Steven Allen was a deputy in New Jersey with the Gloucester County Sheriff’s Department. In December 2016, Allen was assaulted by a fellow officer, while on duty, that resulted in surgeries for ulnar nerve decompression in his dominant hand and a cervical disc replacement for which he was on leave for a total of six months. The other officer resigned in April 2017, rather than face administrative charges.
The Department rehired Allen’s assailant in October 2019, and told Allen that he would be assigned to a specialized unit in the prosecutor’s office, so that the two men would never have to cross paths. Allen saw his assailant once or twice a month in the courthouse, as well as on the firearms range. On another occasion, Allen was included in a group email sent by his assailant. Allen’s assailant’s rehire and these specific incidents caused him much stress, for which he was prescribed anti-anxiety medication. He also explained his concerns to his supervisors. The two men never directly interacted since the rehire. Around July 2020, Allen began self-medicating with marijuana about once daily.
In September 2020, Allen was randomly drug tested, which resulted in a positive result for marijuana. He knew that his marijuana use violated several policies covering his employment, and that he could be terminated as a result. Allen would later admit at a hearing that although he complained about the email sent by his assailant, he did not submit additional written complaints to the Department, nor did he attempt to adjust his anti-anxiety medication, before turning to marijuana.
The Department terminated Allen, he appealed, and a Civil Service Commission hearing was held. Allen’s argument, essentially, was that the Department drove him to use marijuana by rehiring his attacker and ignoring his complaints. At the hearing, Allen presented testimony from an expert psychiatrist who evaluated and treated thousands of law enforcement officers, who explained that Allen’s marijuana use was a reasonable response to the PTSD, post concussive syndrome, mild traumatic brain injury, and major depression caused by his attack. On cross-examination, the doctor conceded that he was unaware that Allen was treated for anxiety prior to using marijuana, and that he himself had never prescribed marijuana to treat PTSD or any other condition.
The hearing officer upheld Allen’s termination, which he appealed. The hearing officer noted that although the Department had a responsibility to protect Allen from a hostile work environment, the Department met its obligation by reassigning the assailant to another unit, and rescheduling Allen’s firearm recertification.
The Court noted that its review of the Civil Service Commission decision was limited; it could only overturn the lower decision if it was arbitrary or capricious. In this case, the decision was reasonable. The Court easily upheld the termination: “Allen has provided us no reason to reverse the findings of the ALJ adopted by the Civil Service Commission. Allen admits to his illegal use of marijuana, and the ALJ, who had the opportunity to hear the testimony of the witnesses and to evaluate their credibility, found Allen’s testimony as to why he did so “rehearsed, self-serving” and ultimately not credible.
The ALJ found no evidence Allen had ever complained to his superiors about the Department’s rehiring of his assailant, and that by Allen’s own admission the two had virtually no contact after the coworker’s return. The ALJ was not persuaded by the expert’s testimony that Allen suffered from PTSD because of the 2016 assault or that his use of marijuana in July and August of 2020 had anything to do with the Department’s rehiring of his fellow officer and assailant nearly a year before.
In re: Steven Allen, Gloucester County Sheriff’s Office, DOCKET NO. A-1820-22, 2024 WL 2235554 (N.J. Super. App. Div., 2024).