Posted by: Melville Johnson, P.C.
April 11, 2008
Topic: Employment Discrimination
The Attorneys at Melville Johnson, P.C. can provide this type of legal representation for you:
The Plaintiff, Carmen Lizama Gaspa, was a former Procurement Director, who abruptly left in 2005 in the wake of an ethics commission investigation. Ms. Gaspa filed a lawsuit in 2005, in which she claimed that she was forced to retire after the City Manager, David Brown, ignored her requests to into the deferred retirement option plan.
Ms. Gaspa claimed that she was retaliated against for her cooperation with an inquiry by the ethics commission. She claimed that Mr. Brown had verbally threatened her on at least two occasions, after county investigators began their inquiry. Mr. Brown told her that she should retire, because the management had planned to fire her at the beginning of April. Ms. Gaspa planned to continue working under the deferred retirement plan, so as to continue to accrue more benefits; however, Mr. Brown refused to complete the forms. Ms. Gaspa resigned before the beginning of April, so as to avoid being terminated.
The City of Coral Gables reached a $500,000 settlement agreement with Ms. Gaspa to settle the suit.
This article is largely based on a Miami Herald article written by Elaine De Vallem on January 8, 2008.
