The Piqua City Commission approved a settlement with Harter on Aug. 20. The city will pay approximately $200,000, according to the settlement documents provided to the commission.
“The settlement agreement does not find any wrongdoing on behalf of the city of Piqua or Mr. Huff; and provides for the complete release of all past, present and future claims by Mr. Harter, whether with merit or not,” said Frank Patrizio, the city’s law director.
The Miami Valley Risk Management Association will pay Harter and his attorney $100,000 and the city will pay two cash installments of $20,000 each to Harter in 2020. The city also will contribute around $54,000 to the Ohio Public Employee Retirement System in July 2020 on Harter’s behalf.
The agreement calls for the reinstatement of Harter’s employment on July 31, 2020, and payment that day of the OPERS contribution. Harter then will resign voluntarily on Aug. 1, 2020, according to the agreement.
In the complaint, Harter said he was employed by the city beginning in December 1999 until his termination as public works director July 30, 2018.
Harter claimed the city and Huff “performed unlawful and/or discriminatory acts against certain city employees or prospective employees as well as performed unlawful and/or discriminatory act against members of the general public protected under federal and Ohio law.”
Specifically, Harter alleged the city and Huff ordered public works department employees not to install handicapped accessible curb ramps as part of street projects.
He also claimed the city and Huff denied an African American employee the opportunity to work overtime while “similarly situated white employees” were permitted the overtime and required him, as director, to notify them only when overtime was approved for the African American employee.
Because of his stance on those issues, Harter claimed he was intimated, ridiculed and harassed by the city, other employees and Huff. When he filed a written complaint about the treatment with the city human resources department, no hostile work environment was found. He was advised of his rights to file charges with the Equal Opportunity Employment Commission and terminated three days later, Harter said.
“The agreement states that the city of Piqua shall not make any disparaging remarks against Mr. Harter, and therefore, I will not make any further comments on the merits of Mr. Harter’s claims,” Patrizio said.
Harter’s lawyer, J. Steven Justice, said he would have no comment.
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