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NJEA representative urges Wayne board to reinstate longtime employee during public Donaldson hearing
Summary
At a public Donaldson hearing on June 25, an NJEA representative asked the Wayne Township Public School District board to reconsider the termination of a 11-year employee, saying the district shifted his duties, failed to train him and then dismissed him after a work-related restriction; the board held no Q&A and took no vote.
Cleo Papados, a representative of the New Jersey Education Association, asked the Wayne Township Board of Education on June 25 to reverse the termination of a longtime district employee and to consider reinstating him to duties consistent with his prior work.
Speaking during a Donaldson hearing — a public procedure available under New Jersey law when a staff member requests a hearing after nonrenewal of employment — Papados said the employee, identified in the record as Peter Oberori, worked for the district for 11 years performing mail-room and delivery duties and earned consistently positive evaluations. Papados said Oberori, now 62, was reassigned in 2025 to a night custodian role he had not previously performed, received little training, suffered an on-the-job injury that resulted in work restrictions, and was later separated from employment. "If that position was eliminated, why is it still being performed today?" Papados asked the board, arguing the work continued and that other employees are now paid overtime to cover tasks Oberori had performed.
Papados told the board Oberori is seeking a return to work in a role that reflects the duties he performed successfully for more than a decade and asked the board to "conduct a closer review of the circumstances" that led to his removal. The NJEA representative said the case raises questions about whether the district made sufficient efforts to accommodate the employee and whether unrelated factors played a role in the separation.
The district's position was summarized in the hearing record as asserting that Oberori "cannot perform the essential functions of a custodian," but no district official gave an extended public response during the statement-only hearing. The chair noted the Donaldson procedure is typically handled in executive session but that this employee requested a public hearing; the board said the session was not a back-and-forth Q&A.
The hearing concluded after the NJEA statement. The board took no vote during the public hearing; the transcript records the statement and the chair's closing of the Donaldson proceeding. Any further action or decision by the board was not recorded in the public portion of the June 25 meeting.
Provenance: Topic introduced SEG 356; main statement and discussion SEG 398–SEG 530; hearing closed SEG 532.
