Union Attorney to shut Mr. Hongo up.

 < Can you see the bobble head rocking back and forth in your mind? I can.>

How sad that it has to come to this. Mr. Hongo you are nothing more than a political hack and a sensationalist at that. Whose business is it to discuss a consensual adult relationship with anyone, especially the person who has the Human Resources knowledge and was the former Local 1298 CWA President?

Mr. Hongo if you had such a “zero tolerance” for work place violence why in fact did you stand for the Mayor’s decision to allow Ralph Mauro to continue to work while he was being brought up on felony gun charges? If you were so concerned about the well- being of the employees of the Town of East Haven why did you not place Mr. Mauro on administrative leave?  You after all according to your blog you're the subject matter expert on Human Resources, correct Mr. Hongo?

Now for the hard core truth Mr. Hongo, you are a phony and a hypocrite. You are disingenuous in writing stories about your version of the truth. The facts are the facts Mr. Hongo, an employee of the Town of East Haven who had a legitimate, documented sexual harassment case had no justice served because you thought it best to keep it out of the public eye, you kept it between the Union and the Town.  But when it came to Sgt. Miller you played politics and wrote your article blasting the Union President, Sgt. John Miller.  Face it Mr. Hongo this case only arose because the Union leveled a no-confidence vote against the administration. Sgt. Miller is a hero cop that saved the lives of fellow officers in the line of duty and he and the members of Local 1662 did not agree with the way you, the Mayor, the Board of Police Commissioners and Inspector Nappi was running the Police Department. Mr. Hongo I ask just who the hell do you think you are? 

Now that the truth and FULL DISCLOSURE has been granted to the people of East Haven, I now dare you to respond, but be prepared to have it all come out Mr. Hongo. Failure to provide equal treatment as the Chief Human Resources person makes you liable regardless of whether or not you are an employee of the Town of East Haven. You were the man in charge of all labor matters and you failed to provide equal treatment and zero tolerance Mr. Hongo. Maybe the Federal Government should investigate you and your Administration for not following a consistent and fair practices in governing these types of matters. 

These stories I write about here are true cases here in the Town of East Haven but I can assure you and the people involved that the East Haven Vine will protect the sources and the names of the people involved. It is not the intention of this blog to embarrass any employee but to only print the truth and to disqualify Mr. Hongo's statements and writings.

Lastly Mr. Hongo…..Just go away. You’ve been fired by the people of East Haven.  We don’t want to read your LIES anymore.