IRVINGTON, NJ — According to Irvington Police Division Capt. Monique Smith’s lawyer, Steve Altman, of the Benedict & Altman law firm in New Brunswick, the Irvington Public Safety Department and the township have still not given Smith the back pay she was due when she returned to work a year ago.
Smith was cleared by Superior Court Judge Michael Ravin in July 2017 of criminal charges related to an off-duty incident with Newark Councilman John Sharpe James in 2014. She was suspended without pay for almost three years while facing those charges. In the end, she received a $125 fine.
Although Smith is no longer facing charges from outside the Irvington Police Division, she does still have to undergo a departmental investigation into her actions and conduct related to the 2014 incident with James. But Altman said the Irvington Police Division, Public Safety Division and the township are still responsible for paying her the almost $300,000 in back pay she is owed, so she has filed a lawsuit to obtain that money.
“She hasn’t received her back pay, although I’ve been diligently writing letters, correspondence and making attempts to contact the proper people in town,” said Altman on Monday, May 21. “I had to file a civil lawsuit in Essex County to get her money. The law says you get acquitted, you get your job back and you get your money.”
But Altman said that’s apparently not how things are working in Irvington right now. Requests for comments from Mayor Tony Vauss, Public Safety Director Tracey Bowers and township attorney Ramon Rivera regarding Smith’s back pay situation were not answered by press time this week.
But Vauss did have something terse to say about the subject for the record.
“Tell Chase it’s in the process of being resolved,” said Vauss on Monday, May 21, referring to retired Irvington Police Chief Michael Chase, who mentored Smith as she rose through the departmental ranks.
Altman said that was news to him.
“If that is the case, then I wish somebody would tell me, as her attorney,” said Altman. “This is absolutely not normal. There’s nothing to debate. I don’t know why this is going on. It shouldn’t go this far.”
When informed of Vauss’ comment, Chase agreed with Altman that, once Smith returned to work, receiving her back pay should not be an issue.
“The law is very clear that, once you get cleared of all criminal charges, you can go back to work and get on with your life again, including getting paid the money that’s owed to you by your employer, which in this case, is the police department and the township of Irvington,” said Chase on Monday, May 21. “You do the job, you get paid. It’s as simple as that. She was suspended without pay while her case was being adjudicated; she didn’t get fired from the department. Now that her case is over, she not only deserves to get the money that the township should have been setting aside in the budget to cover her salary, the law says they have to give it to her. Period.”
Wednesday, Sept. 6, 2017, was Smith’s first day back on the job with the Irvington Police Division after her suspension, and she is subject to departmental regulations that prohibit officers from speaking to the media without the consent of their superiors. She had no comment about her return to work last year and on her back pay.
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