Former appellate defender employee is entitled to $1M in retaliation suit, federal judge rules
A federal judge in Chicago has ordered payment of more than $1 million to a former employee with the Illinois Appellate Defender’s office who claimed she was forced to resign after complaining about a salary cut.
U.S. District Judge Rebecca Pallmeyer said former employee Alice Washington was entitled to $200,000 in compensatory damages; $613,000 in equitable relief; and $254,000 in fees and costs. The Chicago Daily Law Bulletin covered the order.
State Appellate Defender Michael Pelletier told the Chicago Daily Law Bulletin that his office would seek to overturn the judgment and a jury verdict that found retaliation against Washington. “I cannot in good conscience settle with this woman,” he told the legal newspaper.
Washington had worked as an investigator for the appellate defender’s death-penalty trial assistance unit. Washington said Pelletier had reduced her salary from $60,400 to $49,400 about two weeks after his appointment. The next month Pelletier told Washington and her co-workers they could choose between resigning and being fired for not using a new computer program, the suit said.
Washington had previously taken medical leave for treatment of breast cancer, and she alleged disability and racial discrimination before her forced resignation.
Pelletier had claimed Washington worked in a dysfunctional unit that was not doing any work, according to the Chicago Daily Law Bulletin story. Washington’s lawyer, on the other hand, points to trial witnesses who testified that Washington was a hard worker.
