RIDOT whistleblower says he was sent to guard salt pile after questioning pension payments
Robert J. Tassoni, a highway maintenance field operations superintendent at the Rhode Island Department of Transportation, sued the department in Superior Court in December 2024, alleging chief of staff John J. Igliozzi and supervisors Norman Marzano and Glenn Cabral retaliated against him in violation of the First Amendment after he questioned RIDOT's contributions to a Laborers' union retirement fund outside the state pension system and complained to federal transportation officials. The suit alleges denied overtime, discipline, document demands no other superintendent faced, and moving his office to a warehouse floor. In early 2026 Tassoni told the Boston Globe the retaliation continued after Director Peter Alviti Jr. retired: during the February blizzard he was assigned to watch a salt pile in Little Compton instead of supervising highway plowing. RIDOT says it denies all allegations. The case is pending.
Instead of me being on the road, they stuck me in Little Compton, in the middle of nowhere,
He shouldn't be treated differently because he dared to speak out.
Spokesman said it is active litigation and RIDOT denies all allegations.
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