The Detroit City Council on Tuesday voted to approve a six-figure settlement with a former city employee who claimed in a whistleblower lawsuit that she was fired for reporting violations of federal rules in Detroit's Motor City Match program, as well as claims of city officials deleting emails related to work done on behalf of the Make Your Date nonprofit.
The City Council approved a $100,000 settlement without discussion for Kennedy Shannon, a former assistant director in the Office of Development and Grants. Neither Shannon nor her attorney, David Robinson, could be immediately reached for comment Tuesday.
Shannon filed the lawsuit in 2019 against the city, former chief development officer Ryan Friedrichs and former director of grants Katerli Bounds in an effort to show the public the consequences she faced for speaking up, she previously told the Free Press. An attorney for the city, however, said at a hearing in August 2022 that Shannon was fired because she "was not doing her job well" and was repeatedly put on notice for poor performance. The attorney had asked a Wayne County court judge to dismiss the lawsuit, but the judge allowed it to proceed.
"The City still maintains that the actions taken by these employees with respect to Ms. Kennedy were fully appropriate and justified. However, the law department made a decision in the interest of taxpayers to enter into this settlement rather than incur more significant costs in the form of ongoing litigation," Detroit...
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