A punitive-damages award of just over $4.5 million adds to Jersey City Public Schools’ legal exposure. A jury found that the district retaliated against a former employee, concluding a lawsuit over the district’s treatment of the worker, according to a report published Friday.
The verdict was first reported by Jersey City Times, which reported that jurors awarded punitive damages after the trial. The outlet did not identify the employee by name in connection with this verdict. At publication, no court document confirming the award, the parties, or whether the figure includes compensatory damages, interest, or fees was available.
It is not the only retaliation verdict the Jersey City Board of Education has faced in recent months. A judge denied the board's bid to overturn a separate jury verdict from September 2025 that favored Sabrina Harrold, a former assistant director of human resources for the district, after jurors found the board liable for retaliating against her in 2022, the same outlet reported in a prior story.
Conflicting Figures Surround the Harrold Case
The exact dollar amounts tied to Harrold's case have been reported differently across outlets. NJTODAY.NET reported that a jury unanimously awarded Harrold $245,000 after finding the school board illegally retaliated against her for whistleblowing on a colleague's conduct. Separately, Public Law Library reported an earlier award of $120,000 in compensatory damages granted to Harrold, as well as a $125,000 punitive damages award from a Hudson County civil jury in a case following a two-week trial that ended in a verdict delivered on a Tuesday.
Whatever the precise numbers, the Harrold verdict appears to have triggered institutional fallout. Three weeks after that jury ruled, the Jersey City Board of Education voted unanimously to launch an investigation into its own Human Resources department, according to NJTODAY.NET. Board Vice President Christopher Tisdale called it “ridiculous” to assume there is no racism within the school system and lamented the “astronomical” resources spent fighting these lawsuits, the outlet reported.
A Pattern of Settlements and Pending Claims
The district's legal troubles extend well beyond Harrold's case. The Jersey City Board of Education has quietly settled at least 14 lawsuits filed by its own employees over five years, with workers alleging discrimination, harassment, or retaliation, per the same NJTODAY.NET report. At least six more such lawsuits are still being fought in the courts, the outlet noted.
Among the settled cases, former food services deputy Christopher Sarullo was paid $62,000 to resolve his claim that he was fired for reporting expired turkey being directed to student cafeterias, according to the report. Another employee, identified in court documents only as M.M., received $120,000 in a settlement, the same report states.
The district has also challenged another costly verdict. Attorneys for the Jersey City Board of Education asked a judge to vacate a June jury verdict awarding more than $500,000 to a mother-daughter duo who sued the board alleging unlawful retaliation, Jersey City Times reported. The challenge adds another contested verdict to the district’s broader litigation record.
A Separate Case Ended at Summary Judgment
A different Jersey City Board of Education case did not go to a jury: on October 31, 2025, the New Jersey Appellate Division affirmed summary-judgment orders for the defendants in a suit by Regina Robinson and Charles Harris alleging discrimination, harassment and retaliation. The case is distinct from the verdict discussed here and ended at summary judgment, according to the New Jersey Appellate Division.
