Why the Courts Found a Sewerage Commissioner Should Have Kept His Job After Sending a Dirty Pornographic Video to Over 70 Other People
On March 6, 2025, the New Jersey Appellate Division issued a decision in Maloney v. Borough of Carlstadt, where the court found that the Plaintiff, Thomas Maloney, had been wrongfully removed from his office by the Borough of Carlstadt, after he shared gross, phonographic video in a Facebook messenger group.
Maloney had been a commissioner with the Carlstadt Sewerage Authority when he shared a video in a Facebook messenger group with about seventy-five people. The video was thirty-eight second recording of a naked man defecating in the mouth and on the face of a topless woman, who was on her knees in a bathroom,” and included text that said, "Shit Happens, Thug Life, Dug Life, and Bitch.” Mr. Maloney sent the video in the Facebook messenger group along with the message, “Don't say nothing. Keep it going lmao!” followed by various emojis.
A former resident complained, and the Borough of Carlstadt began an investigation that ended with Mr. Maloney’s removal from his job as a commissioner for official misconduct. Maloney contested the decision.
The trial court found no evidence linking his inappropriate behavior to his official duties, emphasizing that his conduct did not involve municipal resources or activities. On appeal, the Appellate Division found that Maloney could not be removed from his position a sewerage commissioner for sending a graphic and offensive video to a Facebook group.
In reaching its conclusion, the court noted that the relevant statute, N.J.S.A. 40:14A-5(c)2, states that "[a] member of a sewerage authority may be removed only by the governing body by which [the member] was appointed and only for inefficiency or neglect of duty or misconduct in office." The court concluded that while Maloney’s actions were private and unrelated to his public role and therefore did not meet the legal definition of "misconduct in office," which requires a connection to official duties.
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