CUC counsel says ex-staff’s appeal over termination still pending

The Commonwealth Utilities Corp. has maintained that the appeal of terminated CUC employee Zaji O. Zajradhara over marijuana issue is still pending.

In CUC’s answer and defenses to Zajradhara’s lawsuit, CUC counsel James S. Sirok said the plaintiff has appealed his termination through the utility’s administrative process.

Sirok said the appeal process is still pending with no final decision as of the date of this answer.

CUC has asserted that the U.S. District Court for the NMI, where the plaintiff filed his lawsuit, has no jurisdiction in the complaint for, among other arguments, failure to exhaust administrative remedies.

Sirok admitted that Zajradhara was notified that his employment was terminated to a corrective action, but denied that the termination was pre-textual.

Instead, Sirok said, CUC appropriately relied on a police officer’s report generated by the Department of Public Safety and a signed declaration that detailed Zajradhara’s attempt to give what appeared to be marijuana to an off-duty police officer.

Sirok said the correction action is still in the appeal process initiated by Zajradhara.

The lawyer said the corrective action cited plaintiff for the violation of its human resources manual sections 7.1 and 16.2.

In a separate answer to the lawsuit, former CUC executive director Allan Fletcher has disclosed that Zajradhara, who is suing him, CUC and several others, was terminated for offering to sell illegal drugs.

Fletcher, through counsel assistant attorney general David Lochabay, also denied that Zajradhara was terminated from CUC on pre-textual grounds.

Lochabay said the plaintiff was discharged for, among other things, attempting to sell a controlled substance to another while in a CUC vehicle.

The plaintiff has filed a lawsuit after he was allegedly subjected to a hostile work place, such as placing a cockroach on his desk and other employees calling him “gay.”

Zajradhara is suing CUC, Fletcher, and 10 unnamed co-defendants for whistle blower/wrongful termination, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and violations of the Americans with Disability Act.

In a pro se complaint or filed without a lawyer, Zajradhara asked the court to hold the defendants liable to pay him damages and court costs.

The plaintiff said CUC initially hired him as a trades technician/operator in October 2012, but he was moved into various positions, including warehouse man, fuel handler, and trouble shooter for the water division.

He said that CUC terminated him on Oct. 24, 2014, on the pre-textual ground of possession and conveyance of illegal drugs, in violation of CUC drug and alcohol policy.

Zajradhara also claimed he suffers from disability as he has post traumatic stress disorder, bi-polar disorder, and an injury to the right upper shoulder and upper back.