The City of Joliet has reached a $260,000 settlement with a former employee who claimed in a federal lawsuit that a former city manager and two others fired her in 2022 in retaliation for exercising her constitutional rights.

On Oct. 8, Tamara Edmonson signed an agreement that stipulates the city agrees to pay her $260,000, of which $88,464 will go to her attorneys with Chicago law firm Avery and Kill, according to the agreement obtained by The Herald-News in a Freedom Of Information Act request.

Edmonson’s Nov. 14, 2024 lawsuit was filed in federal court against former Joliet City Manager James Capparelli, Finance Director Kevin Sing and Human Resource Director Kathy Franson

The case is the second lawsuit that was filed against Capparelli regarding an issue during his time as city manager.

Capparelli resigned from that position about two months after Joliet Mayor Terry D’Arcy won the 2023 election against incumbent Bob O’Dekirk. The former mayor had backed Capparelli in 2021 to become city manager.

Capparelli was previously sued in a defamation case filed by former Joliet Police Chief Dawn Malec, the first female police chief in the city’s history.

The lawsuit led to Malec receiving a $100,000 settlement from the city.

Edmonson was a grants coordinator for the City of Joliet.

Her lawsuit claimed her rights under the Family and Medical Leave Act and the Americans With Disabilities Act were violated when she was fired in 2022 after she requested a temporary reduced work schedule for medical issues.

The defendants in Edmonson’s case “denied the alleged violations” and the parties in the case reached a settlement to “avoid the uncertainty, cost and inconvenience of continuing to litigate the lawsuit,” according to the agreement.

As part of the agreement, Edmonson must submit a request to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to withdraw her Aug. 4, 2023 charge alleging the city violated the Americans with Disabilities Act.

“The parties agree and acknowledge that nothing herein shall be construed or considered as an admission of liability on the part of the defendants,” according to the agreement.